“Feel the fear, and do it anyway”: Warwick alumna Laura Mathias on alopecia, runway modelling, and TED talk activism

When Laura Mathias was in her first years of secondary school, a hairdresser spotted a small bald patch at the back of her head. The doctors later told her it was alopecia. Now in her thirties, Mathias has given a TED talk, walked London Fashion Week, become an ambassador for Changing Faces, and graduated from the University of Warwick. Mathias sat down with The Boar to discuss her achievements and explain what it’s like living with a visible difference.

Mathias found losing her hair during secondary school to be “really, really tough”. She stopped “going to school for basically a whole academic year” and found herself unable to “cope with it emotionally”. Once she returned to school, she felt “like everyone had been briefed”. It was as if they’d all been told not to talk “to Laura about the fact that she wears a wig”.

Looking back, Mathias can recognise that she spent “a lot of energy” trying to “hide something that doesn’t define her” yet keeping quiet about her alopecia was also “a really good experience” because she was able to meet new people and later decide when she could trust them enough to tell them about her condition

These experiences in school made the “scary” transition to university even more “daunting”.
During her time at Warwick, Mathias stayed in Arthur Vick, advocating to get an ensuite. She found the first few months challenging as she “didn’t want to be the girl with the wig”. Rather than talk about her alopecia, she kept it “a secret from pretty much everyone”. Even when a fire alarm would go off, she would put on her wig and draw on her eyebrows before leaving the building.

Looking back, Mathias can recognise that she spent “a lot of energy” trying to “hide something that doesn’t define her” yet keeping quiet about her alopecia was also “a really good experience” because she was able to meet new people and later decide when she could trust them enough to tell them about her condition. A decade on from her graduation at Warwick, Mathias was invited to give a speech during the 2023 graduation series. She came back to campus with her friend Lily, who had taken the same film and literature course. Lily was “heavily pregnant”, and Mathius described their day as full of emotion: “It felt like we were two adults looking back at when we thought we were adults back at uni, we thought then that we had it all sussed and sorted.”

Mathias took the invitation to speak as a “compliment”. When she was studying at Warwick, she never would have thought that she would be “openly talking and campaigning” about her experiences with alopecia. She not only enjoyed the honour of speaking during the ceremony, but the opportunity to look around the “swankier” new arts building. After Mathias and the alumni manager nearly got themselves locked in the building, the two were able to make it out in time to prevent Laura from missing her speech.

Mathias described her talk as a great tool for those asking questions about visible differences. She described how the TED talk offers “a summary” of what people should be talking about in relation to this subject. Mathias felt that the talk gave her “respect” from others and “a bit more authority” to campaign about visible differences

Giving a speech for the university’s graduation series was not the biggest talk Mathias has ever done. Last year, she gave a TED talk. Mathias described her talk as a great tool for those asking questions about visible differences. She described how the TED talk offers “a summary” of what people should be talking about in relation to this subject.

Mathias felt that the talk gave her “respect” from others and “a bit more authority” to campaign about visible differences. However, she thinks it was “hilarious” that the opportunity came as a result of a “LinkedIn deal”. She advised everyone “to get their LinkedIn up to date” as you never know what you might be offered from people viewing your profile.

Speaking and campaigning about visible differences is something that Mathias has become familiar with. She holds an ambassador role at Changing Faces, the only UK charity that supports people living with any visible difference. She spoke of the community and practical support offered by the organisation. Alongside this guidance, the charity raises awareness for visible differences, emphasising the fact that they can “impact anyone at any time”. Changing Faces has also conducted research to show “that people do judge you differently when you look different” and campaigned to change this. Mathias expressed that it was the “campaigning arm of Changing Faces” that was a “crucial” part of her “healing journey”. Prior to the pandemic, Mathias wore her wig and hid her alopecia, but lockdown made her “ask big questions” and “put things into perspective”.

Once she had started campaigning, she was asked to walk a show at London Fashion Week. Mathias emphasised that she is “not a model”, expressing: “I’ve never thought about how I look when I walk down the street, other than when I’m constantly thinking about people staring”

She began to question why she wore a wig every day that made her scalp bleed and it was Changing Faces that opened her eyes to the fact that these feelings were not “an overreaction”. It was this epiphany that led Mathias to begin volunteering with the charity. The training that Changing Faces offered allowed her to channel her thoughts into becoming a “campaigner for bigger causes”.

Once she had started campaigning, she was asked to walk a show at London Fashion Week. Mathias emphasised that she is “not a model”, expressing: “I’ve never thought about how I look when I walk down the street, other than when I’m constantly thinking about people staring”. Despite her lack of experience, Mathius was put in the Kurt Geiger showroom and walked the runway in one of the world’s biggest fashion weeks.

At the event, she befriended a social media manager and informed them that September, which was fast approaching at the time, was alopecia awareness month. Having shared this key information, Mathias was invited in for a photo shoot to mark the occasion.

Mathius advises anyone who has started to experience hair loss “to take a deep breath and try and prepare to own conversations with confidence”. If you are confident when talking about something which “you feel is different or that you’re worried might get a bad response from people”, it makes it “really hard to respond with cruelty or awkwardness”

It was “great to be [at] that point of representation” of a “happy, healthy woman on that London Fashion Week catwalk” but it came after years of struggling to feel confident with her alopecia. Mathius advises anyone who has started to experience hair loss “to take a deep breath and try and prepare to own conversations with confidence”. If you are confident when talking about something which “you feel is different or that you’re worried might get a bad response from people”, it makes it “really hard to respond with cruelty or awkwardness”.

She would remind herself that,“people don’t love you for your hair, people don’t want to be your friend for your hair”, they simply “want to spend time with you and be with you because of you. So just get it out of the way and tell them”.

This realisation was a “big learning factor” for Mathius, who used to act like having and telling people about her alopecia was like “revealing this massive secret”, changing the way people felt about her. Where she used to give a big “preamble” about her condition, if she could speak to these younger versions of herself now, she would “poke” herself and say, “stop that”. She would remind herself that, “people don’t love you for your hair, people don’t want to be your friend for your hair”, they simply “want to spend time with you and be with you because of you. So just get it out of the way and tell them”.

These conversations about differences are nerve-wracking, as were the propositions for Mathius to walk a runway, give a TED talk, and speak at a Warwick graduation ceremony. Yet, something daunting and, perhaps, scary should not stop you from doing it. In Mathius’ own words, it is important to “feel the fear and do it anyway”.