National Bald Out!

You've heard of the "Great American Smoke Out" - the day when everyone is encouraged to stop smoking for just one day?

What if, for ONE day, all the bald women in this country (or whatever country you live in) came out in public with nothing on their heads? Imagine the effect! People wouldn't be able to assume that every bald woman they see has cancer. Bald women would become non-remarkable very quickly, just as bald men have. Women like me and other members of AW, who already go out in public bald, would instantly stop feeling so alone.

I'm thinking of making a YouTube video and setting a date for sometime during the summer (when it's warm everywhere). If I picked a date - say a Saturday in July - and put up a YouTube video now urging all bald women to join in on a National Bald Out THAT day, would any of you who don't currently go out in public bald do it for that one day?

Maybe we could get a news service "flash" out there and get TV and print media to pick up on the story! Anyone know how to do that?

I don't know what category to put this in...it's about society, and acceptance, and news, and promoting awareness...so, I'll just put it in Bald is Beautiful, and hope you all see it.

Please share this with other friends on AW and respond - YES OR NO...would you join in?

April 29
HERE WE GO! I just put the video on YouTube. You can find it under the title "Announcing the National Bald Out!", or at this link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXxBKwi-1lw

I hope you all like it! Thank you to everyone for their comments and suggestions as to the content, and special thanks to the lovely ladies who allowed me to use their photos at the end of the video. I think that adds a lot.

On the Bald Girls Do Lunch site, www.baldgirlsdolunch.org, there are some absolutely amazing T-shirts, buttons, banners...and loads of other fun items with two different National Bald Out logo designs, as well as a great one that says "Bald? So What!" I LOVE IT! Thanks so much, Thea! To view the items, click on "Logo Products", then click on "Bald Out July 19". Remember - 100% of proceeds fund the BGDL nonprofit's national outreach to women with alopecia areata, so your purchase of a National Bald Out T-shirt (or other item) will directly benefit women with alopecia.

The next step is for everyone to join the newly-created Alopecia World group "National Bald Out". Until we get the Group up on the Home Page, you can go to this link to join:

www.alopeciaworld.net/group/nationalbaldout

A big Thank You to rj for all his help!

I'll be posting more soon on the National Bald Out group.



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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by LeslieAnn Butler on April 12, 2009 at 5:49pm
Yes, I have some media contacts. If you send me a press release, I will make sure the word gets out!
Permalink Reply by Mukti on April 12, 2009 at 5:18pm
Well this would be something I would have to consider. I go bald in the house and backyard but not anywhere else!
I'll have to extend the 'boundaries' a bit. But this is a wonderful idea and I'm all for the t-shirts as well. I have a few spots that are growing some hair though as well a few eyebrow 'hairs'...just discovered those this week! But of course it isn't anything that can be seen by others unless you have a guided tour! lol
Anyways enjoy your Sunday!
Mukti
Permalink Reply by Mary on April 12, 2009 at 5:23pm
Thanks, Mukti. We all have to go at our personal pace. I had to extend my "boundaries" day by day...first the mailbox, then the gym, then the library, then the grocery store, finally, everywhere. For awhile, I kept track of all the "first times" at each new place. It got easier all the time.
Permalink Reply by LOUISE MOLINA on April 12, 2009 at 5:31pm
Hello girl thank God for mary ssay the day and the time . BOLD IS BEAUTIFUL.
Permalink Reply by margaret watson on April 12, 2009 at 5:35pm
Dear Mary,
What a fab idea. When I decided to go 'naked' (well that's what it felt like to me) I had to do it on my own. It was really hard as people already knew me with a wig on - so a lot of explaining had to always be done every time I met someone I knew. Unless you have done this you would never know how difficult a challenge to your confidence it is. People with their own full head of hair would find the idea unbelievable. BUT if I had known just one other person to have given me a vote of confidence it would have made such a difference. NOW I am in this position and could talk for 'England' on the subject. The hard part now is when I put on a wig if I don't want to be noticed (e.g. in a crowd or at a concert) but then meet someone who knows me from school as a teacher I feel the need to say something. I'm never completely at rest with myself somehow although I try to make myself. The hardest time is shopping on my own in a supermarket or in town - talk about sticking out like a sore thumb!
SO YES LET'S ALL GO NAKED AND TAKE OFF OUR WIGS ON A SPECIFIC DAY IN JULY.
Margaret - Exeter, England
Permalink Reply by Mary on April 12, 2009 at 6:02pm
Great to hear from you, Margaret. I lived in Norwich for a year and feel a close connection with England.
Permalink Reply by Mary on April 12, 2009 at 6:13pm
Thank you to everyone for your comments! Please stay tuned - I'm working on some ideas. The more I think about this, the more I believe that it needs to be an event for WOMEN with alopecia - whether they're totally bald, spotty, or in between. Sorry guys, but it's the gals who consistently get mistaken for cancer patients, and who have a much harder time coming out of the wig closet.

The first year might be small (that's the way the Great American Smoke-out started), and then become an annual event with more and more publicity and participation. It might be part of an annual alopecia "month". Maybe I'm thinking in the clouds, but we could really begin to turn public perception around, AND help many women achieve the self-confidence to baldly go where only a few women with alopecia are going today!

Thank you Sisters,
Mary
Permalink Reply by Erin on April 12, 2009 at 6:39pm
I would!! It would be a wonderful reason to do it, to bring awareness and feel like i have a bit of an "excuse" to do it.. lets make one!
Permalink Reply by Kristine on April 12, 2009 at 8:56pm
Awesome ! I'm down ! Count me in ! Genius...
Permalink Reply by Dielle on April 12, 2009 at 11:50pm
I am almost positive that I could get my local radio station involved with this. They are always doing stuff like St. Jude fundraisers and stuff like that, so I could probably get them to help spread the word in Georgia. One question though, if we do shirts would each regional group be responsible for getting some? I think if we do shirts everyone should use the same words and stuff, that way even if we have to get our own made they are all the same (power in numbers lol)
Permalink Reply by Mary on April 13, 2009 at 12:38am
Great, Dielle! We'll definitely want to have the same design on T-shirts. More on that later. ( :-)
Permalink Reply by Gwennan Thomas on April 13, 2009 at 9:44am
I definitely would :) It's something I am seriously considering doing long-term, so this would be a great start.

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