When a mom learned that her daughter’s school was holding a crazy hair day competition, she came up with an excellent idea. Not wanting her girl with an autoimmune hair disease to feel left out, she thought of a hairstyle with no scarves or wigs.
On New Year’s Day in 2017, Gianessa Wride’s mother, Daniella Wride, was brushing her daughter’s hair when she was startled by something. While combing through her daughter’s tangles, she noticed long locks of hair falling out.
Daniella said it started with quarter-sized bald patches, after which she saw her girl’s hair thinning by her temples. After nearly twenty days, Daniella said her daughter’s beautiful locks were completely gone.
An Unusual Discovery
Worried and utterly clueless about what was going on, Gianessa’s parents, who resided in Salem, Utah with their children, took her to the dermatologist.
[S]he wondered if they could help create a crazy hairstyle for her beautiful daughter.
Daniella, who worked as a registered nurse and had two other kids, Liam and Killian, with her husband of eight years, Tyler Wride, discovered something shocking. It turned out that her lovely daughter had stress-induced alopecia.
The Diagnosis
The Utah mom noted that within a short time, her daughter’s hair had vanished completely, and so did her eyebrows and lower eyelashes. She said the autoimmune hair disease made total sense because Gianessa had gone through a lot in a few months’ time.
The distraught mother said that her daughter experienced a fair share of traumatic incidents, including the death of her beloved grandmother. She added:
“Gian watched her collapse, and she lost her hair eight weeks later.”
Providing Support
Before the diagnosis, the family had moved to Utah from Tennessee — a move that might have contributed to Gianessa’s increased stress levels, according to Daniella.
The Wride parents said the dermatologist recommended treatments for their daughter, most of which involved injections, steroids, and harsh creams. But Daniella said she wanted her daughter to love herself just the way she was.
