Singer Pharella Skydives to Raise Money for Alopecia UK

Up-and-coming singer/songwriter Pharella has jumped 12,000 feet out of a plane to raise money for Alopecia UK.

Family connection

Determined to help the charity after her brother developed alopecia, Pharella explained, "Last year, my family was struck with the shocking news that my brother had a condition called alopecia we didn't know what this meant until we looked it up on the internet , it was shocking to realise that alopecia is a disease that effects the immune system and can strike at any age. The long term effects are that your hair may or may never come back".

In addition to raising money for the alopecia charity, the 19 year old also wanted to raise awareness.

"It may not be as life threatening as some other conditions but it is definitely life changing. not only for the sufferer but also for the family", she noted, adding "There is no cure and we need to make people aware that Alopecia is a cause that needs to have more support".

There are three types of alopecia thought to be caused by the autoimmune system. These are Alopecia Areata, which causes patchy hair loss that is confined to the scalp, Alopecia Totalis, which causes complete hair loss of the head including eyebrows, lashes and facial hair, and Alopecia Universalis which leads to total hairloss from head to toe.

Exceeded fundraising target

Pharella is a graduate of the Brit School where stars including Adele and Jessie J also trained and the first in the school's history to be awarded the highest triple A* grade in every subject. She also won the 2010 'Be a Star' competition run by top London radio station, Capital FM, and another talent competition on Kiss FM in 2014.

Using her rising star status to support a good cause, Pharella shared updates with her thousands of social media followers, encouraging them to donate online via her Just Giving page. This lead to her exceeding her fundraising target of £1,000 before even stepping foot in the plane!

Alopecia treatments

As Pharella said, there are currently no cures for alopecia, although there are many clinical trials into potential Alopecia treatments underway. Most promisingly, recent studies into the use of JAK inhibitor drugs have produced significant results and are now being investigated further to ensure their efficacy and safety. These include Ruxolitinib and Baricitinib for Alopecia Areata and Tofacitinib for Alopecia Universalis.

There are already a number of treatments for Alopecia Areata available. Most of these have fairly low success rates, however, in cases of mild-to-moderate alopecia hair loss, topical applications of high strength minoxidil have been seen to promote significant regrowth. A former Belgravia client with Alopecia Areata recently wrote about this in the Daily Telegraph, and she is just one of our many Alopecia Success Stories.

Update: We are pleased to provide this update on Pharella's brother's condition which was tweeted to us by the siblings' mother: "After losing all his hair last year, my son is finally in remission, his hair is growing back."