Christy has a secret. While even her closest friends see the confident young professional rocking a blond ’90s perm, she privately battles an ever-growing patchwork of bald spots, enlisting stinging creams, painful injections, and clever camouflage, from comb-overs to berets. Then, after her brief marriage collapses, her eyebrows vanish, too.

At first, Christy manages her alopecia areata with wigs, creating a masterful façade of a woman with striking auburn tresses. She even runs marathons in a baseball cap adorned with sweaty strips of fake hair. When 26 miles isn’t enough distance from her secret, she quits her corporate job and joins the Peace Corps, embarking on a bold, sexy, and intentional journey of radical self-acceptance.

On a remote Honduran island, Christy embraces a new image, her bare scalp wrapped in the colorful headscarves—pañuelos—that earn her the nickname “Pañuelo Girl.” But she can’t run forever. Who will she be when she returns home to a society obsessed with beautiful hair?

Headstrong: Embracing Alopecia and Becoming Pañuelo Girl

By Christy Bailey

Edited by Susanna Donato