Some of my most liberated sexual experiences have come from owning my beauty as a bald woman and partnering with people who appreciate how much I appreciate myself. Honestly, I think I learned to love myself more by the blessing of my current boyfriend who first offered to shave my head for me and then teach me how to do it myself. It's quite a special feeling for him to rub my head, especially when I'm sad…or when he's just adoring me.

I definitely don't let just anyone touch my head. I actually had a couple of experiences out of the country where people ran up to me to touch my head and because it was all in another language, I was confused …it was still off putting. Blah.

Anyway, there are certainly people who don't "get it" and probably have walked pass me a thousand times because they thought bald was unattractive, but I've gotten lots of positive feedback … especially from lovers/potential lovers. It never came off as a fetish …though I do avoid some circles that I feel are fetish-driven in their attraction to me.

It's definitely been a journey owning my sexual self while going through this. I've come to realize that "I'm beautiful despite not having hair" assumes there's something wrong/bad about not having hair … I'm beautiful because I'm beautiful (no despites!). When I first started losing my hair, I became really sexually-inhibited … and that made *me* unhappy. Forget what it made a partner feel like! As a woman, I love embracing sexiness.

I've come along way, but it's all a practice. I practice not viewing myself from a "deficit model" and transforming these thoughts into an "abundant model" where I acknowledge that "I am enough, I am full, I have assets of beauty, compassion, and love just how I am. I am worthy in all that I am. This is how I was made, I am not *missing* something that would otherwise complete me. I am whole."

I just wanted to share that this evening. Great, healthy, vulnerable, loving sex is for bald women, too! ;-)

(I know that this post is primarily for an adult audience, but how do we also engage young people going through alopecia in healthy conversations about sex education, worthiness, and sexual experiences? I imagine it's quite tough while going through puberty … I wonder whether young people have safe spaces for these convos to happen where they aren't framed as taboo, but very real concerns.)

Ann