Chemotherapy-Induced Alopecia (CIA) is when the hair falls out following chemotherapy. It is one of the most visibly distressing side effects of commonly administered chemotherapeutic drugs. Then, just three months after my book launch, after suffering from pain in my sternum, I found out the cancer had spread to my bones and was now incurable. A whole 10 years had passed since my primary diagnosis. I was distraught – I had only just met the love of my life – but I also found myself filled with gratitude. I had a whole decade of being cancer-free, and I stuffed it full with life. I wrote the book I’d wanted to write since I was that little girl scribbling in her diary every day. We are fundraising for Alopecia UK to help in supporting those affected by Alopecia. Sarah has lived with Alopecia since she was 15 and understands how important the work is that Alopecia UK do in supporting and advocating for the Alopecia community. Between 10–50% of people with alopecia areata also experience nail complications: the most common symptoms are pitting and ridging of the nails. What are the symptoms of Alopecia Areata? But there’s a difference between a shaved head for fashion, and hair loss from cancer. With the former, you have a thin layer of hair and you often have your eyebrows and lashes. With the latter, you lose your sideburns, your brows, your lashes and even the thin layer of downy hair on your face. For me, it was the loss of my sideburns, brows and lashes that really hit me. I felt naked and vulnerable. Without those things to frame my face, I looked like a cancer patient, and sadly no amount of make-up could make me look normal. ‘Hair loss is never like it is in the films. ’

Around her, her friends’ lives continue to follow the script, with the big white weddings and the baby scans. With her own future so uncertain, the only thing Jess is sure of is that she’s being left behind. I didn’t stop writing entirely – I blogged my way through surgery, chemo and radiotherapy – but my upbeat, humour-laden articles didn’t reflect the real fear and sadness I felt. I’m sad that I can’t read my journals from that time, but I made up for it with my novel, Single Bald Female. I listed myself on my dating profile as a ‘single, bald (possibly infertile) female’ Single Bald Female was published in April 2022, and seeing it in the window of Waterstones was one of the proudest moments of my life. Cancer may have taken away my chance of future motherhood, but I had created my own legacy. Don’t put off your dreams for a distant day that might never come Simply put, I think bald women are beautiful': author Laura Price on what losing her hair to breast cancer taught her about beautyThis blog post from Professor Kevin McElwee explains in greater detail about the causes of alopecia areata. How is Alopecia Areata diagnosed? Author Laura Price (Spanish, Portuguese & Latin American Studies, 2005) and literary agent Sophie Lambert (English & German, 1999) are proud to have published Laura’s debut novel, Single Bald Female. Laura writes about her experience of publishing a novel here… The first symptom of Alopecia Areata is often sudden patchy hair loss. The patches of hair loss can grow larger. Sometimes, the patches grow larger and join up. In some people, hair can fall out so fast that all the scalp hair is lost without any patches appearing. Simply put, I think bald women are beautiful. Jada Pinkett-Smith at the Oscars? Stunning. Megan Fox and Natalie Portman with shaved heads? Gorgeous. In the midst of it all, she meets Annabel, an enigmatic twenty-seven year old with incurable cancer. But while Annabel may not have long left, she understands much more about living than anyone Jess has ever met. And she’s determined to show Jess how to make every day count . . .

Find a writing community. Writing is a lonely business and it’s easy to throw in the towel. Instead of sharing your work with friends and family (who will only say nice things), find a group of fellow writers who will give you honest, constructive criticism and encouragement. Class Notes Single Bald Female: A bold memoir on alumna’s journey with cancer Laura Price (Spanish, Portuguese & Latin American Studies, 2005) Frank, funny and poignant, Single Bald Female by Laura Price is a completely unforgettable story of love and friendship.The novel isn’t about my own life, but writing it helped me to process my grief through my characters and everything they represent. Read, read, read. Read everything you can get your hands on, within your own genre and outside it. This will feed your brain while helping you to hone your own writing style. Alopecia Universalis is characterised by hair loss across the entire scalp, face (including eyebrows and eyelashes), and the rest of the body (including pubic hair). Inspiring, candid and beautifully observed. Single Bald Female is an extraordinary, hugely moving story about the fight for survival. Life-affirming, tear-jerking and gorgeously written, I was sobbing at the end, and you will be too Alopecia Areata shows up as round or oval patches on the scalp or other places on the body that grow hair. This type of Alopecia Areata can sometimes develop into either Alopecia Totalis (hair loss across the entire scalp) or Alopecia Universalis (hair loss across the entire body), but in most cases it remains patchy and eventually regrowth occurs. For some people with Alopecia Areata the patchy hair loss continues over a long period of time, without ever developing into Alopecia Totalis or Alopecia Universalis: this is sometimes referred to as ‘Persistent Patchy Alopecia Areata’ or ‘Chronic Alopecia Areata’. Alopecia Totalis

We asked Alopecia UK Research Committee member Professor Andrew Messenger to answer some questions about hair loss after illness. My path to publication wasn’t simple. Since graduating from King’s in 2005, I have always used my language skills – first as a journalist covering Latin American news, and later writing about Latin American restaurants (yes, it’s a tough job but someone’s got to do it). It took me five years to complete the novel, squirrelling myself away to write on weekends and evenings. When it was finally ready to send, I was delighted to receive interest from several top literary agents who wanted to represent me. I was blown away by fellow King’s alumna, Sophie Lambert at C&W Agency, who showed such passion for my book and my characters. I also felt a strange affinity with her because we’d both studied at King’s. I signed with her straight away. I was offered a book deal with HarperCollins in Germany shortly thereafter, but the UK deal took a little longer, with Brexit, a pandemic and a series of rejections thrown into the mix. But in late 2020, I signed with Pan Macmillan, and this year I finally get to share my story with the world. Single Bald Female is a story of love, friendship, resilience and survival, and I hope it falls into the hands of someone who truly adores it.’ I’ve written a diary since I was a little girl, but for some reason, when I was diagnosed with breast cancer at 29, I stopped. There’s an entry from June 2012 where I told myself I’d be just fine, then nothing, until I finished treatment eight months later.A decade after her diagnosis, Laura Price found that writing her novel, Single Bald Female, not only helped her to process her grief, but also provided her legacy. Many people do not experience pain or other symptoms from Alopecia Areata. However, in some people, hair loss can be accompanied by tingling, itching, burning, headaches or even pain in the skin. What causes Alopecia Areata? Four years later, I began to write. Instead of memoir, I opted for fiction, creating characters, friendships and love stories to escape my own world. Although cancer is the saddest of subjects, I peppered the novel with humour – I wanted it to be uplifting because no one wants to read a book that makes them cry from start to finish.