Photo: Amanda Edwards/Getty
Ricki Lakeis looking back to the day she shaved her head three years ago.
TheHairsprayalum opened up about the “drastic decision” on Instagram with a2019 videoof the moment, while recounting her struggles with androgenic alopecia, a hair loss condition she dealt with privately for almost 30 years before sharing her story in 2020.
In the clip, the talk show host is seen buzzing off her hair with someone helping her guide the razor. At one point, Lake gathers pieces of her cut hair and holds it close to her chest.
“3 years ago today, on the afternoon of New Year’s eve day 2019, I took a brave a– leap of faith and chose to make the drastic decision to shave my head after years and years of struggling in secret w/ my androgenic hair loss,” she began in the caption.
She continued: “I have never shared this raw video footage before but felt like i wanted to now, for those of you who have followed my story and have been invested in it. Some of you know my struggle all too well personally and I want you to know, I truly feel you.”
Lake noted that the video shows her coming to “a place of peace, liberation, and most importantly, self-love and self-acceptance.”
After thanking her friends for supporting her through the “transition,” Lake concluded, “I can honestly say I appreciate and love my natural gray and sometimes wild unruly head of hair. May all of you struggling with whatever also come to a place of peace and acceptance. Life is too damn short.”
Ricki Lake/Instagram
When she firstopened up about her journeytwo years ago on Facebook andInstagram, Lake revealed she’d been struggling with hair loss for most of her adult life.
Sharing that her hair “was never the same” after it’d undergone triple-processing for her role as Tracy Turnblad in the 1988 film, Lake said that a host of other factors — including diet, hormonal birth control, weight fluctuations, her pregnancies, genetics and stress over the years — were responsible for her hair loss.
In the post, she even disclosed the few times she’d “felt suicidal over” the condition, noting that almost no one in her life knew of her “deep pain and trauma.”
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Inspeaking with PEOPLElast year, Lake candidly talked about how she’s come to a place of self-acceptance.
Although originally “afraid of coming out,” because she never knew of any woman “going public about female baldness,” Lake recognized the beauty in her transformation both inside and out.
“It’s about inner beauty, self-confidence and self-love,” she said. “I truly appreciate what I see in the mirror now.”
Lake now hasgrown out her gray tresseswith the help of hair care brandHarklinikken, which she praised on Instagram for her “dramatic” hair improvement.
source: people.com
