A teenage alopecia sufferer from Northamptonshire will complete a trek of The Great Wall of China to raise awareness about the condition.
Alice Frost, aged 16, of Denton, has been suffering from the condition, which causes severe hair loss, for about three years.
She will take on the nine-day expedition with her 18-year-old sister, Sally, in September, and the pair hope to raise £7,200 for the trek and for the Alopecia UK charity.
Alice first lost a large amount of her hair while on a school trip to China and she said the expedition would take her back to a fitting place.
She said: “It was so strange to lose my hair on the trip and it meant I couldn’t really enjoy it. It will be nice to go back to China and see it again from a different point of view.
“It will be an amazing experience, especially to do it for such a great cause. I am coping with alopecia now so I want to raise money for a charity that helps other sufferers who need the support.”
Alice, who has about eight wigs, raised £1,500 for the charity when she shaved off her hair completely two years ago after the majority of it fell out and she also lost her eyelashes and eyebrows, which she now has tattooed on.
Alice, who works as a marketing assistant for a shoe company in Rushden, said she wants to raise awareness about the condition, and added: “People don’t always understand it and girls my age can make nasty comments about it because they are not aware of what it is. I want to help people understand it more.” She said she had seen her first hair growth in three years over the last couple of months, and added: “It’s amazing. I think it’s because I have come to terms with it and everything is good in my life at the moment.”
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