A Baldness Not Hidden

Karissa Woodward

I want to remind you that I exist. Losing my hair and growing up with Alopecia hasn’t been easy. A Baldness Not Hidden is inspired by my own experiences. I think we all have different experiences that go unseen. Being a bald woman is one of them. I think it is important to see an image of ourselves out in the world, even if it is a harsh one. We need to see experiences we can relate to for self-validation. Today, we search for images of ourselves through digital media with the uprising of films, photography, digital art, and social media. As someone who grew up bald, I know there are not many images of bald women that are empowering, especially in art history. In action films, we are depicted as overly masculine and strong. We are seen as bald foreign aliens, often being robotic and emotionless. Now on social media platforms like Instagram, Tik-Tok, and Twitter, bald women are seen as a symbol of pity as well as a practical joke. With society’s obsession with hair, chanting the powerful phrases “my hair is my crown” and “hair is the richest ornament of women”, baldness is publicly laughed at.  I don’t see bald women living happily in all their confidence, instead, they are told to wear wigs, hats, and scarves.

When will bald women finally see themselves? When will our struggles be noticed?  The only bald character I remember from my childhood is a boy named Caillou who was allowed to be bald because he was a boy. There were no bald Disney Princesses, and I still don’t see any.  I only see aliens, bald mythical creatures, and robots. The Bald Female experience is completely erased, and our daily struggles are denied. To the rest of the world, baldness is just seen as a joke, and my experiences caused by these small jokes are deemed invalid. 

A Baldness Not Hidden stresses the importance that bald women exist, and our experiences, good and bad, are valid and true. I see these digital works as another way of connecting with others through a screen, to let people see these works as representations of what bald women experience and go through in the real world. By putting bald women into the art scene, I hope that A Baldness Not Hidden encourages others to acknowledge their stereotypical views on baldness. All women bald or not, should be given the space to love themselves as they are. What we experience in our daily lives is valid and should not be ignored.