We Try To Love Ourselves Despite Scorn, Stigmatisation - Women Battling Baldness

I was born with full, long hair,” said Tolulope Ogunmodede, a Nigerian battling alopecia as she caressed her hairless scalp.

Ogunmodede, like every other healthy child, was born with hair on her head. She prided herself in her long full hair during her formative years.  According to her, her once-upon-a-time lush hair suddenly became a nightmare sometime in 2004 while in a higher institution.

No one had an idea what caused the sudden hair loss, especially as it began to shed off from different head patches.

Perhaps it was ringworm or side effects of some harmful products, her hairdresser had suggested to her. As it is a common practice among some ladies, she applied several things and medication on her hair. The troubled lady tried everything suggested to recover her once cherished hair.

Ogunmodede said, “I was not born with alopecia. I had healthy, lush hair as a child even till my early years as an adult. However, things changed sometime in 2004 while in my first year on campus. I went to the salon and my hairdresser called my attention to the patches on her head.

“I discovered a bald part on one side of my head when I went to make my hair. When the stylist called my attention to it, I thought it was a minor thing. But by the time I visited the saloon again, I noticed another bald part. It was then I knew trouble was looming. I went home and showed my mum. She ignorantly also assumed it was a minor thing. She said perhaps it was a ringworm. My mum and I started sessions of self-medication, applying whatever could cure ringworm.”

Alopecia is a common autoimmune disorder that causes unpredictable hair loss in different parts of the head. Online sources note that some symptoms of alopecia include grey and white hair where there is hair loss, hair re-grows where it fell off and hair grows in a bald spot and starts falling in another area.

Ogunmodede soon became ashamed of the hair loss because going to the salon like every other lady stopped being an option for her. She thus resorted to plaiting her hair by herself at home.

But the option didn’t last for long as she became tired with the hair herself and had to shave it for, hoping it would grow back.

She added, “I couldn’t go to the salon anymore and I started making my hair myself. At a point, I could not braid my hair anymore, so I shaved it, believing it will grow back. But it did not. The balding started like the size of a coin, then it continued progressing and the balding patches were linking up. What was left didn’t make any sense and I had to shave the hair completely.”

Ogochukwu Adesina, like Ogunmodede and others battling alopecia, grew up having full, luxuriant hair.

She said, “I had nice hair. I never had any issues with my hair; it was long and black and soft.  It was absolutely beautiful and I miss it sometimes.”

Modupe Akindele is not left out of those who had beautiful hair as a child until she also began to lose it. Hers even came earlier as she noticed the first patch while she was 10 before other things started happening.

She stated, “As a child, I had healthy hair up until I got to secondary school at age 10. There was no symptom. It just suddenly started with a little patch that seemed like some hair was clipped off after I loosened the braids I had on that year.”

It is the same story for Upe Otaru and Moshoodat Adedeji who are also suffering from alopecia. According to them, it wasn’t something easy to be used to full hair and suddenly became bald. The situation is disturbing as it defies any solution at the moment.

Otaru noted that as a child, she had full hair to the extent that she didn’t experience the regular hair breakage during combing.