It was a special weekend for the 24-year-old Anne Teerink from Den Bosch. On Saturday she was awarded the very first Bald Award, a new prize for people who are exceptionally committed to more fame around the Alopecia condition. About two percent of the Dutch have this condition, where you fall out. “Nice to get this recognition.”
Anne was fourteen when she first noticed that something was wrong. “My hair suddenly dropped out at the same time,” she says frankly. “My best friend helped me. She fled my hair so that you didn’t see the bald spots, or quietly got hair from my sweater.”
“Because of Alopecia I no longer fit in the perfect picture.”
With Alopecia, the immune system attacks the hair follicles as if they were germs. As a result, they die and fall out of your hair. That was drastic for Anne. “My hair belonged to me. It was bleaching in the summer, it was fat and long. I was proud of it.” But in October, half a year after the diagnosis, so much was gone that she decided to shave her head completely.
That brought unexpected power. “A few years before, in primary school, I was bullied. In high school I wore other clothing and changed my behavior to belong more. When my hair failed, I no longer fitted in that perfect picture,” she says. It gave peace: she could let go of what others thought of her and went to discover who they were real. “I am grateful for the Alopecia for that.”
Yet it is not always easy. On the street, Anne is sometimes checked or people think she has cancer. “That is the tricky one: Alopecia has a huge mental impact. Many people do not dare to go to the street or do not go swimming. If the environment knew better what it is, it would lower the threshold.”
Many people therefore benefit from a hair work, a wig. Anne shows her favorite in her bathroom. “I usually don’t wear it,” she says, “only when it fits an outfit or is cold outside.” Others are more dependent on it, says Anne. “The insurer calls it cosmetic and does not want to reimburse it or does not fully reimburse, but forget that it is mentally difficult for many people to take to the streets.” According to her, that of Anne is still ‘relatively cheap’, and already cost 1500 euros. Such a hairwork lasts on average two years. “I hope that with more consciousness, the insurance will also be better arranged.”
“Women and men can mentally struggle with alopecia, that is why consciousness is important.”
With her Instagram account ‘Alopeciangirlboss’ she shares personal stories, videos and information. “I want to show that you can be there, with hairwork, with bald head or with a scarf,” she says. The account started them a few years ago. “When I was young, I missed peers with whom I could find support. Now I try to offer it myself.”
Anne emphasizes that Alopecia does not only affect women. “Men are also struggling with it, while we often take that off more lightly. For them, their hair is also a part of their identity, we have to take that more into account.”
That bet earned her this weekend the Bald Award. This prize was created this year as a tribute to people who are committed to alopecia patients. Marion Kremer and Josee Beets from the Alopacia Association also received the prize. Anne Glundert: “It really feels like recognition. Hopefully this helps to make the subject more negotiable.”
