Source: Chip Somodevilla / Getty
It was the video seen around the world.
In January, beloved freshman Democrat
Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley revealed this one thing that must have been one of the hardest things she’s ever done.
In an exclusive video for The Root, she told the world that she has alopecia and showed off her beautiful bald head.
“In the fall, when I was getting my hair retwisted, is the first time that I was made aware that I had some patches,” Pressley said. “From there, it accelerated very quickly and got to the point where she was “ waking up every morning to sinkfuls of hair.”
“Every night I was employing all the tools that I had been schooled and trained in throughout my life as a Black woman because I thought that I could stop this. I wrapped my hair. I wore a bonnet. I slept on a silk pillowcase,” she added.
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“And yet and still every morning, which I faced with dread, I did not want to go to sleep because I did not want the morning to come where I would remove this bonnet and my wrap and be met with more hair in the sink and an image in the mirror of a person who increasingly felt like a stranger to me,” she continued.
While she admitted her hair loss made her feel “naked, exposed, vulnerable. I felt embarrassed. I felt ashamed. I felt betrayed,” luckily her journey got better with time.
”I’m making progress every day. And that’s why I’m doing this today,” adding, “It’s about self-agency. It’s about power. It’s about acceptance. It’s so interesting to me that right now on this journey, what I feel the most unlike myself is when I am wearing a wig. So I think that means I’m on my way.”
Take a look:
The bravery here is beyond inspiring! But it’s important to note that is courage isn’t new to Pressley either.
Back in 2018, she ran for a seat in the U.S. Congress
against a popular incumbent and won, which led to her calling for the
impeachment of President Trump, which then led her to defend herself
when the president tweeted that she and other members of Congress should go back to where she came from.
But for Black women, this type of admission is on a whole other level.
As I recently wrote for the Huff Post, “For African-American women, it’s not a secret that hair — and the loss of it —carries a hefty weight culturally and emotionally. Hair often signifies a sense of pride, acceptance and femininity. It’s also often a source of discrimination; Black people across the country have lost jobs and been kicked out of school for their hair. When it’s gone, it can lead to shame.”
Yet, Pressley has rose against that shame to proudly put her beautiful bald head on display to empower other women suffering from the same ailment. So, whether she is protesting in the streets, stumping for former Presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren or
introducing crucial legislation to protect Americans, Pressley is a Capitol Hill baaaaadie who is out there stuntin’ in these streets.
With her signature red lip and endearing smirk, here are some of her best bald lewks:
