Towanda Braxton embraces her alopecia.
The actress and producer, 50, tells PEOPLE at The Braxtons premiering at the West Cultural Arts Center on Thursday, Aug. 8 isn’t shying away from her alopecia diagnosis, even sharing her journey with the condition in her new show.
“I have alopecia and I just wear it loud and proud,” says Towanda. “It’s amazing to be bald.”
Alopecia is a disease that causes hair loss, according to the American Academy of Dermatology (AADA). It can often cause patchy hair loss anywhere on the body and, although people can grow hair back, sometimes it will fall out again. This cycle of hair regrowth and loss can “occur throughout a person’s lifetime,” the AADA noted.
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Towanda says she initially had the idea that she had alopecia “by definition,” but it only became “real” when she finally “got a diagnosis from a doctor.”
“I felt relief,” the singer recalls. “Because I said, ‘Okay, I hate to be right about that, but I was right about that,’ you know?”
Trina Braxton and Towanda Braxton at the premiere of “The Braxtons” at the Westside Cultural Arts Center on August 8, 2024 in Atlanta, Georgia.
Joi Stokes/Getty
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The Predict The actress goes on to discuss the biggest misconceptions she learned from her alopecia diagnosis — including the fact that it “isn’t hereditary” even though it “can be hereditary.”
“And then there are so many different types of alopecia,” she adds. “And it’s important that you find out which one you have. So in case you have children, they will know how to treat it.”
Ultimately, she hopes her story will inspire others who suffer from alopecia. “For all others going through the same journey, [I want to tell them] that it’s okay and that your hair doesn’t define who you are,” she says.
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Towanda was previously divided into Black America Web show in June that she shaved her head bald in honor of her late sister Traci and because she “didn’t want everyone to know” that she had alopecia.
“I always knew my hair was different. I always knew it was something. I had a bunch of cow licks on my hair,” she said at the time. “My hair was like here… and then it would grow back.”
She added that one of the women she worked with to launch her skin care line encouraged her to say she had alopecia, which gave her the courage to tell her husband Sean Hall about the diagnosis.
Now, she happily stands as an inspiration to others. “To me, it’s like letting everyone know that you can walk tall and strong and walk your size without hair and that’s okay. And if you want hair, you can buy hair,” she said.
The Braxtons premiering on August 9 (9:30 p.m.) on We TV.
Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education