Already Wedding Ready: I'm a Bald Woman With Alopecia

As part of our #AlreadyWeddingReady campaign, we spoke to 30 year old Yasmin, on Instagram as @yasmintaylor5, who opens up about her journey to feeling wedding ready as a bald woman with alopecia. If you're inspired by Yasmin's story, download our #AlreadyWeddingReady badge and join the campaign, sharing your own story on your social channels.

My name’s Yasmin, I’m 30 years old, and I’m *engaged*! Anyone who knows me knows I’m all about self love, acceptance and embracing your uniqueness. 

I think it’s so important to love yourself just the way you are. But I know that’s easier said than done. And I haven’t always been the best at putting those mantras into practise. 

• What Being Wedding Ready Means to Me
• Meeting My Person
• How I'm Preparing for My Wedding
• I'm Already Wedding Ready & So Are You

What Being ‘Wedding Ready’ Means to Me

As a bald woman, being wedding ready to me has everything to do with showing up authentically, and nothing to do with societal expectations. Being wedding ready has absolutely nothing to do with what society thinks I should look like as a bride. 

It’s not about me fitting into a box, it’s about being myself, authentically, marrying the person I truly love, and enjoying a day we’ll remember forever. 

When it comes to how I want to show up on my wedding day, I am #AlreadyWeddingReady. The things that make me feel wedding ready don’t involve changing myself to fit into any sort of mold, quite the opposite actually. 

But before we get into the wedding stuff (eek!), here’s a little bit about me and my journey. 

My Journey With Alopecia

I’ve had alopecia since I was 15 years old, but I didn’t lose all of my hair until I was about 20. When I lost my hair, my mum bought a wig for me to wear, which is not uncommon. Many people with alopecia choose to wear a wig, but for me, it didn’t feel right. 

I hid behind my wig for three, long, miserable years, purely because I was so embarrassed and ashamed of the way I looked. I thought people wouldn’t find me attractive. I thought people would judge me. I thought I’d never be ‘enough’ without it. 

I felt this immense pressure to hide my true self, which is something I really struggled with. I’m a very honest person in every other aspect of my life, but when I was wearing the wig, I felt like I was living a lie. I didn’t feel authentic at all. 

Setting Myself Free

Throughout my alopecia journey, I felt quite alone. Not just physically, but when there is little-to-no representation in the media or anywhere else, it felt like the easiest option was to cover it up and not really talk about it. 

It wasn’t until I found myself in Australia travelling the East Coast with my friend Caitlin that things began to shift. Up until then, I had missed out on so much because of wearing a wig and quite frankly I was sick of watching everyone else have fun while I let alopecia stand in my way. 

Caitlin and I booked surfing lessons in Byron Bay, and that was the day I finally took my wig off. Thank God for good friends - if it wasn’t for Caitlin persuading me to take my wig off that day, I’d probably still be wearing it now. 

That day my life changed forever. A whole week went by and I didn’t want to put the wig back on. Taking it off felt like the weight of the world had been lifted off of my shoulders. 

It was so liberating. I felt free. And although it felt so scary and daunting, for the first time in what felt like forever, I felt like myself again. 

Meeting My Person

In 2016, shortly after getting back from Australia, I moved to Abu Dhabi for an exciting job opportunity. It was here that I met my soon-to-be-husband Scott. While waiting for my work visa to come through, I had to do a visa run. 

Scott happened to be in the same boat and booked the exact same journey as me. We ended up chatting at the border in Oman and it was clearly going well because Scott then asked for my Facebook name (hilarious!) and by the time I got home, he’d already messaged me - and the rest is history! 

We lived together in Abu Dhabi for three years before moving back to the UK in 2019. We often travel back there, and our last trip was particularly special. Scott proposed to me during our last holiday there in November last year - it felt really special doing it in the place where everything began for us. 

How I’m Preparing for My Wedding

There’s often a lot of pressure that comes with planning a wedding, and that can very quickly overwhelm the whole process for a lot of people. I’m determined to not let that happen to me. Instead, these are the priorities for me that will help me prepare for my big day.

1. Representing Myself, Authentically 

As a bald woman getting married, I feel extremely passionate about representation and authenticity. It is important that I am true to myself on my wedding day, and this covers a multitude of things including not wearing a big princess dress (that’s not me!), and not wearing lots of makeup (definitely not me!) - which are smaller wedding traditions and stereotypes I don’t want to adopt.

But for me, there is a much bigger priority when it comes to how I look on my wedding day. More than anything else, I want to be ensure I embrace my bald head as I usually do. I want to show other people, particularly women, who are struggling with hair loss that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

My partner fell in love with me just as I am, bald head and all, so I will be walking down the aisle as the beautiful bald woman that I am, with no apologies or regrets.  

2. Having a Healthy Relationship

Being wedding ready for me has everything to do with the relationship I’m in. I don’t think anyone can really consider themselves ready for marriage unless they are in a healthy and loving relationship.

I am so fortunate to have Scott. He treats me like I am the only girl in the world, but it’s not just about that. We respect each other, we trust each other, and we have open communication which to us, is key. 

From our personal lives, to our careers, we encourage each other and build one another up. We truly want the best for each other. He is my best friend and I couldn’t imagine marrying for anything less than that, and I don’t think anyone should have to. 

3. Being Sensible Financially

Listen, I am not really a big spender, and just because I’m getting married, doesn’t mean I am going to spend money for the sake of spending money. Why? For what? To impress people who aren’t picking up the bill at the end of it? 

Throwing an extravagant no-expense-spared wedding is amazing for those who want it and can pay for it, but no one should do it just because they feel like they should.  

Sticking to a wedding budget and an amount that Scott and I are comfortable with is really important to us. Being in a good position financially and not feeling like we are over-spending is something that really matters when it comes to us feeling wedding ready. 

I know it’s a day to remember, but I want it to be a day we can afford, too!

4. Being Kind to Myself

Feeling good about myself is something that’s really important to me, and is a huge priority for me going into my wedding planning journey and the day itself. Treating my body with kindness, exercising and eating well have always been really important to me. 

Don’t get me wrong, I have plenty of days where I feel unmotivated and the last thing I want to do is work out, but I also know what makes me feel good, and prioritising my health and wellbeing have always been top of that list. 

I couldn’t imagine anything worse than arriving at my wedding day and not feeling in a good place with myself, so knowing what works for me, what lifts me up and makes me feel good and actioning those things are a big priority for me. 

5. Having the Right People Around Us

Getting the guest list right for me is a big one. My partner and I only want people at our wedding that we genuinely feel close to. We want it to feel intimate, and for us, that means only inviting our nearest and dearest. 

This is another thing that I feel like a lot of people feel pressure about. The pressure to invite every man and their dog to your wedding. That’s really not for us. At the end of the day, it’s our day, (we’re paying for it!), and I think it’s only right that we invite the people that *we* want there. 

How can you feel wedding ready and enjoy your day in its entirety if you look around and begin to wonder why all of these people are here. Surrounding yourself with the closest and most important people to you is what it’s all about.

I'm #AlreadyWeddingReady, and So Are You

My advice to anyone who is planning a wedding would be to not feel pressured into doing or having anything you aren’t comfortable with. From what you wear on the day to who’s on the guest list, it’s so important to remember it’s yours and your partner’s day, not anyone else's. 

And as far as stereotypes go, why can’t we just bin them all?

Don’t let society make you feel like you need to change anything about yourself. If you’re engaged, you already have someone who believes you’re #AlreadyWeddingReady, so it’s about time you started believing it, too.

The only way to get wedding ready is to ensure that when you walk down that aisle and marry the love of your life, you feel like YOU. And no one knows how to do that better than you. 

For me, it’s getting married as the strong, bald woman that my partner fell in love with. But what does being ‘wedding ready’ mean to you?

I’d love to know! Share your story using #AlreadyWeddingReady, download the #AlreadyWeddingReady badge and help spread the word (and the love!) as far as we can. 

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Yasmin x

Want to read more inspirational stories from people who are #AlreadyWedding Ready? 

• I'm Already Wedding Ready as a Disabled Wheelchair User
• I'm Already Wedding Ready as a Plus Size Bride-to-Be
• We're Already Wedding Ready as a Transgender Couple

Yasmin's Recommended Charity: 

Models of Diversity: "At Models of Diversity our purpose is to promote greater diversity in the fashion, beauty, and media industries. We call on the fashion, beauty and marketing industries to recognise the beauty in people of all races, ages, shapes, sizes and abilities. Our mission is to change the face of fashion and modelling."