Women Speak Up About Their Alopecia

After the Oscars that took place on Sunday, March 27, 2022, Women started speaking up about their Alopecia due to what went on with Will Smith and Chris Rock. Will Smith slapped Chris Rock across the face at Sunday night’s Oscars over a joke about Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, who has Alopecia. But this was not the first time the joke was said. According to CBS News “A joke to one may be an insult to another.” Is what the moment set as a reminder.

Jada Pinkett Smith has Alopecia, which is the medical term for an autoimmune disease causing hair loss. According to News18, she has been dealing with this autoimmune disease for a few years now and started to open up about it in 2018 on her Facebook chat show. “It affects one in every 500 to 1,000 people,” according to stats from the United States.

The type of hair loss Jada Pinkett Smith has is not clear but according to NY Times “her appearance suggests it is alopecia areata,” said Dr. George Cotsarelis, a dermatologist at the Perelman school of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Alopecia can be a genetic component, “their child has a one 10 percent chance of developing Alopecia,” says Dr. Lamb from NYTimes. There is no cure.

Now that Jada has opened up about her Alopecia, she has inspired women to share their own experiences of living with the condition. Although Will Smith’s outburst at the Oscars overshadowed the prestigious ceremony, something good that came out of it was the new conversation about a condition that barely anyone talks about these days. Writer and campaigner, Bryony Gordon, has shared her own hair loss journey inspired by Jada Smith on Social Media, “posting a series of images highlighting how the condition impacts her.” Says Yahoolife.  Bryony started the post by introducing herself and sharing her story on Instagram and praising those who chose to share their own story.

Women are now speaking up about their experience and how it made them feel, what was going through their heads while realizing they were losing what they thought was their only way to show their femininity, identity, liberation, and more.

One of the actresses, Ricki Lake, 2020 shared that she had struggled her whole life with hair loss. According to the LA Times, “It has been debilitating, embarrassing, painful, scary, depressing, lonely, all the things,” Lake said.. Ricki speaks for all the women out there dealing with hair loss, sharing how much of a struggle it is to accept themselves and their disease.

There are a plethora of women dealing with the same disease and even though what Will Smith did wasn’t appropriate, it opened a new door to what women go through on a daily basis. It reflects the struggle of going through this disease in many women. Therefore, making people around the world understand what it’s like or know that they’re not alone.