'I've been losing my hair since I was four. Here's how I learned to accept it.'

My name is Georgia Gardner, I’m 22 years old, and I’ve had Alopecia Areata since I was four.

George Orwell once said that happiness can only exist in acceptance. I tend to agree with him. What he forgot to mention is that acceptance, like happiness, is not a moment or event, but a process.

In my 18 years with Alopecia, I’ve experienced it in almost all forms. Within 18 months of finding my first small patch, I had lost most of my eyebrows and eyelashes and began attending school. It actually took quite a while to diagnose my hair loss as Alopecia Areata. I remember going to have a blood test when I was small. I cried so much about the needle that the nurse gave me a Red Cross teddy bear. I named him Sad Cat.

I didn’t get bullied too much during primary school; I was a very loud and confident child, which I think helped. In one encounter with the school bully, she yelled, “Look at Georgia’s bald head” at me after class one day. I only yelled back, “Look at your fat mouth”. She didn’t bother me again. I also had a lot of really good, supportive friends. One friend decided to cut her own hair to ‘be like me’, on the night before school photos.

But things changed when I went to high school. Unfortunately, I was put into a class with none of my friends from primary school and felt extremely lonely.

I tried to hide my Alopecia. I would wear wigs constantly. I didn’t tell my closest friends and was terrified that people at school would find out. I withdrew. I would panic if someone came to the door and I didn’t have my wig on. I refused to go swimming or on sleepovers. When people asked about my baldness, I would pretend I didn’t know what they were talking about. I felt like I had to wear my wig and hide myself all the time. I felt very isolated and alone.

As I got older, I came to the realisation that in order to be happy, I had to find a way of accepting my Alopecia. For me that involved being honest about my hair loss – both to myself and others. I started wearing headscarves and hats, until a few years ago, when I stopped covering my head at all.

Many people don’t understand Alopecia. I get stared at all the time. People ask me ‘if I have cancer’ or touch my scalp without asking. Some people are really insensitive, and unfortunately, others are downright rude and insulting.

The modern world places such importance on appearances. So much of what we see of the world is the final product – we don’t see what things look like before the makeup, the airbrush and Photoshop. Everything gets viewed through Instagram-filter-coloured glasses, so we start to think that the edited version of reality is how things really are. We think that everyone else has better hair than us, is prettier than us, thinner, more adventuresome, more exciting.

From childhood to teenage years and adulthood, the images and stories we see on the media have a huge effect on us all. I’d love to see more diversity in the stories and images we project, particularly for the next generation. All children should be able to grow up with heroes and heroines who look and feel like them – whether we’re talking about race, religion, disability, body type, or medical conditions like Alopecia Areata.

November 13-20 is Alopecia Areata Awareness Week, which seeks to build more awareness and understanding about the condition. For more information, visit http://www.aaaf.org.au/events/

Anyone affected by Alopecia can find support through Australia Alopecia Areata Foundation. For more information visit www.aaaf.org.au. You can also help others like Georgia by donating your hair for more information visit www.aaaf.org.au