Advertisement

Rep. Ayanna Pressley proudly shows off her bald head in 'alopecia selfie flex'

Erin Donnelly
·Yahoo Life Senior Editor
·4 min read

It’s been about eight months since Rep. Ayanna Pressley publicly announced that she has alopecia, an autoimmune skin disease that attacks hair follicles and can result in complete hair loss. As such, it’s the first time the Massachusetts congresswoman — who has proudly embraced her bald look since her January reveal — has marked Alopecia Areata Awareness Month since losing her trademark twists.

And what better way to honor the occasion — running the month of September — and show a little self-love than by sharing “an alopecia selfie flex”? On Wednesday, the 46-year-old Democrat posted a powerful selfie showing off her bare head and defying critics to “stay mad.”

“Who needs hair with these cheekbones?” Pressley, sporting a bright pink lip and statement jewelry, quipped. “Folks want to know which bathroom I use. Obviously, the one where royalty enters.”

The politician gave a shoutout to her “alopecia squad,” but it was a fellow member of her congressional “squad” who had one of the most memorable reactions. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who recently had her own bold beauty moment thanks to a Vogue video of her talking politics while applying her makeup, had nothing but praise for her colleague’s pink power lipstick and necklace.

“Are you glowing up without me?!” the New Yorker commented. ‘Whew, I’m taking notes.”

Pressley’s selfie also got love from celebrity supporters like Kathy Griffin and Alyssa Milano. But her post resonated most deeply with those who had their own experience with alopecia, from moms whose children have had the condition to Republican congressional candidate Kimberly Klacik.

Pressley has previously disclosed that she went completely bald the night before Congress voted on articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump.

“As a woman and a woman in politics, and certainly as a black woman, everything is political,” she told MSNBC’s Joy Reid in January. “This is not shocking. I mean, I’ve introduced legislation to guard against the fact that Black girls are pushed out of the classroom for how they wear their hair. I have colleagues who have been pressured by supporters and donors alike not to allow their hair to go gray, colleagues who have been told that they should straighten their hair and not wear it curly. And so hair is political.”

Read more from Yahoo Life:

Want lifestyle and wellness news delivered to your inbox? Sign up here for Yahoo Life’s newsletter