Mum ditches her wigs and scarves

Dropping her son off for school on his first day was quite an ordeal for Laura Griffiths.

Apart from all the normal mummy worries, she did it “au natural”.

Laura has alopecia, which causes hair loss, and has taken the decision to spend September (its national awareness month) without her scarves and wigs to help her own self-acceptance of her condition and give inspiration and confidence to fellow sufferers.

“The first day was nerve-racking but also exciting as I had been looking forward to doing it for a sometime,” says Laura, 33, who lives in Grove with postman partner Ben Williams, 37, and son Haydn, three.

“I wasn’t nervous about going to work as everyone knew I wore wigs and head scarves and the reason why, I was most nervous about going out in public and seeing strangers reactions.

“The hardest part was dropping my little boy off on his first day at school and going to the classroom with all the other mums and children, who as we all know can be ruthlessly honest!”

But although it was nerve-wracking - and the youngsters did do a fair bit of staring - the experience wasn’t too bad.

“I don’t like being the centre of attention but I’m getting better at it,” says Laura. “I just smiled and tried to show I am fine with it.”

In fact things have gone so well that Laura has extended her initial challenge.

“Originally I said five days as I didn’t know how I would feel, I decided to change it to the whole month as I had received such positive feedback from everyone I just wanted to continue raising as much awareness as I could,” she says.

Laura, a senior manager in client services for Tangoe on Milton Park, Abingdon, has also been raising cash for Alopecia UK and after reaching £700, her boss Lutz Ossmann pledged to have his head shaved at the end of the month if she could do another £500. The total is now up to around £1,250 and, despite recovering from open heart surgery himself, Mr Ossmann is happy to lend support.

It was the national charity that inspired Laura to take the decision to ditch her wigs and scarves this month.

“Alopecia UK does an amazing job of raising awareness and offering support,” says Laura. “I recently went to their 10th anniversary event at Alton Towers. It was at this, surrounded by others with the same condition, that I braved showing my head for the first time in public.

“It was amazing to talk to others about their experiences, especially some of the young adults still going through school/collage.

“I felt so liberated that I knew I needed to get past my insecurities. I saw via the Alopecia UK website that it was national awareness month in September so I thought this was the perfect opportunity to set myself a challenge to go au natural and raise awareness at the same time.

“It is a very big personal challenge for me as for the past two years very few people have seen me without my headscarves.”

Living life with alopecia – a condition Laura has suffered with since she was a teenager, see panel, – hasn’t been easy.

“The main problems it posed were on my confidence and self-esteem. I was very paranoid about going out on a windy day in case my remaining hair parted making the bald patches underneath visible,” says Laura.

“I also play netball and trying to keep it covered whilst playing sport was very difficult.”

Her most severe hair loss came in 2012. It started off much the same as any other episode but this time it was falling out at the front near her temples.

“I had my first baby in 2011 so thought this was just the post–pregnancy hair loss many women have. It didn’t stop however and before long every shower or bath I took I was clogging the plughole with hair. As soon as I realised it was alopecia again it just accelerated. It doesn’t matter how much you try not to think or worry about it, you just do, and it’s a vicious cycle. As it got worse my anxiety grew, I felt nervous again going out in public in case people saw it. Alopecia has made me feel very self-conscious which has affected my confidence. I have days where I just accept it and get on, then bad days when I can feel very upset, unattractive and inadequate.

“I stopped going swimming and to local classes at my gym as I didn’t want to show my head and before I wore headscarves or a wig I wouldn’t go out if it was too windy.”

Now Laura is planning to take Haydn swimming for the first time in two years and plays netball without a wig or scarf. After September is over, she’ll wear wigs and scarves for some occasions (“like meeting clients – I don’t want them to feel awkward”) but will have the confidence to go out without them too. “I feel like I have options again,” she says.

If you would like to donate to Alopecia UK, click here or go to Laura’s Just Giving page at justgiving.com/Laura-Griffiths11/

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