AT JUST 15, Irish model and actress, Amber Jean Rowan, was diagnosed with alopecia.
During an interview with Ryan Tubridy last night, the 26-year-old, who has starred in Vikings, Guilt and Ripper Street, recalled the moment her friend found a small ‘patch’ on the back of her head as a teenager.
While exceptionally good-humoured remembering her attempts to navigate hair loss as a teenager, the challenges she faced at times were obstacles many people would have had little to no experience of.
It was a very interesting time. Me and my mum somehow found this, like, brown spray – a lot of men use it. Men with receding hairlines would just spray it on.
As such, few viewers could fail to empathise with an account she shared of one particular outing to a teenage disco.
Actress and model, Amber Jean Rowan on discovering she had alopecia as a teenager.#LateLate live now pic.twitter.com/VSZ7SkjpZh
— The Late Late Show (@RTELateLateShow) February 15, 2019
Recalling the night in question, Amber began:
“So every night before I go out to Wes, which was my local hang-out, just up the road,” Amber continued. “My friends would come around and they’d help me spray the back of my head that I couldn’t get to.”
But one night before Wes the spray can had nothing left in it. ‘What are we going to do? What will we use to fill in these patches?’ We ran around the whole entire house looking for anything brown – eyeshadows, eyeliners, you name it, trying to fill in these gaps.
Crisis seemingly averted, Amber and her friends headed on the night out, but Mother Nature decided to intervene.
“So we went to Wes and it started to rain,” Amber told Ryan. “So you can imagine, I was standing outside of Wes, and the rain started coming.”
I was like ‘Oh my God’. My friend just got a hoody and put it over my head so I still carried on the night but I had a hoody over my head the entire night.
Late Late Show viewers wasted no time sharing their thoughts following Amber’s conversation with Ryan, with many calling Amber a source of inspiration for many other people living with hair loss, regardless of diagnosis.
Inspiring, well done Amber @jkctoymaster
— Michael Cleary (@jkctoymaster) February 15, 2019
Amber Jean Rowan you are an inspiration and so beautiful. #latelateshow
— Orna Cassidy (@Ornaphoto) February 15, 2019
Stunning! With a stunning personality to match!
— Mimi (@Mimi_Cork) February 15, 2019
Beautiful bright classy lady xx a real life inspiration
— 🕊💗 Sarah Murray 🕊💗 (@shmurrz) February 15, 2019
Blown away by the strength and beauty inside and out, of this young lady
— Decadent Beauty (@DecadentB) February 15, 2019
Courageous young lady ❤️
— Helen. Feighery 💝 (@helen_feighery) February 15, 2019
We salute you for creating #alopecianawareness... #baldisbeautiful #alopeciansunite pic.twitter.com/hAzC1XsP7S
— Olivia Lavelle (@OLavelle) February 15, 2019
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