For Claire Fulham, losing her “gorgeous red hair” was something that changed her life in a hugely unexpected way.
Ms Fulham is a trichologist and has alopecia areata - which she describes as a “patchy type of alopecia”.
Alopecia is an autoimmune condition - where your body mistakenly targets something that is healthy - and Ms Fulham said alopecia is “something that will creep up” on a person.
For some people, hair loss is something that takes place slowly but for Ms Fulham, it all happened in just over a month.
“I lost 90% of my hair in five weeks,” she told The Hard Shoulder.
“I now have a full head of hair again - but I’ve got a big patch at the back of my head.”
On @IrelandAMTV3 this morning. Felt so great to share my story with everyone. Great meeting @sineaddesmond and Mark pic.twitter.com/UH21MJCu9Y
— Claire Fullam (@clairebalding1) July 21, 2016
Some medical professionals dismiss hair loss as a “vanity” issue but Ms Fulham is all too aware that for many it can be “terribly life changing”.
“I’ve seen all types of people suffer with hair loss,” she said.
“It is something that we should be conscious about and use preventative tools but also have some level of empathy towards them.
“It has changed so many people’s lives; it led me to addiction, I know people who haven’t left their house for 10 years.
“I know people whose marriages have broken down over their hair loss.”
'My job is to try and help people work this out'
Ms Fulham now works at Trua - an online scalp consultancy service that helps people deal with hair loss.
It is work she feels passionately about given her own experience and the amount of people out there who “just want a bit of money” out of people with hair loss.
“I took a really personal experience - which was the most horrendous experience of my life and I’ve had a few - into a positive story that now my job is to try and help people work this out,” she said.
The HSE advises anyone who thinks they may have alopecia areata to contact their GP.
You can listen back here:
Main image: Alopecia areata in a young woman. Picture by: Alamy.com
