Although it’s a relatively common condition, alopecia areata is not widely recognized by the general public. An autoimmune skin disease, in which the immune system mistakenly attacks healthy hair follicles, alopecia often first appears during childhood – right when kids are learning social norms and attempting to fit in with their peers.
Three types of alopecia exist:
Alopecia does not cause skin irritations such as itchiness or rashes, and it is actually possible for a patient’s hair to grow back at any time. However, there are no guarantees, and at this time there’s no cure for the disease. You can find more information and resources within the National Alopecia Areata Foundation website.
Children who suffer from alopecia face a variety of pressures and challenges. Suddenly, they begin standing out from peers with hair, when at this time in their lives all they may want is to fit in and be “normal.” Other children may make fun of or act differently around alopecia sufferers because of their lack of hair.
If your child suffers from alopecia, it’s important to make sure he or she understands that hair does not affect who the child is as a person, and that beauty comes from within. But sometimes even kids who know this just want to blend in.
That’s where Wigs For Kids comes in. With our state-of-the-art process, we’re able to provide real human hair wigs for alopecia patients by using donated hair. We work with kids through every stage of the process. When a child is losing hair in patches, we’re able to create custom solutions for the child to use in and around the child’s own existing hair.
For children experiencing complete or near-complete hair loss, we work with a network of salons around the country, and the world, to create custom alopecia wigs, with each donated hair hand-sewn into the hairpiece. Our trained affiliate stylists then affix the hairpiece to the child’s scalp and provide assistance on how to care for the wig.
One hairpiece from Wigs For Kids can cost $1,800 to create, but we never charge our recipients for their wigs. We simply want to fulfill our mission of helping kids live their lives and look themselves. Please consider making a donation today to help us continue to provide free wigs for alopecia patients.
