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JAM | Apr 2, 2022

Audrey Hinchcliffe | The Oscar slap vs. alopecia

/ Our Today

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Combination picture showing Will Smith hiting Chris Rock as Rock spoke on stage during the 94th Academy Awards in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, U.S., March 27, 2022. (Photo: REUTERS/Brian Snyder)

Alopecia is the winner.

When Chris Rock decided to make a mockery of the health condition of Will Smith’s wife – Jada Pinkett-Smith’s ball head, little did he know that he would have been paid handsomely with a slap seen and felt around the world. Alopecia entered the stage along with the award to Will Smith for best actor.

How many persons in the audience at the Oscars, or across the world heard of, or knew anything about the pain of the seemingly attractive bald head woman whom Will stood up for?

As a victim of balding known now by the fancy word alopecia, I have been ridiculed by all sorts of names and terminologies which were not as cute as some thought. Names such as “Ms Baldie”, “she is a butch”, “the bald head lesbian woman”, “she turn man”, “she is drawing attention to herself”, and more.

Audrey Hinchcliffe, CEO and founder of Manpower and Maintenance Services Ltd (MMS) Group.

At the same time, in the early 80’s, my diagnosis was folliculitis, which destroyed the hair roots.

Yes, there may have been that too, as I used to travel worldwide and just thought it was caused by dirty plane seats and head rests until when the top of my head, which was not touching the plane seat, became clean and “smooth as a young baby’s bottom”.

So here I was from a big “Angela Davis afro” to trying wigs and weaves, to a mans’ low haircut, to a shaved head.

I can recall when I climbed into a barber chair in Brooklyn, New York, the barber hesitated, and patrons looked stunned. At the end of the low cut then, I looked in the mirror, and staring back at me was this person who appeared to have lost 10 years off my life. I looked younger and fresh-faced and my children clapped.

I regretted that I had not done it sooner, prior to moving from head covers, to low haircuts and progressing to a clean shaved head. So, alopecia is no joke as the comedian Chris Rock found out. I do not condone violence in any form, but Will Smith knows his wife’s pain and it propelled him up and across the stage to deliver the slap. Whatever price he has to pay, it will be well worth it to draw attention to the fact that alopecia is no joking matter. It is a health issue. So, on behalf of all alopecia sufferers, thank you, Will Smith. The Oscar be damned.

Will Smith cries as he accepts the Oscar for Best Actor in “King Richard” at the 94th Academy Awards in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, U.S., March 27, 2022. (Photo: REUTERS/Brian Snyder)

So, what is alopecia?

Alopecia is a medical term for hair loss, which can include everything from common balding on the head to hair loss on the body and more. Alopecia areata is a disease in which the immune system attacks hair follicles causing hair loss (The Mayo Clinic).

There are multiple kinds of alopecia areata including bald patches, losing nearly all the hair on top of the head and extending to losing all the hair on the scalp and any other part of the body where hair usually grows.

Alopecia is not deadly, according to the National Institute of Health. Regardless of the cause including, stress, medication, supplements, hair treatment, and more recently COVID-19 and job loss, the acceptance of going bald is personal to the affected persons. Like US Representative Ayanna Pressley, D- Massachusetts who stated she is “making peace with alopecia,” I have done the same.

Just think of the savings in time and money from hair products, the cost of shaving legs, chest, arms and armpits, while some are spending big bucks to keep away hair growth (hair suit in some cases). Alopecia in some cases amounts to “when life throws you a lemon, make lemonade.”

This is the case of the “Oscar’s stage slap” which has brought attention to the disease of alopecia across the world. This is the upside of a violent act. A man’s wife’s bald head is no joke, as the grasshopper learned.

Will Smith (R) hits at Chris Rock as Rock spoke on stage during the 94th Academy Awards in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, U.S., March 27, 2022. (Photo: REUTERS/Brian Snyder)

I made peace with my alopecia a long time ago and am just loving my bald head.

—Article by Audrey Hinchcliffe

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