WORDS: FIONA FORD
Real life in my experience
Lesley Walsh, 54, decided to embrace her hair loss
Sitting in front of the TV beside my husband Jerry, then 46, I ran a hand over the base of my skull. It was December 2013 and I could feel a smooth patch the size of a 50p coin. Worry coursed through me, I loved my long locks.
‘What’s this?’ I asked.
Jerry carefully examined my head. ‘Just a small bald patch,’ he soothed.
Panic took hold.
I booked an appointment with my GP. She explained there was no definite test, but diagnosed me with alopecia areata – an autoimmune condition that can lead to unpredictable hair loss.
‘It often develops for no reason,’ she explained. ‘It’s more than likely your hair will grow back.’
I hoped she was right, but over the coming weeks, clumps of hair began appearing in the shower. I felt anxious and upset but tried to hide my worries from my children, Maddie, then seven and Alexander, four.
Thankfully the kids were too young to ask many questions, but Jerry was amazing. He held me when I cried and gave me the confidence to try wigs to cover my patchy hair.
I’d wear them out and to my job in tech but they were so itchy. A couple of years passed and a friend introduced me to a dietician who claimed cleaning up my diet would restore balance to my body and encourage hair growth. Within weeks I was drinking protein shakes, taking multivitamin supplements and had cut out all cakes, bread and sweets.
It was tough but I was elated when my hair grew back and for the next few years I stuck to my new diet.
Yet when we went into lockdown in 2020, it was hard to be so committed in the face of so much stress. I turned to food for comfort, eating biscuits, cakes and crisps and my hair fell out again. By now I felt too exhausted to hide the baldness, especially as my hair was going at the sides as well as at the top of my head. Staring into the bathroom mirror in May 2020, I had an overwhelming urge to take control. ‘I’m going to shave my head,’ I told Jerry and the children, who knew ab
