0pt 0in">A makeup artist named Emily McClelland, 21, from Londonderry, Northern Ireland was developed alopecia at the age of sixteen.

Her beautician told her that she had a small patch at the back of her head. As it increased and different patches created, she went to her specialist who quickly analyzed her with Alopecia areata.

At first, she covered the patches by utilizing brown colored dry shampoo and after that by wearing her hair in a ponytail, at last, she found an ideal wig for herself.

‘I want to educate people about it and how normal alopecia is,’ explained Emily. ‘People message me saying how ashamed they feel to have it, but I think that’s due to how unknown it is. There’s no point worrying about something you can’t change.’

At first, Emily was ‘unbothered’ when the beautician revealed to her she had a small patch at the back of her head. As it increased in size, she googled it and went to the specialist.

Her specialist diagnosed her with alopecia areata. Following the conclusion, Emily’s companions would try different things with new haircuts and styles, while she found that a ponytail was the main alternative to cover her patches.

In spite of all that effort, Emily’s uncovered scalp would appear, driving gazes and remarks from her friends at school. But these remarks made her stronger than before.

A crucial trap she at the end learned was to utilize brown colored dry shampoo to hide the patches by coordinating the region to her hair shading, making the bare region emerge less. Emily began wearing a hairpiece over her dispersed hair at the age of 20. However, it put a huge strain on her normal hair, making it fall out.

After the hairpiece experiment, Emily started wearing a hat to cover her scalp. Before her 21st birthday, she found an ideal wig for herself through the NHS.

‘Thankfully, I got an appointment with the NHS to try on wigs and ended up getting my wig a week before my twenty-first birthday, so I was very happy about that,’ she said. ‘Now, I love the positives of wearing wigs. I can change my hair color three times a day if I want to.

Emily finally shaved her thin natural hair in October 2018. Now, she has confidence and regularly shares photographs on her Instagram to standardize alopecia.