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LILI'S BLOG Some of you have asked me recently about my "new look". I am bald. I have been bald since March 2011. I am extremely happy to say that I do not have cancer; I know many of you wondered this. Some of you came right out and asked, which is alright with me. What I have is an autoimmune disease called Alopecia Areata. This disease causes hairloss. There are different types of Alopecia. My kind began with getting bald spots on my head that began the size of a dime. The spots would grow hair back and then other spots would appear. I was diagnosed with this 18 years ago. I was fortunate at that time, living in New York that I had a hairdresser, Skipper Edwards, who knew all about Alopecia. He has cut my hair during all this time, giving me hairstyles that helped me cover my spots. He also recommended my lightening my hair, making me a blonde. The lighter the hair color helped me hide my spots better. The fact that I am biracial and had coarse, nappy hair helped, the hair tufts would puff up and helped cover spots that were light or hairless. I continued in this fashion until February 2011. For some reason, my Alopecia Areata accelerated. I woke up one morning and felt cold on the back of my head; most of the hair on the back of my head was gone. I had also just seen photos taken of me at a performance at Godfrey Daniels. It was a photo of my head turned to the side; you could see clear to my scalp. I took a good hard look at my hair in a mirror, parting my hair on my head, looking at what was left of it - a birds nest amount. I knew it was time to remove what was left. I had more "spots" than I did hair. As a woman, and being in an industry so focused on appearance, losing my hair was not easy, however it was more difficult hiding my spots than realizing it was better to let it go. I returned to New York and had Skipper shave off the birds-nest amount of hair I had left. I felt totally relieved. No more concerns over the wind blowing, and if my spots showed, etc. I had an idea what I might look like bald; I resembled my Mom when she lost her hair in her struggle with ovarian cancer. I have the same shaped head. I was ready for this change and while it was different for me, I wasn't too weirded out about going out in public. I was nervous about my first gig and wondered if people would recognize me; they did, and everyone was wonderful. In the midst of this transformation I wondered to myself how much more difficult this is for children. You are born with Alopecia, if you have it; it develops for different people at different times. It took me 18 years to lose my hair. There are those who never grow hair; there are those who lose their hair as children. I could not imagine being in 3rd grade or being an adolescent and losing hair and eyebrows, eyelashes. Many of these kids are bullied, left out, singled out, not allowed to take part because they look different, etc. I figured since folks would ask me what was going on, with my hair or lack thereof, I'd use it as an opportunity to raise awareness, as well as help children with Alopecia. Amidst my researching I came across the Children's Alopeica Project "CAP". It is a non-profit organization in Wyomissing, PA, founded by Jeff Woytovich whose daughter Madison has Alopecia. CAP promotes awareness, raises funds for research and provides events for children who have all forms of Alopecia. CAP assists children with developing self-esteem and coping skills in dealing with this disease via holding events throughout the year and an annual camp for children "Alopeciapalooza". I thought it would be great to raise funds so that more families and children can attend annual events that assist them in dealing with this, in particular, attending the annual summer camp where these kids can go be themselves, have a great time as well. I've put together Musicians for Children's Alopecia Project "CAP" Benefit. It is a music concert whose proceeds will go to Children's Alopecia Project It will take place Friday, September 16, 2011 at World Cafe Live! Performing will be John Byrne, Beaucoup Blue, James O'Malley, Vance Gilbert, Dina Hall, John and Brittany (myself) and Surprise Guests. As well, Ms. Delaware 2010, Kayla Martel, who also has Alopecia, will be a guest speaker. This is an XPN Welcomes event. My hope is that these children with the various forms of Alopecia will be able to attend CAP events where they can develop and learn to feel good about themselves, know that they belong and can be whatever they want to be, even if they look different. While research is key, it is also important that there is the opportunity for these children to grow and have a sense of belonging and self-esteem to be developed in the here and now, so that they will have a successful future. I hope you will all join me by buying a ticket and attending this concert for this worthy cause. From my heart I thank you. Lili To learn more about Alopecia Areata click on the videos below:

View more videos at: http://nbcphiladelphia.com. To find out more about CAP, click on the logo below

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