Why I Thought Katy Perry's 'Head Shaving' Joke Wasn't Funny as Someone With Trichotillomania

Dear Katy Perry,

Over the past four years, chronic illness has taken over my life. From the age of 18, I started to feel the pain and symptoms that are now so prevalent in my life.

Having my genetic disorder overlooked by so many doctors, and even to a certain understandable extent my family and friends, I decided after a short stint of rest that it was time to get back out into the world and go back to work.

What ensued after that is this; I did in fact loose all of my hair, not because I shaved it like you were referring to, but because I pulled it out myself. We call it trichotillomania.

I was surrounded by a highly unreasonable work environment, and physically in pain as well, that it came to this — something I had been unconsciously doing my whole life, but never to this extent.

After watching two of your interviews where you mention mental health and hair with a comedic air of mercilessness, I found myself wanting to say that having hair doesn’t qualify you for success more than your other fellow musicians who did in fact have these sort of breakdowns in the public eye and are still to this day successful.

Point being, if you have a need to prove at these sort of events that you are indeed hilarious and have a superior sense of humor, making fun of yourself is obviously the sort of quality you are going for. But since you have in fact never lost any of your hair (that we know of) to physical or mental issues, maybe you are in the wrong ball park when it comes to mental health remarks, especially when it comes down to an experience in which to our knowledge you have never had such an intimacy with.

And now I will leave you with a picture of my hair growth over the last sixth months! Beautiful, strong hair if I do say so myself.

In grace and peace,

Daisy B

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