By Dionne Lewis-Reid, Co-Founder of Hair Not Necessary
I didn't set out to become a bald woman. In fact, quite the opposite. For years, I was a bleached blonde, regularly visiting Andre Pierre's Hair Salon in Brixton, where my hair was part of my look and something I thoroughly enjoyed.
Then, one morning, everything changed.
In 2002, I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis. Over the years, I was prescribed various medications to manage the condition, including Sulphasalazine, Leflunomide, Hydroxychloroquine and Methotrexate, a medication also used at much higher doses in chemotherapy.
I'd been taking Methotrexate for years without any noticeable side effects. Then one morning, I woke up and discovered what looked like five little crop circles scattered across my head.
And I mean proper crop circles!
Now, when you're a bleached blonde, there's absolutely no disguising patches of missing hair. All you could see was blonde hair, then scalp, then blonde hair again. It was quite a sight.
I could have panicked. I could have tried to cover the patches, changed my hairstyle or invested in a wig. But instead, I went straight back to the salon in Brixton and made a decision that would completely change my relationship with my hair.
I told Andrew to shave it all off.
There and then.
We also decided to dye what remained of my hair a colour close to my scalp tone so that the contrast wasn't quite so noticeable.
And that was it. My bald journey had begun.
The Unexpected Freedom of Having No Hair
Here's the interesting thing. When my hair eventually grew back, I didn't want it.
By then, I'd become so comfortable with my new look that I decided to keep shaving it.
No more worrying about hairstyles, roots growing through or sitting in a salon for hours. I loved the simplicity of it. I loved how I looked. And I loved the freedom.
What started as a response to unexpected hair loss became a personal choice.
And around 20 years later, I'm still shaving my head.
Not because I have to, but because I want to.
I absolutely love being bald.
When Being a Bald Woman Was Unusual
You have to remember that this was the early 2000s. Seeing a woman with a shaved head wasn't nearly as commonplace as it is today.
In fact, the only bald woman I really knew of, or was accustomed to seeing, was Skin, the extraordinary lead singer of Skunk Anansie.
She looked fantastic. Bold, distinctive, confident and completely comfortable with her appearance.
But women like her were few and far between in mainstream public life.
There weren't social media feeds filled with beautiful bald women showing off their style. There weren't the communities and conversations we see developing today.
Being a bald woman made you noticeable, whether you wanted the attention or not.
And people certainly had opinions.
Some were complimentary, others curious, and some simply couldn't understand why a woman would choose to remain bald when her hair had grown back.
But I wasn't shaving my head for anyone else's approval.
I'd discovered a look that felt right for me, and I had no intention of changing it.
Look at Us Now!
One of the things I absolutely love today is seeing so many women confidently wearing their bald heads and close crops.
Black women, white women, Asian women, younger women, older women. Women who have shaved their heads through choice and women who have experienced hair loss through alopecia, cancer treatment, hormonal changes or other circumstances.
We're seeing fabulous bald women wearing incredible earrings, beautiful make-up, stunning outfits and expressing their individuality in so many different ways.
And we're seeing women who are still adjusting to hair loss, learning what feels comfortable for them and finding others who understand their experiences.
Not everyone arrives at baldness in the same way. Not everyone celebrates it immediately. Some women would love to have their hair back, and I completely respect that.
My own experience began with something I hadn't chosen. But somewhere along the way, I discovered that I actually preferred myself without hair.
What I love most about today is that bald women are becoming more visible.
We exist. We're showing up. We're being seen.
And we're doing it on our own terms.
Why Hair Not Necessary Matters to Me
When Thanyia Moore and I connected and began talking about creating Hair Not Necessary, I wanted us to create something that celebrated all the different experiences of baldness, without making every conversation about hair loss, illness or overcoming adversity.
Because there's so much more to us than what's growing, or not growing, on our heads.
I want us to talk about dating, fashion, relationships, ageing, confidence, culture and all the ordinary, extraordinary and sometimes ridiculous things that happen in our lives.
I want us to laugh, have fun, meet new people, dress up, enjoy fabulous events and celebrate the women we are.
And I want the woman who's just discovered her first patch of hair loss to see that there are other women out there living full, interesting and enjoyable lives, whatever their hair looks like.
I didn't choose how my bald journey started, but I absolutely chose how it continued.
And looking back, I wouldn't change my decision to shave my head.
20 plus years on, I'm still bald, still loving it and still enjoying the freedom it gives me.
I love that we're now seeing more women like us.
However we got here, we're taking up space, we're being visible and we're making our own choices about how we want to look.
And I think that's something worth celebrating.
Hair Not Necessary. Bald. Buzzed. Bold.
The Podcast and Community with Dionne and Thanyia.
Launching January 2027.
