WEBVTT - Alopecia: The Devastating Impact 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:02.720 Hey, fam I'm Jada Pinkett Smith and this is the 0:00:02.759 --> 0:00:06.080 Red Table Talk podcast, all your favorite episodes from the 0:00:06.120 --> 0:00:10.239 Facebook watch show in audio produced by Westbrook Audio and 0:00:10.360 --> 0:00:13.360 I Heart Radio. Please don't forget to rate and review 0:00:13.680 --> 0:00:16.960 on Apple Podcasts. This is a really important Red Table 0:00:17.000 --> 0:00:19.959 Talk on alopecia. Considering what I've been through with my 0:00:20.040 --> 0:00:23.279 own health and what happened at the oscars, thousands have 0:00:23.360 --> 0:00:26.120 reached out to me with their stories. I'm using this 0:00:26.239 --> 0:00:29.240 moment to give our alopecia family an opportunity to talk 0:00:29.280 --> 0:00:31.840 about what it's like to have this condition and to 0:00:31.960 --> 0:00:36.440 inform people about what alopecia actually is. Now about Oscar Night, 0:00:36.960 --> 0:00:40.800 My deepest hope is that these two intelligent, capable men 0:00:41.000 --> 0:00:44.960 have an opportunity to heal, talk this out, and reconcile 0:00:45.240 --> 0:00:48.040 the state of the world today. We need them both 0:00:48.320 --> 0:00:51.280 and we all actually need one another more than ever. 0:00:51.880 --> 0:00:55.000 Until then, Well and I are continuing to do what 0:00:55.040 --> 0:00:57.840 we have done for the last twenty eight years, and 0:00:57.920 --> 0:01:00.640 let's keep figuring out this thing called lie of together. 0:01:01.120 --> 0:01:07.040 Thank you for listening. A hundred and forty seven million 0:01:07.160 --> 0:01:11.800 people are living with alopecia, including me, and it's so 0:01:11.920 --> 0:01:15.440 much shame around having alopecia, and when you go bald 0:01:15.480 --> 0:01:17.880 and you don't have a choice, you know what I mean. 0:01:18.160 --> 0:01:21.039 I think the part that makes it most difficult for 0:01:21.120 --> 0:01:24.039 me is that it comes and goes. So when you're 0:01:24.080 --> 0:01:27.120 going through a spout of something and you've got to 0:01:27.160 --> 0:01:31.120 shave your head because and it's fallen out spotty, It's 0:01:31.200 --> 0:01:34.160 like I remember over the Christmas holidays, woke up and 0:01:34.200 --> 0:01:37.600 you had like this, Yeah that this that was like 0:01:37.640 --> 0:01:42.080 a scarring alopecia, scarring alopecia. It looked like you had 0:01:42.120 --> 0:01:45.760 had surgery on your skull. Yeah, it's stressful. Your patch girls, 0:01:45.760 --> 0:01:48.040 and enough patch comes out, and that gives me a 0:01:48.040 --> 0:01:51.480 lot of anxiety. Oh well, what's my hair gonna look 0:01:51.480 --> 0:01:54.600 like today. One of the reasons why I thought this 0:01:54.640 --> 0:01:58.040 show is really important because I had so much outreach 0:01:58.160 --> 0:02:01.480 from people who suffer from alopecia, have children who suffer 0:02:01.560 --> 0:02:04.880 from alopecia, and they don't talk about it because it's 0:02:05.040 --> 0:02:08.400 so much shame around it. And so there's so many 0:02:08.480 --> 0:02:11.880 people walking around who have alopecia that we don't even know. 0:02:12.280 --> 0:02:15.919 So I felt like it was so important to just 0:02:16.520 --> 0:02:21.160 allow the alopecia community our brothers and sisters to tell 0:02:21.200 --> 0:02:25.680 their story. I think that people don't understand what alopecia 0:02:25.840 --> 0:02:30.400 is and they don't understand the effects of it. Just 0:02:30.560 --> 0:02:36.080 three months ago, this story broke our hearts. Growing up 0:02:36.080 --> 0:02:39.680 in Indiana, twelve year old real alread love to read, 0:02:40.280 --> 0:02:43.160 sketch and play the French horn in our school band. 0:02:47.040 --> 0:02:50.880 In December, while attending school at home during the pandemic, 0:02:51.080 --> 0:02:54.400 Rial's mom noticed a bald spot on our head. Soon, 0:02:54.800 --> 0:02:58.239 Rio's hair began falling out by the handful. Rio was 0:02:58.320 --> 0:03:04.359 diagnosed with alopecia ariata, an autoimmune illness. They tried creams 0:03:04.400 --> 0:03:07.840 and painful injections to save her hair, but Rio made 0:03:07.880 --> 0:03:10.760 the decision to shave her head right before she started 0:03:10.800 --> 0:03:14.120 seventh grade. Her grandma bought her a beautiful brown wig 0:03:14.200 --> 0:03:16.560 with long layers that she couldn't wait to show off 0:03:16.600 --> 0:03:19.640 when she went back to school in person. Rio was 0:03:19.680 --> 0:03:22.920 heartbroken when her new look was mocked by her classmates. 0:03:23.600 --> 0:03:33.399 Constant bullying and relentless teasing took the ultimate hoal. On March, 0:03:35.760 --> 0:03:38.680 Rio took her own life. She was only twelve years old. 0:03:39.600 --> 0:03:43.520 Rio's mom, Nikki, is here. Thank you for being here 0:03:43.560 --> 0:03:46.640 with us. Thank you for having me tell us about 0:03:46.680 --> 0:03:53.120 your precious little girl. She was so smart. She was 0:03:53.200 --> 0:03:57.400 just brilliant, and she was funny. She was a great 0:03:57.480 --> 0:04:05.280 big sister. She loved agree and writing and sketching, and 0:04:05.400 --> 0:04:09.560 she loved being in the band. And with the hair loss, 0:04:09.920 --> 0:04:13.560 she was so strong. She just rapped it even when 0:04:13.600 --> 0:04:17.000 it was still falling out, and she just had these 0:04:17.040 --> 0:04:21.159 big bald patches. Tried the creams, they made her break out. 0:04:21.680 --> 0:04:24.159 We tried the injections. She took five of them in 0:04:24.240 --> 0:04:27.640 one day, but neither of them really did anything. And 0:04:27.720 --> 0:04:30.040 she was just like, I don't want to do that anymore, 0:04:30.400 --> 0:04:32.880 Like can we just shave my head? So we did 0:04:33.040 --> 0:04:36.400 and she just glowed. And then with school coming up, 0:04:36.480 --> 0:04:38.400 we got her that super cute wig and she loved it. 0:04:38.440 --> 0:04:41.479 She like glowed then, but at school, within a few 0:04:41.480 --> 0:04:45.320 weeks she was like, I don't want to wear it anymore. 0:04:45.400 --> 0:04:48.479 There's no point. She had a ripped off her head. 0:04:49.320 --> 0:04:51.599 She'd get smacked upside the head walking down the hallway, 0:04:52.040 --> 0:04:56.080 and that was within the first two weeks. It got 0:04:56.120 --> 0:04:59.440 really bad for her. What types of things did the 0:04:59.560 --> 0:05:02.760 kids to her? She was called a naked mole rat, 0:05:03.760 --> 0:05:06.960 She was called a bug eyed alien. She was called 0:05:07.320 --> 0:05:10.760 Mr and Mrs Clean. One of the last things she 0:05:10.800 --> 0:05:13.720 had told me she had a really bad day. She 0:05:13.839 --> 0:05:17.240 had a hat to where during the winter, some of 0:05:17.240 --> 0:05:20.280 her classrooms were really cold, and she walked into one 0:05:20.320 --> 0:05:23.279 class and one kid it was just like, real, put 0:05:23.279 --> 0:05:27.039 your hat back on. I can't stand the glare. Did 0:05:27.040 --> 0:05:29.800 the teachers know what was Yeah? I just can't imagine 0:05:29.800 --> 0:05:32.680 seeing a child be treated like that. And I'm the adult. 0:05:32.880 --> 0:05:36.839 I feel like our teachers nowadays, they're in such a 0:05:36.960 --> 0:05:40.120 hard position. Yeah, I feel like their backs are against 0:05:40.160 --> 0:05:43.960 the wall when it comes to administration and with parents, 0:05:44.600 --> 0:05:48.400 and Rio had some amazing teachers. Did you ever reach 0:05:48.480 --> 0:05:53.200 out to the other parents? Oh, I wanted to so bad. 0:05:53.440 --> 0:05:55.080 I just went through the channels of what I thought 0:05:55.080 --> 0:05:59.039 I was supposed to do, handling everything and trusting in 0:05:59.040 --> 0:06:01.839 the school, because really all I wanted to do was 0:06:01.880 --> 0:06:04.320 go in there and start just kicking things off of 0:06:04.360 --> 0:06:09.159 counters and screaming at the secretary and absolutely kicking kids. 0:06:10.040 --> 0:06:13.120 You can't do that, obviously, I'm fiery, and especially when 0:06:13.120 --> 0:06:16.159 it comes to my babies. But I knew we would 0:06:16.160 --> 0:06:19.320 not be taken seriously then, right, So I went through 0:06:19.320 --> 0:06:23.000 the channels I thought that you're supposed to and still 0:06:23.080 --> 0:06:26.880 was not taken seriously. Did you notice any changes in 0:06:26.920 --> 0:06:31.320 her behavior leading up to March four? Rio is always, 0:06:31.360 --> 0:06:32.800 even as a little one, would just go sit in 0:06:32.839 --> 0:06:35.120 her play room and play for hours at a time, 0:06:35.360 --> 0:06:39.560 and as a preteen, just the same. You know, she's 0:06:39.600 --> 0:06:42.400 in her room, she's reading a book, she's curled up 0:06:42.400 --> 0:06:45.599 in her bed on her iPad, and it was maybe 0:06:45.640 --> 0:06:48.560 a little more, but not I'm reclusive in a bad way, 0:06:48.600 --> 0:06:52.960 but that's just you know, twelve year old girl exactly. 0:06:53.200 --> 0:06:58.200 So it was time, exactly. We had a very open 0:06:58.320 --> 0:07:03.120 relationship with her, like we talked about everything, and she 0:07:03.240 --> 0:07:05.400 had a really bad day. It was about three weeks 0:07:05.440 --> 0:07:09.440 before I picked her up from my exes after work 0:07:10.320 --> 0:07:12.840 and she got in the car and she just lost it, 0:07:13.280 --> 0:07:17.119 just stabbing and yelling. She was just cussing up a storm. 0:07:17.200 --> 0:07:20.440 So I know, like, this is very serious. We gave 0:07:20.480 --> 0:07:22.400 her a choice. You can either stay where you're at 0:07:23.840 --> 0:07:25.560 and we will go in there and we will have 0:07:25.600 --> 0:07:29.400 a sit down, which we did, or we'll pull you, 0:07:29.880 --> 0:07:33.480 put you somewhere else with a new risk not having 0:07:33.560 --> 0:07:38.440 your best friend in this bullying. Still following you around, 0:07:38.680 --> 0:07:41.480 or you can home school. But we told her, like, 0:07:41.520 --> 0:07:44.120 don't make any rash decisions, like think on it for 0:07:44.160 --> 0:07:46.160 the rest of the week, take the weekend, we'll talk 0:07:46.160 --> 0:07:50.560 about it Monday. And that week I saw an article 0:07:50.560 --> 0:07:53.520 about a little boy in Utah, twelve year old little 0:07:53.520 --> 0:07:58.920 boy who was bullied to death and did the same 0:07:58.960 --> 0:08:04.360 exact thing that she and I showed her that story, 0:08:05.800 --> 0:08:09.760 like rio, this is my worst fear. Do not ever 0:08:09.920 --> 0:08:15.240 think that this is the answer, because I will go 0:08:15.320 --> 0:08:17.840 to war for you, child, and not just me, but 0:08:18.840 --> 0:08:24.920 my husband, your dad, your stepmom, your sister's dad, like all, 0:08:25.320 --> 0:08:28.880 you have an army of people. And she says, I know, Mom, 0:08:28.920 --> 0:08:33.200 I know. I think we've all agreed. At this point, 0:08:34.720 --> 0:08:39.079 she knew that she was loved and she murdered herself. Yeah, 0:08:39.360 --> 0:08:45.079 knowing that we will do something. We have to do something. 0:08:45.720 --> 0:08:49.480 We can't sit back and just watch this. Tell us 0:08:49.559 --> 0:08:51.920 what the morning of the fourteenth was like for you. 0:08:54.760 --> 0:09:02.080 If that's okay, it's awful. Um, it got up like normal. 0:09:03.200 --> 0:09:06.040 I have a seven year old avery the girls were 0:09:06.080 --> 0:09:09.960 at the time sharing a bedroom. I went into Riel's 0:09:10.000 --> 0:09:11.760 room like I always do. I thought it was weird 0:09:12.360 --> 0:09:16.120 that the lamp was still on and the way the 0:09:16.200 --> 0:09:21.400 room was set up, I did not see her. Avery girls, 0:09:21.400 --> 0:09:24.800 time to get up like I always do, and Avery, 0:09:25.280 --> 0:09:29.200 thank god. One I barely open stumble out into the 0:09:29.240 --> 0:09:33.040 living room and like Rio, because that's normally what I 0:09:33.040 --> 0:09:36.240 would do. And I'd get like a like a grumble 0:09:37.280 --> 0:09:42.040 and be like, Okay, she's awake, and didn't hear anything. 0:09:42.880 --> 0:09:49.920 So yelled again and hear anything, and then it just 0:09:50.000 --> 0:09:54.400 kind of got this weird, something's wrong. And so then 0:09:54.440 --> 0:09:58.240 I went all the way into a room and she 0:09:59.440 --> 0:10:02.680 had hung her is sop with a pair of jeans 0:10:03.520 --> 0:10:13.280 from her love bed, and I just grabbed her and 0:10:13.360 --> 0:10:17.800 started screaming, just Rio. And as soon as I saw her, 0:10:17.840 --> 0:10:20.600 I knew, And as soon as I grabbed her, I 0:10:20.800 --> 0:10:26.839 really knew because she was cold, she was stiff. God. 0:10:27.280 --> 0:10:29.320 I just started screaming and screaming, and I ran out 0:10:29.320 --> 0:10:33.600 into my kitchen and I fell and I just kept screaming, 0:10:33.720 --> 0:10:36.480 and then my husband came up and I just said 0:10:36.559 --> 0:10:40.000 Rio was dead. He was what? Then he goes in 0:10:40.040 --> 0:10:44.680 there and he starts screaming and and then it's it's 0:10:44.720 --> 0:10:48.120 just a blur. Yeah. I called nine, and I could 0:10:48.200 --> 0:10:51.000 hear the sirens right away. We lived very close to 0:10:51.000 --> 0:10:54.720 a fire station. But even then I knew, like, there's nothing, 0:10:56.360 --> 0:11:01.400 there's nothing you can do. And the officer there walked 0:11:01.440 --> 0:11:04.760 in and he said, where is she and kind of pointed, 0:11:05.559 --> 0:11:07.800 and because anotherthing like I didn't didn't take her down, 0:11:08.760 --> 0:11:12.840 did anything to do that. I just knew what we 0:11:12.920 --> 0:11:16.880 needed help. And he looked at me and at him, 0:11:16.920 --> 0:11:19.400 and then it just saught. I was one of her 0:11:19.480 --> 0:11:24.319 dad's old best friends, and so he, I mean, realizes 0:11:24.360 --> 0:11:26.800 who I am and who who he's about to find. 0:11:27.920 --> 0:11:29.840 I mean, I have pictures of this man holding her 0:11:29.840 --> 0:11:36.920 as an infant. Oh my goodness. And then it was 0:11:37.000 --> 0:11:42.480 just a flood of uniforms and you could see it 0:11:42.520 --> 0:11:45.000 in every single one of their faces of just like 0:11:46.679 --> 0:11:53.439 this beautiful twelve year old girl this is. And then 0:11:53.480 --> 0:11:57.440 it's just no one prepares you just sign a death 0:11:57.480 --> 0:12:04.560 certificate for your child. We're watching a Corners fan pull 0:12:04.679 --> 0:12:08.440 up and then having to sit your seven year old 0:12:08.440 --> 0:12:11.560 down and tell her that her sister's death. It's horrible. 0:12:17.200 --> 0:12:28.760 H m hmm. It's the worst of life I can imagine. 0:12:29.840 --> 0:12:33.080 Thank you for just sharing this. I just feel like 0:12:33.120 --> 0:12:40.559 that's really important for children to understand that communication and 0:12:40.679 --> 0:12:44.520 that amount of pain that's left behind when we do 0:12:44.679 --> 0:12:49.360 things to ourselves. We're not the only ones who are affected, right, 0:12:50.120 --> 0:12:52.520 people love us. Just feel like this is going to 0:12:52.640 --> 0:12:57.120 be so healing in so many ways, gifts such understanding 0:12:57.160 --> 0:13:01.360 of the devastation around this condition. Yes, it's so important. 0:13:01.800 --> 0:13:06.960 Did really leave a note behind? She left too? Okay, 0:13:07.840 --> 0:13:11.320 the police took the one that they had found. We 0:13:11.360 --> 0:13:14.560 have not read that one yet. Her dad found a 0:13:14.600 --> 0:13:18.360 second one in her room. Um, there was no date 0:13:18.400 --> 0:13:20.360 on it. So she like listed all of us out 0:13:20.360 --> 0:13:23.040 in the beginning and apologized and said she loved us, 0:13:23.080 --> 0:13:27.120 and then at the very in the last paragraph, she said, 0:13:27.120 --> 0:13:29.880 I'm sorry Mom, and I'm sorry Dad. I love you, 0:13:29.920 --> 0:13:32.040 and there's so much left to say. I just can't. 0:13:32.480 --> 0:13:36.120 I just can't, and then asked to be cremated and 0:13:36.400 --> 0:13:43.240 put with my mom. And oh, that was really rough 0:13:43.400 --> 0:13:47.680 because that was kind of the plan already. Yeah, but no, 0:13:47.760 --> 0:13:51.080 I haven't seen the first one, and I'm really torn 0:13:51.600 --> 0:13:58.200 on that, Yeah, because no answer is going to be 0:13:58.400 --> 0:14:08.360 good enough. But also that's literally all she wrote. But 0:14:08.440 --> 0:14:13.720 there's nothing left to say, and once I see that, yeah, 0:14:13.960 --> 0:14:17.160 I don't know. Really tore it. I don't understand, but 0:14:17.280 --> 0:14:26.840 I do understand. How are you guys healing as a family. 0:14:28.400 --> 0:14:30.800 I worry about all of us a lot. I feel 0:14:30.840 --> 0:14:34.680 like I have to stay strong, but like I worry 0:14:34.720 --> 0:14:38.000 a loud about her dad. Cassie and her step mom 0:14:38.000 --> 0:14:40.240 put it really good. The other day, we're all in 0:14:40.320 --> 0:14:44.160 this fog. I genuinely don't know what day it is. 0:14:44.800 --> 0:14:47.320 You can't see that grief monsters there, but you know 0:14:47.400 --> 0:14:49.480 they're there, and they're just gonna come grab you at 0:14:49.520 --> 0:14:53.400 any second. Eating has gotten a little easier. Literally have 0:14:53.520 --> 0:14:58.200 to eat to stay alive. I can't fall asleep for 0:14:58.280 --> 0:15:00.640 the life of me. Once I'm asleep, I'm all right. 0:15:00.720 --> 0:15:02.840 My husband's kind of the opposite. He'll fall asleep, but 0:15:02.880 --> 0:15:09.520 then he's constantly waking up. Yeah, we did start going 0:15:09.600 --> 0:15:13.120 to therapy altogether. We just had our first one a 0:15:13.160 --> 0:15:16.760 couple of weeks ago. I just can't imagine how difficult 0:15:16.840 --> 0:15:20.200 this is for you. And then you have to put 0:15:20.280 --> 0:15:27.480 on this mask of break because you're not the child. Yep, 0:15:27.760 --> 0:15:33.040 you know, so sweetevery she was a wise old soul 0:15:33.120 --> 0:15:37.760 from the very beginning, and and she's just seven year old. Yes, yeah, 0:15:38.280 --> 0:15:41.640 she's doing okay, but she's not doing okay, And I mean, 0:15:41.640 --> 0:15:44.880 how do you process that seven? How do you sit 0:15:44.920 --> 0:15:47.640 down and tell your seven year old that her sister 0:15:47.760 --> 0:15:51.400 is gone? But be that by her own hand. She'll 0:15:51.440 --> 0:15:55.720 say things like, oh, I wish Sissy, what does decided 0:15:55.760 --> 0:15:59.520 to stay alive? Or I wish Rio was still here. 0:16:00.160 --> 0:16:02.200 I'll say me to Avery and she's like, yeah, but 0:16:02.240 --> 0:16:05.320 you think she knows how clouds feel. Now. She's just 0:16:05.400 --> 0:16:08.440 the sweetest and she just got Student of the Month 0:16:08.480 --> 0:16:11.240 for April and Avery was like, do you think Real 0:16:11.320 --> 0:16:14.000 would be proud of me? She's proud of you. They 0:16:14.000 --> 0:16:18.360 were the best of friends. And then like she was 0:16:18.400 --> 0:16:24.520 in there with her, and that scares me to my court. 0:16:24.920 --> 0:16:29.160 I don't think she saw anything, but I literally like 0:16:29.240 --> 0:16:33.360 she was right there and some weird, kind of magical 0:16:33.640 --> 0:16:40.000 something happened in that room where she's just absorbed some 0:16:40.160 --> 0:16:42.840 of Rio now or I don't know if that sounds crazy, 0:16:43.000 --> 0:16:47.600 but just that's not crazy at all. It's hard. The 0:16:47.640 --> 0:16:50.480 hardest thing. We knew Rial was in pain, and we 0:16:50.600 --> 0:16:55.080 knew that she was struggling, but she was such a fighter, 0:16:55.200 --> 0:17:00.480 and you know then not even two weeks later, Oskers 0:17:00.600 --> 0:17:05.440 was on. It's just like what is the universe doing 0:17:05.600 --> 0:17:09.119 right now? This is crazy. People are going to be 0:17:09.160 --> 0:17:12.680 googling what is alopecia? What is this that we've never 0:17:12.720 --> 0:17:15.440 heard of? It's not a joke. I mean the allopation 0:17:15.480 --> 0:17:19.040 community was already in an uproar. We had heard from 0:17:19.119 --> 0:17:22.560 so many people. I didn't realize how huge and amazing 0:17:22.600 --> 0:17:27.600 that community is. It's one of those could have shut 0:17:27.640 --> 0:17:30.520 it what ups Yeah, if I really wish it would 0:17:30.560 --> 0:17:34.480 have found them for her sooner instead of them coming 0:17:34.520 --> 0:17:40.120 and speaking at her funeral. Well. Real's death was heart 0:17:40.240 --> 0:17:44.119 crushing for so many of us in the alopecia community, 0:17:44.960 --> 0:17:50.359 and there were so many that didn't know her, but 0:17:51.040 --> 0:18:01.119 they definitely wanted to send a message. My heart just 0:18:01.440 --> 0:18:05.600 breaks for Rio's family. In middle school, I was bullied 0:18:05.760 --> 0:18:09.199 relentlessly for losing my hair, and it was one of 0:18:09.240 --> 0:18:12.720 the hardest times in my life. But I hope that 0:18:12.760 --> 0:18:16.679 you guys know that we will all honor Rio's memory 0:18:17.320 --> 0:18:21.320 and uplift her spirit. No child should ever feel less 0:18:21.359 --> 0:18:24.240 than because with their hair, and no family should have 0:18:24.280 --> 0:18:27.440 to go through what you are enduring right now. Rio 0:18:27.640 --> 0:18:31.040 has touched so many people's hearts throughout the whole world. 0:18:31.359 --> 0:18:33.680 I feel like Rio is a part of my life 0:18:33.680 --> 0:18:36.120 and a part of my heart. It is so tragic 0:18:36.200 --> 0:18:41.520 and made me want to scream and cry. My name 0:18:41.600 --> 0:18:44.200 is Grace and I live in Gresham, Oregon, and I'm 0:18:44.280 --> 0:18:48.639 very sorry for your love. And the Alopecia community in 0:18:48.760 --> 0:18:51.840 d is here, and we're gonna put an end to bullying. 0:18:52.400 --> 0:18:54.639 I would like to say I'm so so sorry to 0:18:54.760 --> 0:18:58.639 Rio's family for the loss of their sweet, innocent, beautiful 0:18:58.800 --> 0:19:02.639 little Rio. Everyone in the Alopecia community promises to carry 0:19:02.680 --> 0:19:05.000 on her name and make sure that no little girl 0:19:05.119 --> 0:19:09.240 or boy ever feels alone or ashamed of alopecia. We 0:19:09.280 --> 0:19:11.760 are with you and we're here for you. I can't 0:19:11.760 --> 0:19:13.960 imagine what you're going through, but just know that real 0:19:14.119 --> 0:19:18.080 story is going to inspire and impact so many and 0:19:18.119 --> 0:19:23.920 I know that she will be the reason that change happens. Well, 0:19:24.680 --> 0:19:33.720 I have to agree, Yeah, it's like real story through 0:19:35.880 --> 0:19:39.679 that's really difficult. Time has been really inspirational for me. 0:19:41.119 --> 0:19:48.040 I always knew that baby would changed. I hate it's 0:19:48.080 --> 0:19:53.399 this way. When I heard her story, it affected me 0:19:53.480 --> 0:19:56.920 so profoundly. I feel like I'm a part of such 0:19:56.960 --> 0:20:01.240 a beautiful tribe. Alopecia communities such a beautiful, amazing trap 0:20:02.600 --> 0:20:05.800 and um, I feel like I have this family that 0:20:05.880 --> 0:20:10.000 beautiful Rio is a part of. And so just thank 0:20:10.040 --> 0:20:12.639 you once again for your courage or your strength and 0:20:12.800 --> 0:20:17.280 willingness to share her light, to share her story, to 0:20:17.359 --> 0:20:20.520 share the story of your family, because it just helps 0:20:20.520 --> 0:20:24.760 to educate us. All I have to thank you deeply. 0:20:26.840 --> 0:20:31.080 Dr Mina Singh is a board certified dermatologist and a 0:20:31.200 --> 0:20:37.040 hair transplant surgeon. Can you tell us exactly what alopecia is. 0:20:37.200 --> 0:20:41.040 There's a lot of confusion around it. Alopecia is just 0:20:41.200 --> 0:20:44.320 an umbrella term for hair loss, but there are many 0:20:44.400 --> 0:20:48.200 different forms of alopecia. The kind that we were all 0:20:48.240 --> 0:20:51.760 discussing just now is the autoimmune kind. So that is 0:20:51.840 --> 0:20:56.040 alopecia ariata. It's affecting about seven million individuals in the 0:20:56.119 --> 0:20:59.400 United States. That causes rapid hair loss where you can 0:20:59.400 --> 0:21:02.800 get so pullar smooth bald patches, and it can affect 0:21:02.800 --> 0:21:05.920 the eyebrows and eyelashes. If it affects the rest of 0:21:05.960 --> 0:21:08.040 the body where you have no hair, we call that 0:21:08.160 --> 0:21:13.760 alopecia universalice. Typically that occurs in individuals under thirty. Both 0:21:13.760 --> 0:21:17.560 of these types of alopecia are autoimmune, which means that 0:21:17.600 --> 0:21:21.080 your body is mistakenly attacking the hair follicle. We don't 0:21:21.080 --> 0:21:23.320 know entirely what causes it, but we do know that 0:21:23.359 --> 0:21:26.800 there may be a genetic predisposition. So I think you 0:21:26.920 --> 0:21:31.359 have alopecia ariana and you were getting the injections. Was 0:21:31.400 --> 0:21:33.919 it painful? Yeah? I was shocked. I was like, I 0:21:33.920 --> 0:21:39.480 couldn't do that. Oh. The steroid injections with that involves 0:21:39.520 --> 0:21:42.480 are several pokes on the scalp in the affected areas. 0:21:42.960 --> 0:21:45.680 I have ways to make it less painful. Sometimes we 0:21:45.800 --> 0:21:50.359 use vibration or pressure, and generally they go by really quick, 0:21:50.400 --> 0:21:52.200 so if you can just bear with us and get 0:21:52.240 --> 0:21:55.639 through it, it happens really quickly. Yeah it didn't work 0:21:55.680 --> 0:21:58.679 for you. Yeah, it just had to go so often, 0:21:59.359 --> 0:22:05.000 you know, and if you miss it, I just I'm done. Yeah, 0:22:05.200 --> 0:22:09.560 And unfortunately, with autoimmune alopecia there is no cure, so 0:22:10.080 --> 0:22:14.400 the first line treatment are steroid injections. They directly target 0:22:14.480 --> 0:22:18.040 the inflammation around the hair bulb, so they're suppressing the 0:22:18.080 --> 0:22:21.000 immune system and often we do around eighty pokes or 0:22:21.040 --> 0:22:23.840 eighty injections just into the scalp. We try to do 0:22:23.920 --> 0:22:26.120 them once a month. Because when they start to wear 0:22:26.160 --> 0:22:29.800 off after several weeks. So with Black women, we manifest 0:22:29.840 --> 0:22:33.439 other forms of hair loss more frequently. Traction alopecia is 0:22:33.480 --> 0:22:36.199 the most common form, and that's where we tend to 0:22:36.200 --> 0:22:38.600 lose the frontal hairline or we say lose our edges 0:22:38.880 --> 0:22:42.000 from tight hairstyles, and that can occur in about one 0:22:42.040 --> 0:22:44.760 out of three adult Black women. And then there's another 0:22:44.840 --> 0:22:46.879 form of hair loss more common in Black women, and 0:22:46.880 --> 0:22:50.680 that is a scarring, permanent, destructive form called c c 0:22:50.880 --> 0:22:55.720 c A or central centrifugal sickatricial alopecia that can destroy 0:22:55.760 --> 0:22:58.280 the hair follicles. There is now known to be a 0:22:58.320 --> 0:23:01.920 genetic predisposition to this. Tight hairstyles can make it worse. 0:23:02.000 --> 0:23:05.960 Possibly relaxers things like dan druff may exacerbate it. The 0:23:06.040 --> 0:23:08.639 treatment for c c c A is very similar to 0:23:08.720 --> 0:23:12.080 how we treat autoimmune alopecia, so we will often start 0:23:12.119 --> 0:23:16.439 with steroid injections. Early recognition, diagnosis, and management is the 0:23:16.520 --> 0:23:19.520 best way to prevent c c C A from becoming 0:23:19.760 --> 0:23:24.360 more severe and more scarring. I always advise that if 0:23:24.400 --> 0:23:27.399 you have hair loss, please do see a dermatologist that 0:23:27.440 --> 0:23:30.520 specializes in hair loss because we don't want to miss 0:23:30.520 --> 0:23:34.520 the diagnoses. So Gina Knight worked in the hair industry 0:23:34.560 --> 0:23:37.359 for over a decade before losing her hair from c 0:23:37.560 --> 0:23:40.720 C c A. She wrote a recent article about living 0:23:40.760 --> 0:23:46.160 with alopecia. Gina joins us from home in England. First 0:23:46.200 --> 0:23:49.639 of all, just watching what's been going on abouts fall, 0:23:50.840 --> 0:23:54.240 I'm emotional. It's just such an important issue. So thank you, 0:23:54.320 --> 0:23:57.520 thank you so much, thank you, Gina. Well, tell us 0:23:57.560 --> 0:24:00.760 what your journey is like. Gina, I've had this for 0:24:00.960 --> 0:24:04.320 over a decade now. I was pregnant with my first child. 0:24:04.359 --> 0:24:09.439 I had a very small circular spot of hair loss 0:24:09.600 --> 0:24:12.080 and I thought, I absolutely don't know what this is. 0:24:12.280 --> 0:24:17.919 So I went to the doctors and unfortunately my diagnosis 0:24:18.119 --> 0:24:20.720 was all over the place. He said it was probably 0:24:20.800 --> 0:24:25.240 part of my postpartum shedding, and as someone who listens 0:24:25.280 --> 0:24:28.600 to her doctor, I ignored it. And especially with c 0:24:28.760 --> 0:24:31.400 C c A, that's the worst thing you can do 0:24:31.640 --> 0:24:35.000 is ignore the hair loss, because that spot grew and 0:24:35.000 --> 0:24:39.600 grew and grew, and eventually I couldn't hide it or 0:24:39.920 --> 0:24:43.560 shield it. Gina, what did your hair mean to you? 0:24:44.119 --> 0:24:47.920 It has been said that I am hair obsessed and 0:24:48.320 --> 0:24:50.760 there's a reason behind that. So I was raised in 0:24:50.920 --> 0:24:54.399 private foster care with a white family at eleven months old, 0:24:54.920 --> 0:24:58.679 and God rest my mother's soul, she could not do 0:24:58.760 --> 0:25:02.840 my hair. I always felt that my hair was problematic, 0:25:03.080 --> 0:25:05.679 and up until the age of eight, she used to 0:25:05.680 --> 0:25:08.400 shave off my hair, cut it really short. And that's 0:25:08.440 --> 0:25:12.400 where I figure I get the kind of anxiety from 0:25:12.480 --> 0:25:16.000 having a bald head. I just feels like, oh, you're 0:25:16.080 --> 0:25:19.840 you're problematic. So at the age of eight, I said, please, 0:25:19.880 --> 0:25:23.000 don't cut my hair again, please, And I started to 0:25:23.080 --> 0:25:25.320 learn how to do my own hair, and it just 0:25:25.400 --> 0:25:29.240 became such an important part of how I would connect 0:25:29.359 --> 0:25:33.640 with my Nigerian heritage because when I went home, there 0:25:33.680 --> 0:25:36.080 was no one for me to relate to. So hair 0:25:36.440 --> 0:25:39.040 was my way of relating to other Black women. And 0:25:39.280 --> 0:25:42.440 it's something I've taken from starting my blog and then 0:25:42.480 --> 0:25:46.000 going on to work in their hair industry and becoming 0:25:46.359 --> 0:25:49.879 a wig designer who specializes in Afro textures because I 0:25:49.920 --> 0:25:54.920 am obsessed um, and then to sort of then lose that, 0:25:55.960 --> 0:25:59.720 it definitely felt like I'd lost a huge part of myself. 0:26:00.040 --> 0:26:02.680 My hair was just such an important part of everything 0:26:02.680 --> 0:26:05.960 about me. I could always connect with other women because 0:26:06.280 --> 0:26:09.040 we had the same hair, We felt the same about 0:26:09.040 --> 0:26:11.280 our hair, we had the same woes, and we had 0:26:11.320 --> 0:26:16.959 the same joys. Right, I completely understand that. Yeah, I 0:26:17.000 --> 0:26:19.959 get that completely, and that being your only way of 0:26:19.960 --> 0:26:23.480 feeling connected. That goes deeper than just that's like I 0:26:23.880 --> 0:26:26.680 lost my corn of where I felt I was connected, 0:26:26.960 --> 0:26:30.640 you know what I mean? It makes a lot of sense. So, yeah, 0:26:30.840 --> 0:26:34.080 it's been a journey. I'm finally a good place with 0:26:34.119 --> 0:26:37.240 my hair loss, but it's definitely been something that has 0:26:37.280 --> 0:26:42.639 taken an emotional toll on me. Yea, Dr Mina, what 0:26:42.800 --> 0:26:45.520