Advertisement
Gianessa Wride, seven years old, started losing her hair just last January. Her parents had no idea why their little daughter suddenly lost her hair. Gianessa’s mom, Daniella Vinanti Wride, told Yahoo! Beauty, “I was brushing Gianessa’s hair, and it just fell out. Then, I noticed a quarter-sized bald spot on her head.”
Daniella, 29 years old, immediately set up an appointment with a dermatologist to figure out what’s happening in Gianessa’s head. However, three weeks before her visit, the little girl had completely lost all of her hair.
Daniella, who work as a nurse, initially thought that her daughter may have had developed alopecia, which is an autoimmune disease that causes hair loss all over the body. Alopecia is usually caused by stress.
Daniella said, “We had a stressful year, with both my husband and me out of work. We also had moved from Tennessee to Utah to live with my husband’s parents, and six weeks after we arrived, my mother-in-law passed away.”
After Gianessa was diagnosed with alopecia, doctors gave her the option whether she wanted to use topical or injectable steroid treatments. However, doctors warned them that it can be too risky because of the side effects. Daniella said, “So, we’re making bald fun and fashionable.”
In the girl’s school, an annual “Crazy Hair Day” was always held during the last week of March. Daniella said, “Last year, I styled her hair into a unicorn horn. This year, we decided to decorate her head with stickers.”
To bedazzle Gianessa’s bald head, her mom used four sheets of scrapbooking stickers to design owls and flowers. She also repurposed Christmas ornaments into earrings. Daniella said, “She looked in the mirror and said, ‘Mom, this is awesome! Her friends loved it too.”
According to Daniella, Gianessa’s hair may not be able to grow back after all. Gianessa’s lower eyelashes and eyebrows had already fallen out.
Daniella said, “She’ll probably be bald for the rest of her life, and since wigs make her head itch, we use beanies, hats, and scarves. People with alopecia tell me that no one has ever seen them without their wigs, but Gia simply tells people, ‘My body doesn’t like my hair.'”
Daniella told KSL, “She wants people to feel comfortable with who they are; just embrace life and have fun and be fierce and be an inspiration to others.” The little girl’s bejeweled head turned out to be a hit with her fellow peers.