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Hello, I'm Rahaltandin.

Welcome to the documentary from the BBC World Service.

This time in BBC OS conversations, we're bringing together women to discuss losing their hair.

What was that like?

And how did they deal with it?

Something unusual happened recently at the Miss USA Beauty Contest.

Miss Nevada, 22-year-old Mary Sickler, walked on stage without any hair.

Mary had lost all her hair to a condition known as alopecia, but until that moment, had worn a wig in public.

As it happens, tens of millions of women around the world suffer from some form of hair loss.

Understandably, it can be traumatic to come to terms with,

but it's not often talked about. Later, we'll bring together three women whose hair fell out

during cancer treatment. That conversation includes, I have to say, a lovely story about losing

a wig on a date. But let me introduce you first to three inspiring young women who all have alopecia.

Kaira is in the US state of Alabama.

Buenae lives in Johannesburg, South Africa,

and 24-year-old Anne is in the Netherlands.

They gave their reaction to that moment at the Miss USA contest.

For me, it was really important because representation really matters. And it's not only for us

as those with alopecia, that it's important to see that someone steps into the light and

proudly shows who they are and what they look like, but it's also, I think, really important

for other people to see that alopecia exists, that women can be bald because at the end of the

...