I Went Bald At 24

I've been anxious since the womb, but nothing prepared me for my body's most visible betrayal.

By Julia Cancilla

In Italian folk magic, they say your hair holds power – a belief passed down through generations of women who understood that beauty wasn’t just about vanity, but about identity and strength. My relationship with my hair has always been a love story. As a child, my curls were big and untamed. Over time, my hair straightened out, but it was always extremely long growing up (past my butt long – I have attachment issues). Through the awkward teenage years of questionable haircuts and those regrettable DIY hair dye attempts, through the straightening iron obsession of my high school years, to bleaching half my head – my hair has been my crown. And it was about more than looking good, it was about feeling like myself.

“Did you know you had some bald spots around the back of your head?” my hairdresser leaned in and whispered during a routine trim. My heart sank. No, I absolutely did not know that I had bald spots, and I definitely wasn’t prepared for what I was about to see in the mirror.

I have thick, long hair. Always have (minus my few years of bitchy bobs). I am used to seeing a lot of hair fall out in the shower and strands all over my bathroom floor. So when my hair was, as was now apparent, falling out in clumps in the shower, I shrugged it off.

The dreaded bald spot. There were three of them total.