Woman Tells TV Dating Show Men Are Scared Off By Her Alopecia

An attractive Australian beautician named Chloe has told UK TV cameras about her difficulties in finding romance for the new series of TLC's controversially-named Too Ugly For Love? series. In Chloe’s case, it is the autoimmune disorder Alopecia Areata that is holding her back.

Chloe explains how the hair loss this causes has made her awkward, self-conscious and more introverted than her old, “flirty” self. The Daily Mirror reports that finding a date is not an issue for Chloe the problem arises when she tells her would-be new boyfriends that she is bald.

Hates hiding her condition

Like many people with Alopecia Areata, Chloe tries to conceal her condition for much of the time, but this is at loggerheads with her open and honest nature. She explains in a trailer for the new series that that wearing a wig and hiding her condition is something she hates.

But Chloe, who has had Alopecia Areata for the past 15 years, is certainly brave for the cameras, and lets the TV crew film her without her wig. Her baldness extends to most of her head, with patches of hair concentrated mostly around the top and crown.

Cases of Alopecia Areata can be much less extreme than Chloe’s, and often begin with sudden patchy hair loss that can be as small as a single bald spot the size of a coin.

In some cases things progress no further, and hair may even grow back of its own accord in a few months. Other times, however, last longer indefinitely, in fact and can be much more severe, sometimes resulting in total hair loss all over the scalp or even causing the entire body to be hairless from head to toe. These more extreme instances are known as Alopecia Totalis and Alopecia Universalis, respectively.

Alopecia UK charity manager Jen Chambers, who has Alopecia Totalis, took part in the first series of Too Ugly for Love? and also spoke about the obstacles she faces as a bald woman when it comes to dating.

Positive response

For 29-year-old Chloe, dating is especially difficult because she feels like she needs a wig in order not to go to pieces during the initial meeting, but she says that she can’t stop worrying that the date will be able to tell that she is wearing it. In her episode of the show Chloe wears a blonde wig styled in a bob when she is paired up with a 34-year-old man to see if she can break her 3-and-a-half year spell of romantic bad luck.

We won't spoil the ending for you in case you want to watch the episode, which recently aired in the UK, but we can tell you that the response was phenomenal. Droves of social media users contacted TLC to show their support for Chloe with comments such as: 'Well let's be honest - Chloe is actually a total babe with hair or without, isn't she?'.

What was exciting to see was that after the programme went out Chloe shared a photo to show that her hair had started to grow back.

Whether this was natural regrowth - which can occur although if or when it could happen is impossible to predict - or spurred on by Alopecia Areata treatment is unclear. But, as you can see, there is a substantial difference between Chloe's hair when filming took place and now - including a new tattoo!

Whilst high strength minoxidil applied directly to the balding areas has been seen to produce compelling regrowth results for Belgravia clients with Alopecia Areata, there are no such options for the more severe types.

The coming years are likely to see some major scientific leaps in terms of treatment available for these, however, as research into powerful drugs known as JAK inhibitors continues and the results from clinical trials become increasingly more encouraging.