Wedding Stress Causes Bride-To-Be To Lose Her Hair Just Before Big Day

A bride-to-be grew so stressed over her upcoming wedding day started to lose her hair - just before she was due to get married.

Hairdresser Ellie Baker faced the nightmare scenario of going bald just before she was set to walk down the aisle on the biggest day of her life.

The 35-year-old was forced to replace her locks with specially designed extensions after suffering the bout of alopecia, which left her “freaked out”

Ellie, from Plymouth, Devon, first noticed her hair loss when big clumps started to fall out after she got out of the shower a few months before her wedding to Danny Baker, 33.

She revealed: “My fiance Daniel noticed a small patch of hair missing from the back of my head and I went to the doctor.

“On my second visit, I was referred to a oncologist. I had alopecia areta and was losing my hair in large amounts.

"I found what I had shocking, especially whilst trying to plan my wedding, and dreaded any more of my hair falling out before my big day.”

Describing the hair loss as “every bride’s worst nightmare”, Ellie said: "Doctors told me not to worry but within weeks the whole house was covered in my hair.

“After a while I started to develop large bald patches.

"I was very worried, I didn’t want to be a bald hairdresser, but I especially didn’t want to be a bald bride.”

Her condition grew worse as time went on and the mum-of-three admitted “dreading” walking down the aisle with bald patches - and the stress was making the condition worse.

She said: “Stress can make it worse but before it started falling out I was not stressed at all.

“I did not even do any of the wedding planning. We picked the venue and the colours and my mother-in-law then did the rest.

"I was really excited - certainly not stressed. It is a very unpredictable thing and there was no real cause to it.

"At the moment I have a full head of hair - but next week I could wake up and it could be all gone again.

"It is a very cruel thing.”

Steroid treatments were only partially successful, and Ellie enlisted the help of best friend Chelsea Woodrow, who attached the extensions around her bald areas.

She said: "It was actually really effective and you couldn’t see what I was hiding, which was a relief.

"No one noticed the hair extensions, so it was a big confidence boost.

"I didn’t want to look back at the pictures of me on my wedding day and see a bald woman in a wedding dress.

“Thanks to the hair extensions that is not the case.”

Ellie has now set up a local support group for other sufferers of the condition after being encouraged to by Alopecia UK.

She has also launched her own hair restoration business.

Ellie said: “Having alopecia is devastating to people; it’s a very unpredictable condition to have and is almost cruel to those who suffer with it, but we want to help.

"I was offered wigs but it didn’t feel right, I felt as though there must be something else out there.

"I looked into hair restoration, speaking to hospitals and networking, but I found that there weren’t any options south of Bristol.

"So that’s when I decided to start my own support group.”

For more information about alopecia, visit the NHS website.

Have you been affected by alopecia? Have you had any other wedding nightmares? Tweet us @YahooStyleUK

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Pics: SWNS