A young woman has claimed that catching Covid eight times has left her bald and revealed the courage it took her to leave the house without a wig.
Lydia Morley, 23, from Newport, Wales, first noticed her long, thick brown hair thinning and falling out in the shower last November.
“Every time I brushed my hair in the shower it would come out in big clumps,” Lydia said. “It was getting to the point where it was getting a little strange.”
After her father noticed a bald spot on the back of her head in January this year, Lydia made an appointment with the doctor and was diagnosed with alopecia areata – a disease that occurs when the immune system attacks the hair follicles, causing them to fall out.
Doctors initially put the diagnosis down to stress, but Lydia, who claims to be the ‘least stressed person ever’, now believes her long-standing alopecia could be caused by Covid.
Lydia Morley (pictured) was diagnosed with alopecia areata in January this year
The 23-year-old first noticed her long brown hair falling out in the shower in November 2023. Pictured: Lydia wears a wig after being diagnosed with alopecia
Lydia wears a brown wig. She now has a large collection of wigs, but also feels confident enough to leave the house without wigs
Lydia wears a platinum blonde wig, which is her “favorite” because it is “so different” from how her hair was before
The vintage store supervisor said she has had eight bouts of Covid since 2020.
She said:I think after having it so many times my immune system has just been dampened and dampened.
‘I had Covid for the eighth time at the end of November and after that I started seeing my hair fall out.’
While doctors agreed that long Covid could be the cause, they stressed that alopecia is not yet fully understood.
Advice from the NHS said: ‘Hair is lost because it is affected by inflammation. The cause of this inflammation is unknown, but it is believed that the immune system, the natural defense that normally protects the body against infections and other diseases, may attack the growing hair.
‘Why this can happen is not yet fully understood, nor is it known why only localized areas are affected and why the hair usually grows back.’
Lydia said: ‘The doctors did say it was possible [covid] but alopecia is one of those things that they don’t always know exactly why it happens.
“Personally, I believe that and the doctors said this could be a cause of the situation, but they also said it could be a million other things.”
Within five months of her diagnosis, Lydia lost 80 percent of her hair and could no longer recognize herself in the mirror.
‘I’m a very outgoing person and that’s true [the alopecia] This is really taking away from you, because people don’t realize how much of their identity is determined by how they look.
“People like to say they don’t care about appearance or physical attributes, but once you take that away from you, it really changes the way you see yourself.”
The young woman whose camera roll was previously filled with selfies began avoiding cameras as her self-confidence plummeted.
She said: ‘My camera roll turned into checking if I had new plasters [on my head] or check to see if it had gotten worse.
‘As a girl it was very difficult in the weeks and months from when it first fell out until I had my head shaved.
“You feel like you’re not quite woman enough.”
Lydia’s hair before she shaved it all off for charity. She first noticed it falling out in November last year
Within five months of being diagnosed with alopecia, Lydia lost 80 percent of her hair
Lydia said she felt more confident after shaving off her hair and donating the locks to charity
It wasn’t until Lydia decided to shave off her remaining locks for charity and go completely bald that she saw her confidence blossom.
‘A full face of make-up and a bald head suits a woman very well and it makes me feel even more feminine.’
Since shaving off all her hair, Lydia says she is experiencing some regrowth.
‘The regrowth process is difficult, because it does not all happen at the same time.
‘It’s chugging and some bits are longer and some bits are shorter.
‘These are really positive signs of growth and it’s amazing to see it continuing again and giving me that extra bit of perseverance.
‘However, my hair may fall out again, so you have to distance yourself from it. As much as seeing it grow back is a good sign, I don’t trust it.
“As for the eyebrows and lashes, I have yet to see any growth on them, but we’ll just have to wait and see.”
Despite promising signs of regrowth, Lydia wears a range of synthetic and ‘real hair’ wigs.
“Most of my wigs are synthetic,” Lydia said. ‘I have a human hair one that looks very similar to how my hair used to be, and I wear it every day.
‘My blonde wig is probably my favorite at the moment because it’s so different from my hair before.
“If someone had told me a year ago that someone would compliment me on my shoulder-length peroxide blonde bob, I would have said, ‘You’re crazy.’
But Lydia stressed that she is now confident she can leave the house without a wig.
She said: ‘It’s nice to be comfortable in lots of different styles and I don’t have to look the same every day.
Lydia introduced herself before she lost her hair due to alopecia
Lydia wears a brown wig and an England shirt after her diagnosis
Lydia said she gets compliments on her platinum blonde wig (pictured)
Lydia, who also likes to go outside without a wig, says she sees new growth
Lydia takes a picture of her hair, which is now growing back in tufts
Lydia is now raising awareness about her alopecia journey to help others speak out about their experiences with hair loss.
Giving advice to other young women diagnosed with alopecia, Lydia said: ‘Shave it and raise some money to help someone else, and you’ll feel a million times better.’
After sharing a video of her hair journey over the past five months on TikTok, her post went viral, racking up 179,000 views and more than 8,000 likes.
One user wrote: ‘Legit. It looks good bald. What an atmosphere.’
Another commented: ‘I gasped when I saw the photo of you in the brown wig.’
A third wrote: ‘I have it too. It’s such an internal struggle to come to terms with, but once you take the leap, it’s so healing.”
A fourth commented: ‘The ultimate test of hotness is being able to look beautiful without your hair and you passed with flying colors honey.’
