A woman who spent half her life keeping her alopecia a secret has shown her hair loss in the best way: by getting an incredible flower tattoo on her head.
Rebecca Dawe, 41, has been struggling with alopecia since she was a teenager, and dealt with it by keeping the baldness under wraps and always wearing a wig.
However, after finally opening up and revealing her journey with hair loss, Rebecca then decided to set up hair loss solutions company Hair Necessity to help other women struggling with alopecia and hair loss in a "beauty-obsessed world".
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She also decided to get the tattoo because it felt like the final stage of her "recovery" from alopecia, and a way of showing that there is more than one way to be beautiful.
"After many awful years keeping it a secret I found such joy and inspiration sharing my story and helping others," Rebecca told Pretty52. "I felt very happy to openly talk about alopecia and hair loss solutions and I believed I was doing my bit for other women in showing you could be happy and feel attractive still. I thought of my head as a blank canvas.
"However, I began to realise that I still had further to go. I did feel very confident in my hair loss solutions but I didn't feel good when I took them off. I never showed my bald head to anyone. So I decided to turn the blank canvas into a work of art to be proud of.
"I wanted to feel just as good with or without my hair. I wanted to be able to encourage other people to think about a different definition of beauty. I also wanted to show that I am healthy and happy and that people can talk to me about my tattoo and hence hair loss without worrying about causing offence.
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"I wanted the tattoo look feminine and nature inspired and it was important to me to look approachable and not intimidating or trying to make a statement.
"I am now totally confident to show my head to anybody but I do still have a little way to go. I don't find myself unattractive but I do not feel as dressed up as I do when I wear hair... that's over 40 years of social conditioning to work on!"
As well as helping other women cope with hair loss, Rebecca is also setting up a hair loss support group supported by Macmillan and her local hospital.
"It will be an opportunity for other women to get to know each other, share experiences and listen to guest speakers," she says. "A salon owner will offer wig styling help and hair care tips for all stages of hair loss, and we will also introduce a wig bank and provide free wigs for women who need them."
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You can check out Rebecca's Instagram page here.
Featured Image Credit: hairnecessityrebecca/InstagramTopics: Real