1988's Hairspray leading lady, Ricki Lake, recently revealed her completely shaven head with an emotional post on Instagram, after disclosing her "debilitating" struggle with hair loss over the last 30 years.
Instagram | @rickilake
Ricki Lake Shaves Head After Revealing 'Debilitating' Hair Loss Struggle
After fighting a losing battle with hair loss for 30 years, "Hairspray" star, Ricki Lake, decided to lean into it instead.
Instagram | @rickilake
On New Year's Day, she unveiled her shaved head along with an emotional caption explaining the story behind it.
"Liberated and Free, Me. First things first, I am not sick. (THANK GOD.)," she began.
Instagram | @rickilake
"I am not having a mid-life crisis. nor am I having a mental breakdown".
"Though I have been suffering," she admitted.
Instagram | @rickilake
"Suffering mostly in silence off and on for almost 30 years. AND I am finally ready to share my secret."
"Deep breath Ricki…. Here goes….. I have been struggling with hair loss for most of my adult life," she explained. "It has been debilitating, embarrassing, painful, scary, depressing, lonely, all the things."
Instagram | @rickilake
She confessed that at times it has pushed her morale to its absolute limits.
"There have been a few times where I have even felt suicidal over it," she said. "Almost no one in my life knew the level of deep pain and trauma I was experiencing."
Instagram | @rickilake
She recalled being so ashamed that she didn't even mention her ongoing struggle to her therapist at the time.
"Not even my therapist/s over the years knew my truth," she went on.
"I know that by sharing my truth, I will be striking a chord with so so many women and men. I am not alone in this".
Instagram | @rickilake
"My goal is to help others while at the same time unshackle myself from this quiet hell I have been living in."
"Ever since I played Tracy Turnblad in the original Hairspray back in 1988 and they triple-processed and teased my then healthy virgin hair every 2 weeks during filming".
Instagram | @rickilake
"My hair was never the same. (Yes, that was all my own hair in the film.)"
"From Hairspray to Hairless. :( ," she continued.
Instagram | @rickilake
"In my case, I believe my hair loss was due to many factors, yo-yo dieting, hormonal birth control, radical weight fluctuations over the years, my pregnancies, genetics, stress, and hair dyes and extensions."
"Working as talent on various shows and movies, whether DWTS or my talk show, also took its toll on my fine hair."
Instagram | @rickilake
"I got used to wearing extensions, really just over the last decade. All different kinds, tried them all, the ones that are glued on, the tape-ins, the clip ins."
"And then into a total hair system that I hated, and finally to a unique solution that really did work pretty well for me for the last 4 or 5 years."
Instagram | @rickilake
"I tried wigs on a few occasions but never could get used to them. It all felt fake and I was super self-conscious and uncomfortable."
She explained that she even sought out medical treatment in hopes of growing a healthier amount of hair.
Instagram | @rickilake
"I’ve been to many doctors, gotten steroid shots in my head, taking all the supplements and then some."
"My hair would recover and then shed again. It was maddening."
Instagram | @rickilake
"So of late, after 2 months of bliss ‘working’ in London and after my last extreme diet where I lost 20 lbs in 6 weeks, my hair started shedding again, big time," she wrote. "This time, I say no more. I have to be set free."
"Free of the maintenance every 10-12 days, where my added hair would need to be tightened (sometimes painfully) and my gray hair would need to be colored. I felt like I was a slave to this maintenance schedule."
Instagram | @rickilake
"I wouldn’t go out of town longer than 12 days, because of this."
"I even brought my hair fairy and dear friend, to London during my stint there to do what she needed to do to keep it on my head. "
Instagram | @rickilake
"I buzzed my hair off and it feels so good!," she continued.
"I am liberated. I am free. I am releasing and letting go. I am brave. I am beautiful I am love. For 2020 and beyond, I want to be real."
Instagram | @rickilake
"(I will on occasion choose to wear hair, but now it is for fun, not because I am hiding anything. I am so done with hiding.)," she concluded.
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