Hear the phrase ‘Beauty Queen’ and all of a sudden your mind is flooded with images of orange-streaked blonde beauties that have blinding white teeth and wear sparkly tiaras. This stereotype is not always that close to the truth, but one teen has overturned conventional beauty standards by winning a title in the Miss Philippines Earth USA competition, despite a condition that’s caused her to go bald.
19 year old beauty queen Angelica Galindez has alopecia. Alopecia is a condition that causes the immune system to attack healthy hair follicles which will then result in partial or complete hair loss. Angelica was diagnosed with Alopecia when she was 12 years old and went completely bald three years later. “It was really hard to lose my hair during puberty, so I wore a hat to school, but boys teased me and ripped it off my head,’ tells Angelica. “As I grew older, I came to terms with the fact that my hair wasn’t growing back, so I decided to own it.’ Competing in the Miss Philippines pageant without her wig was Angelica’s way of conveying that beauty is not ‘one-size-fits-all.’
Never intending on entering a beauty pageant, a friend of her grandmother decided to send photos of Angelica wearing her long brown wig to Bradford Adkins, the director of the Miss Philippines pageant. “I had no idea that Angelica was bald until one week before the pageant, when she sent me new photos without a wig,’ Adkins says. “At that point, I had already decided she was perfect for the competition, so her alopecia wasn’t an issue.’
Angelica normally wears a long brown wig however says she was never trying to hide her hair loss; rather she just needed time to build up the courage to expose the effects of her condition. “I decided that this could be an opportunity to show the world that girls like me could be classically beautiful too.’
After competing in the national costume segment, the bathing suit portion, and a dance piece, Angelica was crowned ‘Miss Philippines Water 2014,’ one of the six titles in the pageant. Angelica’s duties include being a Green Ambassador, raising environmental awareness, and in April, she’s scheduled to compete in the Miss Philippines Earth USA Nationals.
Meanwhile, Angelica is studying up on the environment and working as a hair and makeup stylist. “Ironically, hair is my life,’ she says. “It’s a little hard because I can’t experiment with my products, but doing hair relaxes me, almost like therapy. And I enjoy working with people who have lost their hair from illness.’
Here at Transitions Hair we understand how hard it is to adjust to life without your hair, which no doubt was a big part of who you were. If you’ve lost most or all of you hair due to Alopecia our beautiful Follea Wigs are natural looking and will grip perfectly to your head to ensure maximum security and confidence.
Start your journey today by calling 1300 427 778 or Click here to book a free confidential consultation with one of our hair loss professionals to discuss the best hair loss solution for you.
