Woman with alopecia hopes trolls listen to her Ted Talk

Laura Mathias says people are "bombarded" by images showing how people "should" look

A woman who spent 17 years hiding her hair loss said she hoped her online Ted Talk would help social media trolls realise the hurt their words caused.

Laura Mathias, from Manningtree, Essex, said people were "bombarded" with images of what society believed they should look like.

Ms Mathias, who has alopecia, told of her pride at being a bald woman during her own Ted Talk in London.

"I hope it reaches the people whose words made me feel awful," she said.

Ted Talks are recorded public-speaking presentations originally given at Ted (technology, entertainment and design) events.

The 33-year-old said she was "terrified" ahead of her speech, published online to 40 million subscribers of TedX Talks' YouTube channel.

The 33-year-old kept her alopecia diagnosis a secret for 17 years

She told the audience: "Every day we're bombarded with images of aesthetically appealing humans on our screens in print media.

"These images of slim, smooth, able-bodied and appropriately hairy humans that have been mere annoyances to me growing up as a chubby kid became an actual torment to me at the age of 13 when my hair started falling out in clumps.

"Movies make me a villain, a tragic ill kid or sometimes an inhuman creature."

'I don't need to be fixed'

Ms Mathias was diagnosed with the autoimmune condition by a doctor who said it was triggered by stress.

She kept her hair loss a secret for 17 years but, during the pandemic, found the confidence to leave home without her wig.

Ms Mathias has ditched her wigs and bandanas more in public now that more awareness of the condition has been raised

"I don't need to be fixed; it's a problem in society that we judge people how they look rather than who they are as a person," Ms Mathias told the BBC.

She said during the time she had spent campaigning on behalf of people with visible disabilities, she had "never done something as formal as this".

"Every single time I speak about my visible disability and my hair loss I hope I can be changing the experience of another person who felt how I did," she added.

"I don't expect people to rip off their wig, but this Ted Talk is one piece of representation I didn't have as a 13-year-old."

Got a story? Email [e-mail] or WhatsApp [phone]