A model who was left bald from alopecia says she used to be so mortified by her hair loss that she even wore a wig in the shower. She's now come to embrace her look, however, and is proud to be "bald and beautiful". Christie Valdiserri, now 29, first realised there was a small bald patch at the back of her head back in 2016, just three weeks after she graduated from university.
One year later, after the Penn State University grad had moved to New York to work as a dance teacher, her hair began falling out "very rapidly", and despite undergoing intense treatment, she was eventually left completely bald.
Christie, from Florida, California, recalled: "It was such a traumatic experience. I'd lost all my hair, I had no job and I wasn't the blonde, popular, college sorority girl anymore. I'm naturally a really energetic, positive person. But alopecia just sucked the soul out of me.
"I didn't want to date, I didn't want to audition for any modelling or dance roles. I just bought a blonde wig, glued it on, and decided to coast through life, avoiding as many questions as possible."
At this point, Christie, who would wear wigs to cover her baldness, says her mental health was at a real low point, and she would cry herself "to sleep every night."
She continued: "If anyone made any sort of comment about my hair - even something like, 'are you a natural blonde?' - I'd just break down.
"I think it's because I didn't feel authentically myself. I kept my wig on for everything - even exercise, showering, and yoga. I missed my hair so much. I was stuck in a really dark hole."
In 2018, Christie made the move to California to pursue modelling, and it was at this point that she spotted an open casting call for Sports Illustrated. Her hair had, by this time, begun to grow back in patches, and she was also trying to stimulate growth by taking daily vitamins.
By the end of 2018, however, Christie's hair once again started falling out again in chunks, and so, lacking in confidence, she decided to withdraw her application.
By May 2019, she felt confident enough to attend another open casting call for Sports Illustrated, for the opportunity to model in a beach-style photoshoot for the publication's Swimsuit 2020 issue.
Christie said: "A part of me was destroyed after my hair fell out again. But a bigger part of me just wanted to go for it. I didn't want to hide anymore. I thought, 'I'm doing it. I'm putting my bikini on and I'll be hairless and I'm doing it. I shaved every last bit of hair off. I was going to be bald and beautiful."
In February 2020, Christie went for the magazine shoot, which she looks back on as an "amazing" experience, and the issue was published in September of that same year.
Christie remembered: "The hair loss was still so fresh and raw when we did it. It was one of the first times I felt I could be authentically myself. It was amazing - I felt so powerful and beautiful.
"I never, in a million years, thought I'd be shaving my head before a shoot. I'd never felt more worthy of praise and love. This was my strength. I turned something really horrible into something incredibly powerful."
Once Covid hit, Christie's modelling work dried up, and so she began virtually teaching dance to children with alopecia, aged between three and 13 years old. It was at this point that she was inspired to start her online community, the Baldtourage.
Christie explained: "So much of my identity was in my hair while I was in college. My friends and I used to call ourselves the 'Blondetourage'.
"I decided to reclaim the name and start my group, the Baldtourage, for anyone living with alopecia to come and be their true selves."
The community now boasts 2,000 members, and after lockdown ended, Christie began hosting in-person events, including wine nights for adults and runways in community halls for "kids to walk down and feel empowered."
Christie now feels she just wouldn't be "living her best life" if she didn't have alopecia, adding: "In the entertainment industry - everyone's seeking to stand out and I've actually been given that opportunity.
"I'm going out and being cast for a lot of diverse looks - I'm inclusive, I'm edgy, I'm different. The blonde girl I was at Penn State would never have been picked for these roles. I'm still her inside, but the world perceives me a little differently now. And that's okay."
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