A Little Bit of Faith

This is Faith Williams! She’s an actor, model, writer, moss artist, and of course– an Alopecia Activist.

Here’s Faith’s Story on Alopecia:

1. Hi Faith! I met you at Dream Build Connect (an event that allows content creators/creatives to connect) and I absolutely fell in love with your aura– It’s so beautiful and light and filled with love and security.

What I didn’t know during our short chat is that you’ve been living with alopecia your whole life. I want to know everything Faith! Will you tell me your story? 

“Well, thank you! First of all, for that amazing intro and description of me. Where I would like to start, I think, is with the story of me. I’ve had alopecia since I was five, and growing up in Richmond, Virginia, as a kid with alopecia was difficult.

I was given a choice early on, where I was given the option on whether I wanted to wear a wig or not. I was about five and a half, when I made the decision to wear wigs. I was young, but my mom wanted to give me that freedom- to decide.

Over time I began to realize, wearing wigs for so many years created a bit of an internal struggle. An identity issue within myself, and being a teenager on top of that, then being a woman- being a black woman.. it’s like, you already have all of this stuff. But, I had this really big thing that, no one knew about, so there was a lot of dissonance within myself-that was really difficult.”

2. On your Instagram bio you say you’re an alopecia activist. What does this mean for you and how do you go about doing this?

“Honestly, that was something I thought to myself, ‘is this a too bold thing to say, that I’m an alopecia activist?’. Yes it is bold, but by existing without wigs, with alopecia, informing people on what it is; I feel that’s activism in itself.

Most people assume that it’s a style choice, they’ll ask me, ‘what’s your shave setting?’. They mean well, but then I have to go into ‘oh it’s not a choice’, then I say, I’ve had alopecia since I was five’, and that’s where the informing comes in; I don’t mind informing.

I told myself, once I secure a spot in New York[moving from Virginia], the wig is going in a bag, in the back of my closet- and we’re never putting it on again. Leaving that Bushwick apartment for the first time[without wearing a wig], my heart was pounding and I was petrified. I told myself, ‘we’re going out-we’re going to walk out, remember our breathing and we’re going to see what happens!’.

And I couldn’t have been proven more wrong, in the best way! I walked out of that apartment, to the train– and it was like I was a Disney princess. Everyone said good morning, telling me how nice I looked and I was like, ‘Is this real life?’. I got on the subway that day; all eyes were on me, and it did make me feel uncomfortable. I held it together and was proud of myself for doing this really big thing. It was a magical day and has been magical ever since. “

3. There is no cure for alopecia. If there was, would you want to go through that process?

“I personally am so good with who I am and have become. I know there are certain treatments, like red light treatment that have worked- I’ve actually met a couple of people. Before they started the treatment and after, I see them on social media and they have hair; it looks great! There is no part of me that’s thought, ‘why don’t we do that and see what happens?’. I feel like this was meant for me for some reason, and I don’t mind unintentionally being the center of attention, because I look different than most people in the subway, ya know?

When I was younger, it felt like I was a test subject like a mouse in a lab. Back then there wasn’t a lot of research like there is now, so it was a lot of trial and error. I was in elementary school, a literal child, getting injections with needles in my head, trying topical steroids that would burn my head for weeks at a time[under the wigs].

And that happened for years of my life, so thinking about it now it’s like all of that, just so I could have hair is… a lot. A lot for a kid to go through, a lot for anyone to go through.

My mom is always very supportive and I love her so much, but religion played a big part, and still does on how she feels about my decision to not try to grow hair. It comes from a perspective I can understand- she’s my mom. You don’t want your child to be singled out in public, you want her to live a “normal life” like everybody else. She still believes that it will happen, that one day I’ll change my mind. I gently remind her that I’m really happy where I’m at. I’m very settled at this point in my life and I don’t plan on changing that any time soon.”

4. One of your instagram reels says that you’re pretty frustrated with the entertainment industry for not being inclusive for people with alopecia. Why do you think that is what could we do to help that?

“I honestly think they have a little trouble not knowing what to do with us, and so they put us in the roles that are just like the tale as old as time typecasts: being an inmate, someone who’s dying, someone who is in the hospital. You usually play the villain because you do look different. Having worked on queer film sets, the queer community doesn’t have such binary thinking, and is more accepting of people playing a variety of roles. Not solely based on appearance. I can play the love interest, the best friend, anyone- and the focus not be on the fact that I don’t have hair.”

And is that why you started getting into writing more?

“Yes. When we were in the covid lockdown, one of my friends reached out to me and she knew I was trying to get more into screenwriting. She said ‘hey I don’t know if you’d be interested but my professor is bored and he’s doing this free 6 week intensive for screenwriting’ and I was like WELL YEAH!! So I did that, learned a lot and that’s what inspired me to write a screenplay about my life with alopecia; that I’ve been pitching as a short film.”

5. What has been the most difficult part of this journey for you?

“Hugging people.”

WHAT?? Ok please explain!!

6. What has been the most positive part of this journey for you? 

“Coming into my own, fully. Because I was having an identity crisis. Once I stopped wearing the wigs[my first year living in New York], I was still doing my eyebrows, this is a specific example– I was in my room in Bushwick and I was running late for work. I couldn’t get my eyebrows right and that’s why I was running late. I was panicking, kept starting over and could feel myself about to start bursting into tears. Then something whispered, ‘you do know you don’t have to do this. You could literally just walk out right now, act like it’s not a big deal, even though you feel like it’s the end of the world- it’s not.’.

I got a makeup wipe, wiped it off, ran out of the door, and felt really self-conscious about it but then it wasn’t the end of the world. It didn’t matter. No one cared. And I was like okay, I’m never going to do that again, that’s when I stopped doing that[drawing on eyebrows]. That’s that! So fully embracing the fact that I am bald. I am a woman. I am going to have to encounter people being like, ‘God bless you’, or , ‘I’m praying for you’; because they assume that I have cancer or some sort of disease; which technically I do- but thankfully it’s not something fatal. Being able to embrace myself fully and not wear wigs, for such a long time..I’m not wearing wigs for any sort of role, any sort of gig. You take me as I am or you don’t need to have me on set.”

7. Do you have any advice for people who struggle with embracing their alopecia?

“Yeah, I would say, to take your time. Because you will know when you’re ready, when you’ve hit your ceiling of covering up or being anxious about going out because of how you’ll be perceived. All of the expectations on a societal level, once you leave that door, just take your time. Wait until you’re ready and then when you are ready, go out, do it with confidence, with your head held high.”

8. Do you have a favorite quote? 

“Actually, I can reference a childhood book, that when I first moved here [New York] would pop into my head. The book title is, ‘Stand Tall Molly Lou Melon.’ It’s about this little girl who had really big front teeth and she got bullied for it. She would notice it and be super unapologetic about it, super unphased. She would be like, “Yeah these are my buck teeth, but I don’t care! This is me!”; she would always stand tall, so that’s something that I would adopt now as an adult.

A really pivotal moment for me– I was working at an ice cream shop and I was looking down, not scooping the ice cream, I just had my head down. One of the regulars, that would come in all the time said, “Girl, you are too gorgeous to have your head down ever. You make sure you keep your head lifted up. Do you hear me?”. I said yes! Since then I tell myself, “okay we have to remember [to keep my head held high]”, because she was right.

If you want to keep up with Faith and all her adventures with acting/writing/modeling/moss creating– Follow her on Instagram and Tiktok!

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