Girl With Alopecia Wins “Crazy Hair Day” Competition

7 year-old Gianessa Wride has managed to sparkle and win her Utah school’s “Crazy Hair Day” competition – without any hair!

At the beginning of the year, Daniella Wride began brushing her 7-year-old daughter Gianessa’s hair and saw in horror as the brush pulled out a quarter-sized section of hair. “We let her go to bed without telling her what was going on, I didn’t want to scare her.“ Daniella told CNN.

When Wride’s were able to take Gianessa to a dermatologist, about a month later – all of her hair had fallen out. The dermatologist said that her hair wasn’t going to grow back. Gianessa has alopecia, which is an autoimmune disease that causes hair to fall out. The little girl lost all of her hair and her eyebrows within 20 days.

Gianessa didn’t really understand what was going on at first. “Like any 7-year-old, I think, she expected that it would just grow back because everybody has hair,” her mom said.

When Gianessa’s school announced its annual “Crazy Hair Day” competition, Daniella told CNN, “I didn’t want her to feel like an outcast or that she wasn’t like the other kids.” She found scrapbook sticker jewels and had a great idea. “They just fit her personality. She’s so vibrant and full of life and she loves everything sparkly.”

Gianessa’s brilliant idea with intricate jeweled stickers won the competition.

“She knows that it won’t grow back and she has just embraced that and is still living life to the fullest and doing everything that she still loves,” Daniella said.