Aria, 27, first noticed her hair falling out after she had Covid in 2021. “It started receding at the temples,” she says, adding that, after two further bouts of Covid, the hair on the side of her head is now fluffy and sparse. A part-time nanny studying for a master’s in speech therapy, she hides the problem with a fringe. When she goes out, she wears a cap or headband to anchor it down, but activities such as walking in the wind or swimming feel impossible. “Even a fringe is not protective enough because at any minute someone could flick it up,” she says. “It makes me feel so vulnerable.”
Aria started watching YouTube and TikTok videos of hair transplants two years ago. Now she has decided to take the plunge herself, and in a few days’ time she will check into at a clinic in Portsmouth, Hampshire, for a procedure that will cost £5,500.
