March 17, 2025 • 28 mins
When my hair started falling out at 18, revealing a smooth bald patch the size of a 50-pence coin, I was completely devastated. Hair isn't just an accessory – for many of us, it's deeply connected to our identity and self-worth. After two decades living with alopecia areata, learning to conceal patches and fearing each episode might be the one where it all falls out, I've developed a unique empathy for those experiencing hair loss.
This episode marks the 300th milestone of Mindset & Action, but instead of business strategy, I'm participating in Podcasthon – a special week where podcasters highlight charities close to their hearts. For me, it's the Little Princess Trust, an extraordinary organization creating real hair wigs for children who've lost their hair during cancer treatment or from conditions like alopecia.
My journey took an unexpected turn in 2021 when I finally worked up the courage to cut my hip-length auburn locks into a bob, donating 16-20 inches. What many people don't realise is that while the Little Princess Trust accepts donations as short as 7 inches, they desperately need longer donations (over 11 inches) to create the flowing styles many little girls dream of. Through my business network's support, what began as a personal hair donation transformed into a £1,400 fundraiser benefiting three cancer charities.
Have you considered donating your hair? The requirements are simple: at least 7 inches, natural hair color (with limited grey), and no bright dyes. After four years, my hair has grown back to my waist – proof that sometimes our greatest gift is something we can regrow. If you're contemplating a significant haircut, consider how your locks might give a child facing illness the confidence to face the world again.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to the Mindset in Action podcast,
the place to be to grow andstreamline your business.
I'm your host, donna Eade.
Let's jump into the show.
Welcome back to the podcast,everybody.
Now we have got a little bit ofa different program for you
(00:23):
today, and I am sitting in myliving room, which is a little
bit of a different program foryou today, and I am sitting in
my living room, which is alittle bit different.
I'm also hand-holding my mic,which I have seen other
podcasters do on video podcasts,but I'm not sure it's the best
method, especially with thisparticular microphone, so we
will see how it goes.
(00:44):
However, what is differentabout this program?
Well, it is episode 300,technically 301, but we're
ignoring the one that I didn'tcount as an episode.
So episode 300, which is a bigdeal, and normally on big number
episodes or, you know,celebratory episodes, I would do
(01:07):
a look back episode where Ilook at the most popular
episodes that we've had on theshow so that you've got a
playlist to go back and listento.
But my fifth birthday is comingup and I'm obviously going to
do something along those linesin April, so I didn't want to
have two back to back episodeslike that.
(01:27):
However, I do realise that,with 52 weeks in the year, and
the fact that I don't doepisodes over Christmas means
that my birthday is alwaysaround a pivotal number.
So it probably will happenagain at some point, but I'll
think something different fornext year.
But this year what I'm focusingon is something very different
(01:49):
for the podcast.
I have spoke about this topicbefore, but this week is
something very special in thepodcasting space and it is
podcast-a-thon time.
So what that is is aorganisation that has set up to
collaborate or have lots ofpodcasts collaborate to
(02:11):
distribute episodes this weekthat are highlighting charities.
So it's not one specificcharity, it's lots of different
charities, but it is the podcastworld's chance to highlight
charities that mean something tous.
So I came across this, I signedup to be part of it, I've got a
(02:33):
few of my clients have signedup to be part of it, and I think
it's a really great way ofgiving charities a bit of a
highlight.
Especially since COVID, it hasbeen very, very difficult for
charities to survive and comeback from the loss of
(02:55):
fundraising that they had overthat time period.
So I think it is a greatopportunity for us to highlight
some charities.
So that's why this week I amnot going to be talking about
business I hope you'll continueto listen but instead I'm going
to share my story with AlopeciaAriata and I will talk to you
(03:18):
about the Little PrincessesTrust, which, which is an
organization that makes realhair wigs for children.
So let's go back to when I was18 years old.
I was living out of home.
By this time I had been foralmost two years, so I was
(03:38):
living alone at 18.
I was with a friend, so I had aroommate, but I was living
outside of parentalresponsibility, so I was on my
own, paying my bills, paying myrent, going to work, doing all
the things, and I noticed thatmy hair was falling out and it
(04:04):
freaked me out.
I have always been somebody whohas loved my hair, and that has
come from a number of things,but one of the pivotal moments
for me was when one of myteachers said to my mum how
beautiful my hair was and toldme that I should never dye it
(04:27):
and never cut it.
And I was a beautiful auburncolour as a child, so it had
quite a lot of sort of very deeptoned red in it, and I will put
a photo up on my social mediaso that you can see the colour
(04:48):
of my hair.
But actually what I'll do isI'll put it in my group.
So if you go to Startup PodcastUK with Donna Eade then you
will find it there.
I will pop up a picture of meas a child that really sort of
showcases the auburnness of myhair, and it was beautiful as an
(05:08):
adult.
Now I can look back and go.
My hair was beautiful.
But the thing was is, kids aremean and you know, despite the
fact that I wasn't an orangeginger, people would call me
carrots.
At junior school I got called,called carrots.
That's when my hair was veryauburn and it was all in jest,
it was all in good fun, it wasnever um, there was never any
(05:32):
malice behind it.
But when I got to senior schoolI got a lot of teasing um, and
I was bullied for my hair color.
Well, I don't think it wasreally my hair colour, that was
just something to pick on.
But yeah, I had a lot oftormented years during my senior
school life because of thecolour of my hair and because of
(05:53):
who I was, I don't know, and itwas hard.
But what the teacher had saidreally stuck with me and I
didn't dye my hair until I waswell into my 20s and I didn't
cut it off until I was well intomy 20s.
And I only cut my hair into abob once, I think, and it was
(06:16):
sort of a converse bob, so itwas longer in the front, shorter
in the back and I had it cutlike that once and then I let it
grow out and I never did thatagain.
So I have quite an attachmentto my hair.
So when it started falling outwhen I was 18, I was absolutely
petrified about what washappening because for me my hair
(06:40):
was kind of my crowning jewel.
That was my beauty, that waseverything to me, it was my
identity and I think most womenwill understand that feeling of
how much their hair is part ofwho they are.
There are obviously some womenout there that don't give two
hoots.
They're quite happy to dye it,cut it, shave it, do all sorts
(07:03):
of things, really play with itand they're not bothered by
their hair.
But there are lots of women whohave a lot of attachment to
their hair and I'm one of them.
So when it started falling out Itotally freaked out.
I called my mum.
She was just like go to thedoctor.
So I booked a doctor'sappointment.
(07:24):
Say it was an emergency.
You could be waiting three,four, five weeks for an
appointment with the doctor.
To me this was an emergency.
I had hair that was falling outand I had discovered a 50 pence
(07:48):
size patch on my head wherethere was now no hair.
It was smooth as a baby'sbottom and at 18 I had no idea
what alopecia was.
I was completely freaking out.
I didn't know what was going onand I went into the doctors and
(08:08):
he basically sent me away withnothing but almost a clip around
the ear for wasting his timeand his exact words were there
could be somebody in the waitingroom with heart palpitations
and you have just taken theirtime.
So he completely dismissed myfeelings and the issue that I
(08:33):
was having and told me thatsomebody in the in the waiting
room could be having heartissues.
And I called my mum in tearsand she was like Donna, if there
was somebody in the waitingroom with heart issues, they
should be in an ambulance, notdoctor's office, which is
absolutely true.
So at that point I didn'treally get an answer and, to be
(08:54):
honest with you, the doctorshave never really diagnosed me.
I googled what it was after Ihad my second patch and I had
learned about alopecia from GailPorter, who famously suffers
with alopecia presenter, and shetold her story and was a big
(09:16):
advocate for it back at thattime.
I'm sure she still is, andthat's what I learned about
alopecia and that is where Ilearned that there were
alternatives to alopecia.
It wasn't just a one and done.
It wasn't that you lose allyour hair.
So with alopecia areata itmeans that you will lose hair in
(09:37):
one specific spot and it's it'swhat I colloquially call patch
alopecia.
So you will get a patch of hairthat falls out and it will
usually regrow, thankfully.
So.
I have had about five differentpatches on different spots of
my head over the last 20 yearsnow I would say for the last
(10:03):
nine, ten years I have been freeof any patches.
I have had times where my hairhas fallen out a lot more than I
thought it should be.
In fact, one day I actuallycounted the number of hairs.
This was probably this is inthe last five years.
I counted the number of hairsthat had come out of my head
(10:26):
when I was just doing a normalhair wash day and brushing
through my hair after it wasdried, and there was over 400
strands in there and I wasfreaking out thinking, oh gosh,
I can't find a patch.
This is the time where it'sactually going to be my whole
head.
Now, I don't think that's theway alopecia works, in terms of
(10:51):
if you have patch alopecia, youcould then develop full blown
alopecia.
I'm develop full-blown alopecia.
I'm not sure that it works thatway.
I haven't looked into it toodeeply though, um, but yeah, I
would get a patch at the base ofmy neck and then I would have
to wear my hair down all thetime because otherwise you could
see it.
I had patch right on the top ofmy head, on my part line, so I
(11:13):
had to either part my hair onthe side or wear my hair up all
the time to hide it, and then Ihad a patch that was sort of on
the side of my head.
So if I wore my hair down, youdidn't notice it so much, but if
I wore it up, I had to becareful to sort of do a bit of a
comb over job so that youcouldn't see it.
So it's not been a huge thingin terms of dealing with the
(11:38):
results.
Obviously, it's quite easy tocover up, but it was just always
a worry to me that this wasgoing to be the time that it was
all going to fall out, andalopecia areata is usually
brought on, or one of the waysthat it is brought on is through
stress.
So that is something that Ihave realized is that it is a
(12:00):
stress response for me, and whenI was 18, I was in a very, very
stressful place.
So it's not surprising thatthat first patch appeared.
So that's kind of my experiencewith alopecia and it has given
me, um, a special empathy foranybody who suffers with hair
(12:20):
loss for whatever reason,because I understand how that
can affect somebody and how muchhair can mean to somebody.
So it was back in 2020, I havebeen toying with the idea over
the last probably 10 years of doI cut my hair again?
(12:43):
Whenever it was time to get myhair cut, it was like, do I go
for a big chop and go back to abob?
Because the thing about my hairwas at the time in 2020, it was
sort of down to my hips, um,and I hadn't had it cut for a
while, um, and it was just, itwas beautiful.
I absolutely loved it.
I loved plaiting it, but it wasa case of that it was either
(13:06):
being washed and then in plaitsor it was stuck on top of my
head because there was just somuch of it and my hair does
still fall out a lot, so I dohave a lot more fallout than
most people do with their hair,and my hair would just get
everywhere and be in my way, soit'd always get tied up.
So I was like I'm not reallytaking advantage of the fact
that it's as long as it is.
(13:27):
Should I just cut it?
And so I would toy, and everytime I'd get in the chair I'd be
like no, no, no, I'm not goingto do it, keep it long, just
trim it.
And so something in me I don'tknow what it was made the
decision that in 2020, I wasgoing to chop my hair off.
(13:47):
But to make me feel betterabout it, I was going to donate
my hair to the Little PrincessTrust.
So the Little Princess Trust isan organization that creates
real hair wigs for childrengenerally going through cancer
treatments, but also dealingwith other hair loss issues.
(14:09):
So I was really thrilled to beable to give them my hair.
So that was the thing that kindof made it like, okay, I'm
going to give my hair away andsomebody's going to benefit from
it being cut off, so that makesme feel better about having it
done.
That actually, I would alsolook at raising money.
(14:36):
Now, one of the charities that Ihave been a huge supporter of
for my whole entire adult lifeis Cancer Research UK.
When I was a photographer, Idid a calendar that depicted
cancer survivors on every month,with the exception of one where
I showcased a local girl whohad lost her life I think it was
(14:58):
leukemia she had, so there wasonly one loss, but 11 stories of
survival, and it was just abeautiful thing to do, and we
raised about 500 pounds forCancer Research UK with that.
And so I was like, well, if I'mgoing to be donating my hair to
a charity that provides wigs tochildren that have been through
(15:20):
sort of radiotherapy and such,then I want to also raise some
money for Cancer Research,because it's an important
charity to me.
And then another charity thatI've also supported over the
years is Macmillan.
I've always heard such positivethings about people's
experiences with Macmillan andwhat a difference they have made
(15:41):
to the lives of the people thatthey help.
That I was just like this.
Really they all fit together.
So I decided that actually, incutting my hair, I would raise
money for those three charitiesso raise money for Little
Princess Trust, cancer ResearchUK and Macmillan and I didn't
think that I would raise much.
(16:02):
I thought I think my firsttarget was something like 150
pounds.
If I could just raise 50 poundsfor each charity and donate my
hair, that would be good, and Iended up raising 1400 pounds and
that is in huge, huge, hugethanks to my business network.
(16:25):
So if I hadn't had my businessnetwork, I don't think we would
have got anywhere close to that,but the business women
unlimited network really camethrough to support me in that
they shared it.
They supported it and thenother groups that I were in
shared it as well and it justmade a huge difference and I was
absolutely blown away.
(16:48):
However, it did make me like,oh my gosh, I now actually have
to do this and my my appointmenthad to be put back because of
Covid restrictions and things.
So it was actually in April 2021that I had the cut done and we
cut because I went for theconvex bob again.
So we cut 16 inches off thefront and 20 inches off the back
(17:12):
, and I got to donate that tothe Little Princesses Trust, and
the reason that I was sothrilled with that is that the
Little Princesses Trust reallystruggled to get long hair
donations, and I think it'sprobably because of the same
reason that I struggled with.
It is because people like thelonger it gets, the more
attached I think we get to it.
(17:32):
But generally speaking, youhave to have at least seven
inches to donate and your hairneeds to be of a regular hair
color.
So there is, I believe there isa certain percentage of gray
that is allowed.
If it's more than that, theydon't take it, and if it is dyed
(17:53):
pink or blue or green or acolour that is not a normal hair
colour, they can't take it.
So, seven inches minimum, andwhat they usually get is
somewhere between seven andeleven inches donated, which
means that there are so manylittle girls out there that have
had to have gone throughsomething horrific that has
(18:13):
caused their hair loss, and thenthey can't have long hair,
which it just seems so sad to me, because that is one of the
things that I absolutely lovedas a little girl was having my
long hair.
So being able to donate such agood length of hair made me
(18:33):
really happy to be able to to dothat and know that there was
going to be at least one littlegirl out there that was going to
get a longer wig because I wasable to donate such a good
length of hair.
So those are just some tips foryou if you're considering doing
it.
And the fact is that peoplecan't believe how long my hair
(18:54):
is now.
So now we are in 2025.
So it is almost, almost to theday four years since I had that
haircut and my hair is now downto my waist again.
So I had it cut back into thebob, um, properly, once after
(19:17):
that initial haircut, I think,and I might've had it cut one
more time after that and then Ihaven't had it cut again back
into that bob.
So this has been probablygrowth of uh, three and a half
years maybe, and it's down to mywaist again and that is my.
My trump card, I suppose, isthat my hair, thankfully and I
(19:41):
touch wood all the time when Isay it, touching the wood of my
coffee table right now growsreally quickly and always has
done, and even though I've hit40 and there have been other
things that have changed in mybody that we won't even talk
about in this episode.
Um, my hair growth seems tohave stayed true, so I am
(20:02):
absolutely thrilled to have myhair long again.
Um, I am considering another cut, um, and seeing if I can donate
again, because it was such a,it was such a good feeling to
know that the hair was going toa good cause, and I am getting
quite frustrated with just themaintenance of my hair.
(20:26):
So I've tried very hard toreduce my single plastics.
So I haven't actually usedshampoo bottles in probably five
or six years now.
And although it cleans my hair,I do find that drying my hair.
(20:46):
You know I don't like to putheat on it, so if I do put it up
in plats, I find that it can,it doesn't quite dry properly
and it can get a little bitgreasy and I get like one good
day out of it and not a lot else.
And if it was shorter I wouldwash it more often, and so I'm
toying with the idea ofpotentially doing another
(21:06):
donation at some point.
I don't think I'll do thefundraising part of it.
It was quite stressful andscary and, yeah, I don't know
about that, but I did want toraise the profile of the Little
Princess Trust in this podcastand say to you you know, if you
have ever considered choppingyour hair off, please do
(21:29):
consider donating the hair thatyou cut, especially if you've
got over 11 inches, which iswhat they struggle to get
anything longer than that.
But if you've got seven inchesor more to cut off, then please,
please do consider donating tothe Little Princess Trust or
consider growing out your hairso that you can do a donation.
(21:50):
That would be a wonderful thing.
Um, because it is.
It is something that we do holdvery dear, a lot of people hold
very dear, and I can't imaginebeing a child in this world
where children can be so cruel.
You know there are a lot ofvery kind children out there,
but there are a lot of childrenthat just I don't know, they
(22:13):
don't think before they speak,they don't understand or they
are just being mean and will sayhorrible things.
So if a child has been throughsomething like cancer and has
lost their hair from that, andthey have been through so much
already, going back into schooland having kids comment on the
fact that they haven't got anyhair and usually the chemo it
(22:36):
takes all hair.
So it's eyelashes, eyebrows,the hair on your head,
everything.
So having kids say mean thingsto you is just one thing that
you just don't need when you'vebeen through that.
So being able to help them byproviding hair that can give
them a nice, realistic wig thatcan be theirs and that they can
(22:58):
look after and that they canfeel pretty again they are
always pretty with or withouthair, but you know what it's
like when you don't feel pretty.
It's one of those things.
It is an internal thing andwhen they see all their friends
being able to have plaits andponytails and doing things with
(23:19):
their hair and having it curledand all of that thing and not
being able to do that themselves, it's got to be really, really
tough and it's just somethingthat doesn't need to happen when
there is so much hair out therethat could be used for the good
of making real hair wigs forkids.
So I am going to leave all thelinks to the Little Princess
(23:40):
Trust below for you.
I hope you have enjoyedlistening to my story today.
I have had my second lot ofresults back from my hormone
tests, so I am hoping to haveJulie come on and we're going to
have a discussion about myhealth, because I know that that
is something that people wereinterested in hearing more about
(24:03):
.
So my health journey has beensomething that has been ongoing
for many years.
If you've listened to thepodcast, you've heard me talk
about it before, but I think itis really important, especially
as a woman who is in her 40sthat is potentially at that
perimenopausal stage that I canhelp bring light to that,
(24:24):
especially when a majority of myaudience is female and the guys
that are listening.
You need to know this stuff too, because you may have a wife, a
partner, a girlfriend that isgoing through it, and just being
able to understand a little bitmore about what women have to
go through in terms of theirhealth and their body changes at
(24:46):
this time of life could bereally helpful for you to just
extend a little more grace.
So stay tuned for that one.
I hope you enjoyed listening tothis story.
All of the information for thelittle princess trust will be
down below, and I will also linkthe podcastathon information so
you can go and listen to someother podcasts and learn about
some other charities that areimportant to other podcasters.
(25:09):
Um, so that would be great ifyou would do that.
Um, other than that, it justleaves me to say don't forget
that the in-person Mindset inAction Live is coming to you on
the 3rd of April.
I am so, so thrilled to be ableto bring this to you.
At the weekend I went and spentsome time with Andrea Rainsford,
(25:31):
who is going to be one of thespeakers at my event.
She was holding one of herin-person events and it was
absolutely fantastic hearing herspeak, hearing Nicola speak,
who is also going to be speakingat my event, and just feeling
that buzz.
There is nothing like being ina room of people that are just
aligned, room of people that arejust aligned, and what I said
(25:56):
was at the table.
Somebody turned around and saidI was really nervous about
coming here by myself and notknowing anybody, and it's been
such a lovely experience to behere in this room with these
people.
And I said the thing is is ifyou might not know anybody else,
but everybody in this roompretty much knows Andrea and
they like her and they gel withher personality.
(26:17):
So if that's the case, it'slikely that you're going to get
on with most of the people inthe room because you get on with
her, and I'd like to think thatthat's going to be the same
with my event that you eitherknow one of my speakers or you
know me, and in doing that,we're just bringing like-minded
people together.
So all of the people that I'vegot on my list right now, I know
(26:40):
that they are going to befantastic people for you to talk
to.
So if you're sitting on thefence, jump off it right now,
because we are going to begetting together to have six
fantastic speakers speakingabout business fundamentals help
you grow and streamline yourbusiness.
We've got two fantasticfacilitators that are going to
come and do some well-beingstuff with us, because it's
(27:02):
really important that we findour balance, and those two
facilitators are both runningthe London Marathon at the end
of April and they are fantasticladies running for two
incredible charities.
So, in in the spirit ofpodcastathon, I would just
mention that they are runningfor Meningitis Now and for Brain
Research UK, and 10% of allticket sales from March the 1st
(27:26):
are going to those ladies tosupport those two charities.
So, buying your ticket, you'llbe supporting those charities
and you will be able to comealong and get all of that
business knowledge as well, aswell as afternoon tea and a
birthday cake to celebrate myfifth podcast birthday, so I
hope to see you there.
All of the details will be inthe show notes, but you can head
(27:48):
over to donnaeedcom forwardslash birthday event.
You'll find all the detailsthere and I hope to see you next
week.
Bye for now.
You're listening to the Mindset in Action podcast,
the place to be to grow andstreamline your business.
I'm your host, donna Eade.
Let's jump into the show.
Welcome back to the podcast,everybody.
Now we have got a little bit ofa different program for you
(00:23):
today, and I am sitting in myliving room, which is a little
bit of a different program foryou today, and I am sitting in
my living room, which is alittle bit different.
I'm also hand-holding my mic,which I have seen other
podcasters do on video podcasts,but I'm not sure it's the best
method, especially with thisparticular microphone, so we
will see how it goes.
(00:44):
However, what is differentabout this program?
Well, it is episode 300,technically 301, but we're
ignoring the one that I didn'tcount as an episode.
So episode 300, which is a bigdeal, and normally on big number
episodes or, you know,celebratory episodes, I would do
(01:07):
a look back episode where Ilook at the most popular
episodes that we've had on theshow so that you've got a
playlist to go back and listento.
But my fifth birthday is comingup and I'm obviously going to
do something along those linesin April, so I didn't want to
have two back to back episodeslike that.
(01:27):
However, I do realise that,with 52 weeks in the year, and
the fact that I don't doepisodes over Christmas means
that my birthday is alwaysaround a pivotal number.
So it probably will happenagain at some point, but I'll
think something different fornext year.
But this year what I'm focusingon is something very different
(01:49):
for the podcast.
I have spoke about this topicbefore, but this week is
something very special in thepodcasting space and it is
podcast-a-thon time.
So what that is is aorganisation that has set up to
collaborate or have lots ofpodcasts collaborate to
(02:11):
distribute episodes this weekthat are highlighting charities.
So it's not one specificcharity, it's lots of different
charities, but it is the podcastworld's chance to highlight
charities that mean something tous.
So I came across this, I signedup to be part of it, I've got a
(02:33):
few of my clients have signedup to be part of it, and I think
it's a really great way ofgiving charities a bit of a
highlight.
Especially since COVID, it hasbeen very, very difficult for
charities to survive and comeback from the loss of
(02:55):
fundraising that they had overthat time period.
So I think it is a greatopportunity for us to highlight
some charities.
So that's why this week I amnot going to be talking about
business I hope you'll continueto listen but instead I'm going
to share my story with AlopeciaAriata and I will talk to you
(03:18):
about the Little PrincessesTrust, which, which is an
organization that makes realhair wigs for children.
So let's go back to when I was18 years old.
I was living out of home.
By this time I had been foralmost two years, so I was
(03:38):
living alone at 18.
I was with a friend, so I had aroommate, but I was living
outside of parentalresponsibility, so I was on my
own, paying my bills, paying myrent, going to work, doing all
the things, and I noticed thatmy hair was falling out and it
(04:04):
freaked me out.
I have always been somebody whohas loved my hair, and that has
come from a number of things,but one of the pivotal moments
for me was when one of myteachers said to my mum how
beautiful my hair was and toldme that I should never dye it
(04:27):
and never cut it.
And I was a beautiful auburncolour as a child, so it had
quite a lot of sort of very deeptoned red in it, and I will put
a photo up on my social mediaso that you can see the colour
(04:48):
of my hair.
But actually what I'll do isI'll put it in my group.
So if you go to Startup PodcastUK with Donna Eade then you
will find it there.
I will pop up a picture of meas a child that really sort of
showcases the auburnness of myhair, and it was beautiful as an
(05:08):
adult.
Now I can look back and go.
My hair was beautiful.
But the thing was is, kids aremean and you know, despite the
fact that I wasn't an orangeginger, people would call me
carrots.
At junior school I got called,called carrots.
That's when my hair was veryauburn and it was all in jest,
it was all in good fun, it wasnever um, there was never any
(05:32):
malice behind it.
But when I got to senior schoolI got a lot of teasing um, and
I was bullied for my hair color.
Well, I don't think it wasreally my hair colour, that was
just something to pick on.
But yeah, I had a lot oftormented years during my senior
school life because of thecolour of my hair and because of
(05:53):
who I was, I don't know, and itwas hard.
But what the teacher had saidreally stuck with me and I
didn't dye my hair until I waswell into my 20s and I didn't
cut it off until I was well intomy 20s.
And I only cut my hair into abob once, I think, and it was
(06:16):
sort of a converse bob, so itwas longer in the front, shorter
in the back and I had it cutlike that once and then I let it
grow out and I never did thatagain.
So I have quite an attachmentto my hair.
So when it started falling outwhen I was 18, I was absolutely
petrified about what washappening because for me my hair
(06:40):
was kind of my crowning jewel.
That was my beauty, that waseverything to me, it was my
identity and I think most womenwill understand that feeling of
how much their hair is part ofwho they are.
There are obviously some womenout there that don't give two
hoots.
They're quite happy to dye it,cut it, shave it, do all sorts
(07:03):
of things, really play with itand they're not bothered by
their hair.
But there are lots of women whohave a lot of attachment to
their hair and I'm one of them.
So when it started falling out Itotally freaked out.
I called my mum.
She was just like go to thedoctor.
So I booked a doctor'sappointment.
(07:24):
Say it was an emergency.
You could be waiting three,four, five weeks for an
appointment with the doctor.
To me this was an emergency.
I had hair that was falling outand I had discovered a 50 pence
(07:48):
size patch on my head wherethere was now no hair.
It was smooth as a baby'sbottom and at 18 I had no idea
what alopecia was.
I was completely freaking out.
I didn't know what was going onand I went into the doctors and
(08:08):
he basically sent me away withnothing but almost a clip around
the ear for wasting his timeand his exact words were there
could be somebody in the waitingroom with heart palpitations
and you have just taken theirtime.
So he completely dismissed myfeelings and the issue that I
(08:33):
was having and told me thatsomebody in the in the waiting
room could be having heartissues.
And I called my mum in tearsand she was like Donna, if there
was somebody in the waitingroom with heart issues, they
should be in an ambulance, notdoctor's office, which is
absolutely true.
So at that point I didn'treally get an answer and, to be
(08:54):
honest with you, the doctorshave never really diagnosed me.
I googled what it was after Ihad my second patch and I had
learned about alopecia from GailPorter, who famously suffers
with alopecia presenter, and shetold her story and was a big
(09:16):
advocate for it back at thattime.
I'm sure she still is, andthat's what I learned about
alopecia and that is where Ilearned that there were
alternatives to alopecia.
It wasn't just a one and done.
It wasn't that you lose allyour hair.
So with alopecia areata itmeans that you will lose hair in
(09:37):
one specific spot and it's it'swhat I colloquially call patch
alopecia.
So you will get a patch of hairthat falls out and it will
usually regrow, thankfully.
So.
I have had about five differentpatches on different spots of
my head over the last 20 yearsnow I would say for the last
(10:03):
nine, ten years I have been freeof any patches.
I have had times where my hairhas fallen out a lot more than I
thought it should be.
In fact, one day I actuallycounted the number of hairs.
This was probably this is inthe last five years.
I counted the number of hairsthat had come out of my head
(10:26):
when I was just doing a normalhair wash day and brushing
through my hair after it wasdried, and there was over 400
strands in there and I wasfreaking out thinking, oh gosh,
I can't find a patch.
This is the time where it'sactually going to be my whole
head.
Now, I don't think that's theway alopecia works, in terms of
(10:51):
if you have patch alopecia, youcould then develop full blown
alopecia.
I'm develop full-blown alopecia.
I'm not sure that it works thatway.
I haven't looked into it toodeeply though, um, but yeah, I
would get a patch at the base ofmy neck and then I would have
to wear my hair down all thetime because otherwise you could
see it.
I had patch right on the top ofmy head, on my part line, so I
(11:13):
had to either part my hair onthe side or wear my hair up all
the time to hide it, and then Ihad a patch that was sort of on
the side of my head.
So if I wore my hair down, youdidn't notice it so much, but if
I wore it up, I had to becareful to sort of do a bit of a
comb over job so that youcouldn't see it.
So it's not been a huge thingin terms of dealing with the
(11:38):
results.
Obviously, it's quite easy tocover up, but it was just always
a worry to me that this wasgoing to be the time that it was
all going to fall out, andalopecia areata is usually
brought on, or one of the waysthat it is brought on is through
stress.
So that is something that Ihave realized is that it is a
(12:00):
stress response for me, and whenI was 18, I was in a very, very
stressful place.
So it's not surprising thatthat first patch appeared.
So that's kind of my experiencewith alopecia and it has given
me, um, a special empathy foranybody who suffers with hair
(12:20):
loss for whatever reason,because I understand how that
can affect somebody and how muchhair can mean to somebody.
So it was back in 2020, I havebeen toying with the idea over
the last probably 10 years of doI cut my hair again?
(12:43):
Whenever it was time to get myhair cut, it was like, do I go
for a big chop and go back to abob?
Because the thing about my hairwas at the time in 2020, it was
sort of down to my hips, um,and I hadn't had it cut for a
while, um, and it was just, itwas beautiful.
I absolutely loved it.
I loved plaiting it, but it wasa case of that it was either
(13:06):
being washed and then in plaitsor it was stuck on top of my
head because there was just somuch of it and my hair does
still fall out a lot, so I dohave a lot more fallout than
most people do with their hair,and my hair would just get
everywhere and be in my way, soit'd always get tied up.
So I was like I'm not reallytaking advantage of the fact
that it's as long as it is.
(13:27):
Should I just cut it?
And so I would toy, and everytime I'd get in the chair I'd be
like no, no, no, I'm not goingto do it, keep it long, just
trim it.
And so something in me I don'tknow what it was made the
decision that in 2020, I wasgoing to chop my hair off.
(13:47):
But to make me feel betterabout it, I was going to donate
my hair to the Little PrincessTrust.
So the Little Princess Trust isan organization that creates
real hair wigs for childrengenerally going through cancer
treatments, but also dealingwith other hair loss issues.
(14:09):
So I was really thrilled to beable to give them my hair.
So that was the thing that kindof made it like, okay, I'm
going to give my hair away andsomebody's going to benefit from
it being cut off, so that makesme feel better about having it
done.
That actually, I would alsolook at raising money.
(14:36):
Now, one of the charities that Ihave been a huge supporter of
for my whole entire adult lifeis Cancer Research UK.
When I was a photographer, Idid a calendar that depicted
cancer survivors on every month,with the exception of one where
I showcased a local girl whohad lost her life I think it was
(14:58):
leukemia she had, so there wasonly one loss, but 11 stories of
survival, and it was just abeautiful thing to do, and we
raised about 500 pounds forCancer Research UK with that.
And so I was like, well, if I'mgoing to be donating my hair to
a charity that provides wigs tochildren that have been through
(15:20):
sort of radiotherapy and such,then I want to also raise some
money for Cancer Research,because it's an important
charity to me.
And then another charity thatI've also supported over the
years is Macmillan.
I've always heard such positivethings about people's
experiences with Macmillan andwhat a difference they have made
(15:41):
to the lives of the people thatthey help.
That I was just like this.
Really they all fit together.
So I decided that actually, incutting my hair, I would raise
money for those three charitiesso raise money for Little
Princess Trust, cancer ResearchUK and Macmillan and I didn't
think that I would raise much.
(16:02):
I thought I think my firsttarget was something like 150
pounds.
If I could just raise 50 poundsfor each charity and donate my
hair, that would be good, and Iended up raising 1400 pounds and
that is in huge, huge, hugethanks to my business network.
(16:25):
So if I hadn't had my businessnetwork, I don't think we would
have got anywhere close to that,but the business women
unlimited network really camethrough to support me in that
they shared it.
They supported it and thenother groups that I were in
shared it as well and it justmade a huge difference and I was
absolutely blown away.
(16:48):
However, it did make me like,oh my gosh, I now actually have
to do this and my my appointmenthad to be put back because of
Covid restrictions and things.
So it was actually in April 2021that I had the cut done and we
cut because I went for theconvex bob again.
So we cut 16 inches off thefront and 20 inches off the back
(17:12):
, and I got to donate that tothe Little Princesses Trust, and
the reason that I was sothrilled with that is that the
Little Princesses Trust reallystruggled to get long hair
donations, and I think it'sprobably because of the same
reason that I struggled with.
It is because people like thelonger it gets, the more
attached I think we get to it.
(17:32):
But generally speaking, youhave to have at least seven
inches to donate and your hairneeds to be of a regular hair
color.
So there is, I believe there isa certain percentage of gray
that is allowed.
If it's more than that, theydon't take it, and if it is dyed
(17:53):
pink or blue or green or acolour that is not a normal hair
colour, they can't take it.
So, seven inches minimum, andwhat they usually get is
somewhere between seven andeleven inches donated, which
means that there are so manylittle girls out there that have
had to have gone throughsomething horrific that has
(18:13):
caused their hair loss, and thenthey can't have long hair,
which it just seems so sad to me, because that is one of the
things that I absolutely lovedas a little girl was having my
long hair.
So being able to donate such agood length of hair made me
(18:33):
really happy to be able to to dothat and know that there was
going to be at least one littlegirl out there that was going to
get a longer wig because I wasable to donate such a good
length of hair.
So those are just some tips foryou if you're considering doing
it.
And the fact is that peoplecan't believe how long my hair
(18:54):
is now.
So now we are in 2025.
So it is almost, almost to theday four years since I had that
haircut and my hair is now downto my waist again.
So I had it cut back into thebob, um, properly, once after
(19:17):
that initial haircut, I think,and I might've had it cut one
more time after that and then Ihaven't had it cut again back
into that bob.
So this has been probablygrowth of uh, three and a half
years maybe, and it's down to mywaist again and that is my.
My trump card, I suppose, isthat my hair, thankfully and I
(19:41):
touch wood all the time when Isay it, touching the wood of my
coffee table right now growsreally quickly and always has
done, and even though I've hit40 and there have been other
things that have changed in mybody that we won't even talk
about in this episode.
Um, my hair growth seems tohave stayed true, so I am
(20:02):
absolutely thrilled to have myhair long again.
Um, I am considering another cut, um, and seeing if I can donate
again, because it was such a,it was such a good feeling to
know that the hair was going toa good cause, and I am getting
quite frustrated with just themaintenance of my hair.
(20:26):
So I've tried very hard toreduce my single plastics.
So I haven't actually usedshampoo bottles in probably five
or six years now.
And although it cleans my hair,I do find that drying my hair.
(20:46):
You know I don't like to putheat on it, so if I do put it up
in plats, I find that it can,it doesn't quite dry properly
and it can get a little bitgreasy and I get like one good
day out of it and not a lot else.
And if it was shorter I wouldwash it more often, and so I'm
toying with the idea ofpotentially doing another
(21:06):
donation at some point.
I don't think I'll do thefundraising part of it.
It was quite stressful andscary and, yeah, I don't know
about that, but I did want toraise the profile of the Little
Princess Trust in this podcastand say to you you know, if you
have ever considered choppingyour hair off, please do
(21:29):
consider donating the hair thatyou cut, especially if you've
got over 11 inches, which iswhat they struggle to get
anything longer than that.
But if you've got seven inchesor more to cut off, then please,
please do consider donating tothe Little Princess Trust or
consider growing out your hairso that you can do a donation.
(21:50):
That would be a wonderful thing.
Um, because it is.
It is something that we do holdvery dear, a lot of people hold
very dear, and I can't imaginebeing a child in this world
where children can be so cruel.
You know there are a lot ofvery kind children out there,
but there are a lot of childrenthat just I don't know, they
(22:13):
don't think before they speak,they don't understand or they
are just being mean and will sayhorrible things.
So if a child has been throughsomething like cancer and has
lost their hair from that, andthey have been through so much
already, going back into schooland having kids comment on the
fact that they haven't got anyhair and usually the chemo it
(22:36):
takes all hair.
So it's eyelashes, eyebrows,the hair on your head,
everything.
So having kids say mean thingsto you is just one thing that
you just don't need when you'vebeen through that.
So being able to help them byproviding hair that can give
them a nice, realistic wig thatcan be theirs and that they can
(22:58):
look after and that they canfeel pretty again they are
always pretty with or withouthair, but you know what it's
like when you don't feel pretty.
It's one of those things.
It is an internal thing andwhen they see all their friends
being able to have plaits andponytails and doing things with
(23:19):
their hair and having it curledand all of that thing and not
being able to do that themselves, it's got to be really, really
tough and it's just somethingthat doesn't need to happen when
there is so much hair out therethat could be used for the good
of making real hair wigs forkids.
So I am going to leave all thelinks to the Little Princess
(23:40):
Trust below for you.
I hope you have enjoyedlistening to my story today.
I have had my second lot ofresults back from my hormone
tests, so I am hoping to haveJulie come on and we're going to
have a discussion about myhealth, because I know that that
is something that people wereinterested in hearing more about
(24:03):
.
So my health journey has beensomething that has been ongoing
for many years.
If you've listened to thepodcast, you've heard me talk
about it before, but I think itis really important, especially
as a woman who is in her 40sthat is potentially at that
perimenopausal stage that I canhelp bring light to that,
(24:24):
especially when a majority of myaudience is female and the guys
that are listening.
You need to know this stuff too, because you may have a wife, a
partner, a girlfriend that isgoing through it, and just being
able to understand a little bitmore about what women have to
go through in terms of theirhealth and their body changes at
(24:46):
this time of life could bereally helpful for you to just
extend a little more grace.
So stay tuned for that one.
I hope you enjoyed listening tothis story.
All of the information for thelittle princess trust will be
down below, and I will also linkthe podcastathon information so
you can go and listen to someother podcasts and learn about
some other charities that areimportant to other podcasters.
(25:09):
Um, so that would be great ifyou would do that.
Um, other than that, it justleaves me to say don't forget
that the in-person Mindset inAction Live is coming to you on
the 3rd of April.
I am so, so thrilled to be ableto bring this to you.
At the weekend I went and spentsome time with Andrea Rainsford,
(25:31):
who is going to be one of thespeakers at my event.
She was holding one of herin-person events and it was
absolutely fantastic hearing herspeak, hearing Nicola speak,
who is also going to be speakingat my event, and just feeling
that buzz.
There is nothing like being ina room of people that are just
aligned, room of people that arejust aligned, and what I said
(25:56):
was at the table.
Somebody turned around and saidI was really nervous about
coming here by myself and notknowing anybody, and it's been
such a lovely experience to behere in this room with these
people.
And I said the thing is is ifyou might not know anybody else,
but everybody in this roompretty much knows Andrea and
they like her and they gel withher personality.
(26:17):
So if that's the case, it'slikely that you're going to get
on with most of the people inthe room because you get on with
her, and I'd like to think thatthat's going to be the same
with my event that you eitherknow one of my speakers or you
know me, and in doing that,we're just bringing like-minded
people together.
So all of the people that I'vegot on my list right now, I know
(26:40):
that they are going to befantastic people for you to talk
to.
So if you're sitting on thefence, jump off it right now,
because we are going to begetting together to have six
fantastic speakers speakingabout business fundamentals help
you grow and streamline yourbusiness.
We've got two fantasticfacilitators that are going to
come and do some well-beingstuff with us, because it's
(27:02):
really important that we findour balance, and those two
facilitators are both runningthe London Marathon at the end
of April and they are fantasticladies running for two
incredible charities.
So, in in the spirit ofpodcastathon, I would just
mention that they are runningfor Meningitis Now and for Brain
Research UK, and 10% of allticket sales from March the 1st
(27:26):
are going to those ladies tosupport those two charities.
So, buying your ticket, you'llbe supporting those charities
and you will be able to comealong and get all of that
business knowledge as well, aswell as afternoon tea and a
birthday cake to celebrate myfifth podcast birthday, so I
hope to see you there.
All of the details will be inthe show notes, but you can head
(27:48):
over to donnaeedcom forwardslash birthday event.
You'll find all the detailsthere and I hope to see you next
week.
Bye for now.
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