A woman who used to rub an onion on her scalp in a desperate attempt to grow her hair back has finally embraced her condition. Nikita Laing spent 14 long years struggling to come to terms with her alopecia as she tried every treatment she could to cure and hide her disease from her friends, WalesOnline reports.
The condition causes hair loss, mainly on the head and face, as the immune system attacks hair follicles. Nikita's confidence was dented so badly that she often cancelled plans with friends because she didn't have the spare two hours it would take to style her thinning hair.
The midwife, 31, describes her diagnosis as a ''dark time in her life," with a low point coming when she tried rubbing onions on her head in a bid to regrow her hair. Nikita now confidently embraces her hair loss and encourages others who are suffering from the condition to speak out about their personal journeys.
Last week, she received a lot of online praise after she bravely shared a TikTok clip of herself getting a hair topper fitted which has now went viral after it received a whopping 2.5million views. "After years of hiding and trying all sorts of treatment, I finally feel good about it," she said. "I've reached a place that I'm really okay about it.''
Nikita, who had very thick hair as a child, began to notice her hair thinning when she was a teenager and recalls her uncle joking that he could see her scalp through her hair. She was diagnosed with alopecia at 17 by a dermatologist but struggled to find the money to access the necessary treatment.
"I went to a dermatologist and at first they thought it could be something else causing the hair loss - like my contraceptive pill or my anti-depressants," she said. "When I was told in the end that it was alopecia, it was pretty awful - it was a really dark time in my life."
At the time she had been offered two different treatments, one of which she wouldn't take because of its impact on female hormones and child-bearing. The other medicine was Minoxidil, which is a cream that's used to massage into the scalp every night in order to promote hair growth.
Unfortunately, Nikita, who was having some financial struggles at the tim,e could not afford it. She said: "It was awful, I thought Minoxidil would be the right option for me but when I went to the pharmacy, I was told it would cost me $300 per month.
"I was 17 with no job or money, so I went home and cried and cried. As I couldn't get medical treatment, I tried lots of different natural remedies. I tried acupuncture, supplements, even mashing up roasted onion and rubbing it into my scalp - all of the disgusting things, I tried. I ended up finding hair fibres, that you can put on your hair, and it covers bald spots, which I've used for years now as they're affordable."
Nikita could finally afford money to purchase Minoxidil at the age of 21, but believes her hair loss was too far gone for it to be effective. She confided that the condition would hold her back her personal achievements and negatively impact her relationships with friends and even her family.
She said: "When Minoxidil didn't work, it was like I was grieving all over again. I thought about it every single day, I would plan my entire life around my hair schedule. It stopped me from going swimming or camping with my friends and I went from a happy-go-lucky girl to this high maintenance person. For a long time, only my immediate family knew.
"I would tell my friends I didn't like coming out." Now since getting a custom hair topper fitted, the brave 31 year old has taken to TikTok to share her condition and is encouraging others to do the same. After years of hiding and trying all sorts of treatment, I finally feel good about it. I've reached a place that I'm really okay about it," she said.
Nikita first revealed her secret to her close friends via Instagram when she was 25 after years of hiding which made it easier for her to comfortably socialise with her loved ones again. However, it wasn't until last week that she decided to share her journey with the rest of the world on TikTok as she showed off her $2500 hair topper that was created by a specialist salon in Adelaide, Australia.
"I was really nervous about sharing my story online and when I saw the views and comments coming through, I was too scared to look at them at first. I want to carry on sharing what I'm going through on TikTok because it should be spoken about. It affects so many women and it's so isolating if we don't share.
"The response has been overwhelmingly positive. It can be so isolating, even when you share it, because it's scary to be vulnerable, but it's even worse when you don't share it. Now I feel really good about it. I've reached a place where I'm really OK about it in myself."
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