Imagine within just weeks losing every bit of hair... all over. It's unpredictable and it happens. Alopecia areata is an autoimmune skin disease that can have a devastating affect on self-image, especially women's. Bald Girls Do Lunch is the only nonprofit created specifically to help women cope, gain confidence and feel a sense of community.Learn more...
Upcoming Events
All of our invitations are in PDF format, which requires Adobe Reader. If you do
not have Adobe Reader, you can download it
here.
ASAP: do you have any kind of sports-related alopecia story? Either your own experience, someone you know, or someone you’ve seen?
Your stories are needed this weekend, on or before Sunday, August 29th. Leave your info at 800.578.5332 or email to info@baldgirlsdolunch.org. Be sure to leave a call back number. You won’t be on air, but your story will be.
Thea will be talking about sports and alopecia on the ESPN public affairs radio show (”Beyond Sports”) from Chicago being recorded early next week.
It’s a Bald Girls and friends “Bald Out” evening at the U.S. Open August 31, 2010. Just drop us a line for the meet up spot. We’ll meet and greet before the matches begin.
BGDL is supplying our “Bald? So What!” and new “Bald is In” logos for your September 2010 awareness and fund raising campaigns. We put funds to work immediately for women and girls and leave the long road of research to others.
Be sure to include your postal address and we’ll send you the press kits, photos and brochures to show your supporters how and where BGDL works hard and gets results all year long.
Send request for info to: info@baldgirlsdolunch.org or call 800.578.5332
Marriott Courtyard, Wilkes-Barre/Scanton PA area
1796 Glenmaura National Blvd., Moosic, PA
7 PM in the American Cafe lounge
Cost: donation $15 pp.
Please email that you are coming so we can plan for make-up demo materials and your complimentary awareness t-shirt. Send your size in advance. Bring scissors to customize your shirt. Drinks will be available for purchase from the hotel.
Join Thea Chassin, BGDL president, in an informal setting of chat, education and “Alopecia Options ™” workshop. This gathering is designed as an informal learning opportunity and is open to everyone interested, including families.
To learn more contact 800.578.5332 or email info@baldgirlsdolunch.org
Gotta wonder…if it was last year before the now very public alopecia news about Miss Delaware, would Jennifer Gilbert (Real Housewives of NYC show) have tweeted about her son’s new alopecia diagnosis? Is alopecia crossing the boundary into ordinary conversation these days?
Bald Girls Bagel Brunch……the New York City launch of the 2010 International Women with Alopecia Month.
BGDL spokesperson Miss Southern New York, Faren Collins, along with women from the tri-state region shared food, drink and camaraderie way past the scheduled brunch time at Tal Bagel. Thank you Jocelyn for making it all happen!
Wonderful BGDL supporters, the DeMers, first met up with BGDL last summer driving many hours from Idaho to join the fun of our Salt Lake City, UT dinner.
This summer the DeMers seek fellow Idahoans for event planning and women’s alopecia awareness back in their home state.
Are you in Idaho or nearby? Contact events@baldgirlsdolunch.org and we’ll put you in touch with the DeMers for more info.
It’s easy to bring everyone into the same loop at the same time. Let us know and we’ll provide copies of our award-winning brochure, “How are You Nurturing Your Self-Image?” along with “About Alopecia Areata” from the National Institutes of Health.
Express yourself and send us the photos. Cut off both the ribbing on the sleeves and the ribbing on the neck for a more relaxed fit. Don’t worry..they don’t unravel.
Make slits on the sides or one large slit down the front and voila! you’ve got an open v-neck.
Cut fringes into the hems on sleeves and bottom. Add beads. Have fun!
Send photos of “personalized” shirts to photos@baldgirlsdolunch.org. Hold a sign with your home town or near an iconic location so we can see how far our shirts are going.
Alfieri of New York City is generously gifting Alfieri premium Hair Care Products to everyone who pre-pays their July 17 NYC Bagel Brunch ticket before 7/7/10. Check out all the gift options including the mail-order 2010 commemorative T-shirt, even if you can’t be with us. Hair products must be picked up at the event.
And don’t forget. Contributions of any size are always welcomed so we can do the outreach to locate alopecian women who struggle alone. So we can expand this website. So we can promote our ponytail donation program. So you’ll honor a friend or just honor yourself for July’s Women with Alopecia month. Why? Why not!
We have a lot to do. We are donor supported. Please give what you can this season. Thank you!
Our wonderful NC Alopecia Ambassador in Winston-Salem has exciting plans in the works for July’s awareness and benefit events across the state. To get involved in your city, contact events@baldgirlsdolunch.org, subject line North Carolina.
….is the ONLY state in the United States from which no woman has requested a Bald Girls lunch.
To help us get to Vermont, the other 49 and all the provinces of Canada more quickly with our lunch program, why not get up some donations from your friends, join the Friends of BGDL and tell us where you’d like to give women with alopecia their first lunch of a lifetime.
Donating your long hair for a good cause? Please let us know. We have a new project in the works to use donated hair (ponytail length) to make ponytails in hats for our women.
So often we hear ” If only I could wear a ponytail again!” Well, now we’re working to make that a hat-reality.
To hold a cut-a-thon or to learn more, contact thea@baldgirlsdolunch.org or 800.578.5332
We care that this indie film (debut at Sundance, January 22, 2010) has been acquired because one of the ensemble’s main characters, Annie, (played by Malin Ackerman) just so happens to have alopecia universalis. It’s not a main plot line. She’s just a beautiful girl. And she has no hair anywhere. And now the rest of the world will better understand just how irrelevant hair really is.
Click here to meet new friends with alopecia February 10, 2010. Plus, complimentary consultations in wigs, hair and make-up. And you’re supporting our award-winning nonprofit so bring partners and lots of friends….guys and gals. Meet representatives from Follea, Freedom, Karen’s Wigs, Iwig and Joseph Paris.
Faren Collins, member of actors equity and 2010 entrant in the Miss New York state pageant, supports Bald Girls Do Lunch. Meet Faren February 10, 2010 at our New York City alopecia awareness “Celebrate Three” event .Read more.
RSVP NOW for Celebrate Three!our winter benefit and very special night on February 10th with special guest Faren Collins, beauty contestant and supporter of BGDL and women with alopecia.
Cause to celebrate! Bald Girls Do Lunch celebrates our third birthday AND we just received our third Gold Triangle Award from the American Academy of Dermatology. Bring your friends and meet our very special guest, Faren Collins, speaking out in proud support of Alopecia Awareness at the Mark Garrison Salon on Wednesday evening February 10, 2010.
Ms. Faren Collins was crowned Most Photogenic in the 2009 Miss New York USA pageant. She’s a contestant for the Miss New York State Preliminary pageant in the spring 2010 and chose Bald Girls Do Lunch as her charity cause and “Women’s Alopecia Awareness” as her platform.
To receive your invitation contact info@baldgirlsdolunch.org or call 800.578.5332 or 914.945.0245
With this handy toolbar, your regular online shopping generates a donation to BGDL and you do absolutely nothing extra. (You can even hide the toolbar and it still works)
Use this link today to get our new tool. And thank you very much for helping us grow and reach more women in more places faster.
For the second year in a row, BGDL is a winner..actually this year it’ll be two Gold Triangle awards in the category of community health organizations. Winners are selected for educating and increasing awareness of a skin disease and the role of dermatology for patients and the public.
First, for “www.baldgirlsdolunch.org”, our ever evolving website and photo gallery.
Second, for “The Beauty Event”, March 2009 in Larchmont, NY with the Bobbi Brown makeup artists of Neimans at The Westchester.
“This event was the most rewarding, life changing experience for the makeup artists. It’s amazing to take your profession and be able to affect lives in an event driven by passion and not by sales. As a team we had a greater feeling of accomplishment than with our usual work for strictly superficial cosmetic needs. Treating each individual took on extra special meaning that day. Someone said: ‘I look so beautiful I don’t want to wash my face.’” - Jill K Imbrogno, Bobbi Brown acct mgr/ Neimans, White Plains, NY
Holiday time for many means friends and family gathering round. This season, you might be new to alopecia. Or, maybe it’s resurfaced. Or, maybe you’ve decided to take a new approach and let others in a bit more about what this condition is and isn’t.
Our BGDL appearance on the TODAY show can help. Just send the link around or click, sit back and enjoy yourself. There are millions of us. Often hiding in plain sight. All around the world.
Diahna Husbands: worked behind the scenes designing wigs for theater productions; teaches for a world renowned wig manufacturer with training from an Italian wig craftsman;worked for fashion shows and print advertisements. She’s known as the Hair Doctor for her expertise in style and color to suit every client’s face, lifestyle and personality. Her mission? to bring out the beauty of her clients through the art of hair.
November 1, she’s joined by experts in fashion, accessories, hair, color and jewelry for all attendees with and without hair. Find your best style as we get ready for 2010.
On location with BGDL in Pennsylvania.
18 and overs come to lunches with any form of alopecia areata: some hair, regrowth, no hair, patchy hair…..watch.
While ‘brave’ never comes to mind as a word to describe myself, I want to thank One Brave Chick for such a nice job in positioning the passion and mission behind BGDL in this profile of Featured Brave Chick. Come to think of it, I don’t think I have one word. When it comes to alopecian women, it’s two: Energizer Bunny. Enjoy the feature! -Thea
Ascent for Alopecia - the stellar, mountain climbing adventure of Alexander Whitley provides financial boost for our first Indiana event. Join us October 3, 2009 and find out why BGDL is today’s vibrant network focused totally on you!
Got an adventure of your own big or small for raising awareness? Tell us all about it.
Silver Spring, Maryland
Diahna Lynn Wig and Hair Studio graciously hosts “Alopecia Style” : fundraising, fashion and style event featuring clothing, jewelry, wig collections, scarf tying and more. We’re raffling off a $5,000 wig prize from diahnalynn.com Join our list.
September is alopecia areata awareness month. Support our cause and honor people you know ( how bout yourself?) with a tax-deductible gift of any size during September. Thank you! Click here to donate.
Sponsor the lunch program. $275 provides the food and beverage for 10 women.
Sponsor a beauty workshop. $500 provides professional style consultants and make-up artists
Become a Business Friend of BGDL
Jointhe Founder’s Circle. A $1000 contribution expands much needed staffing capabilities.
Join the cause: July, 2010 for “Bald is In” and “alopecia awareness” events in your state. July is International Women with Alopecia Month. Tell us your plans.
Support our cause: donate a percent of sale of your special item to our nonprofit.
Donate your screening room in Los Angeles and major metro areas. We’re showing award-winning indie short “Hairless” for fundraising and networking events.
Hold a “That Takes Ovaries” open mike or reading; designate BGDL your nonprofit fund raising cause.
Hold an Auction or other fundraiser of any size from small to large.
Donate printing services for “How Are You Nurturing Your Self-Image?” brochures and BGDL fact sheets
Spread the word withour popular designs in the “Bald? So What!” t-shirt and logo collection.
September 13, 2009 in Joliet, Illinois - Bald Girls Do Lunch with Bobbi Brown make-up artists present “Bare Necessities” : a charity benefit for BGDL with individual consultations, make-up master class, food and prozes. Save the date and bring all your friends. To reserve, donate a prize or learn more contact rsvp@baldgirlsdolunch.org
July 1-31, 2010 launches our first full month of festivities and events in cities across the US. July 2009 marked our inaugural launch with a dinner and public awareness event in San Diego, California.
Sign up to be a team leader in your city. Organize a “Bald? So What!” go-out-bald day in your state. Come together for a wig and beauty event. Hold a walk-run for family and friends.
Bald is in, not out.
We want to know your ideas for Women with Alopecia month, so tell us: events@baldgirlsdolunch.org
Come to Blu at 240 S. Meridian Street. Meet Dana. Meet Alex. Pick up your BGDL info.
Thank Stolichnaya Vodka for donating a portion of all Stoli drinks tonight to our campaign for women in Indiana.
BGDL proceeds from Ascent are funding the first ever Indiana BGDL lunch on October 3, 2009. Contributions for Ascent in any amount are greatly appreciated.
Alex Whitley climbs mountains while his girlfriend, Dana Crook, stays on level ground. Together they’ve created Ascent for Alopecia: a lively fund-raising event on July 12 in Indianapolis, Indiana at Blu Lounge, 240 S. Meridian St/5pm-midnight. Whitley’s adventure to Mt. Elbrus, Russia to raise awareness for alopecia areata starts July 15.
Bald Girls Do Lunch is proud to be selected as a recipient of proceeds from the Ascent for Alopecia campaign and delighted to announce: Ascent funds are targeted for the first ever Bald Girls Do Lunch event in the state of Indiana to be held October 3, 2009.
To make a tax-deductible Ascent contribution to support Alex Whitely’s campaign and our 501c3 nonprofit, please click here and select Ascent from the program menu.
“It was devastating being a confident homecoming queen at 17, shortly after finding a scared hairless girl staring back at me in the mirror” - Dana Crook, 22
“Being with Dana has shed a light on the complications of this disorder. Hair has been made to be such an important part of life,”Alex Whitley, 24
Our very best wishes to Alex for a fantastic climb on Mt. Elbrus. Thank you both for setting in motion not just awareness today, but the future of BGDL activities for the alopecian women of Indiana.
Thumbs up to the BelgraviaCentre.com (UK) for improving a headline before adding it to their blog. Australia’s Sunshine Coast daily printed the dreadful “Distressing Truth about Alopecia” but it was thankfully re-titled by Belgravia into the far less dreadful “Bald Women Reveal What Life with Alopecia is Like” - an informative interview with Pat and Ivonna living beautiful, sucessful lives with alopecia areata.
BGDL caught the attention of the TODAY Show, the nation’s top-rated network morning show. Today’s national correspondent, Amy Robach, sat in for chat and lunch with us on location at Maggiano’s in Oak Brook, Illinois.
Our air date is scheduled (though always subject to change) for the first hour on Monday, June 15, 2009.
Women need options. Lots of options - wigs, hats, scarves and bald. You decide how you want to look. Is test-driving “bald in public” been on your mind? Need a reason to give it a whirl? Get your Bald Out apparel and let the compliments roll as women like you leave their wigs home for just one day, this year on July 19, 2009. Already sporting the bald look? Wear your Bald Out shirt on July 19th and spread the word about women with alopecia.
Our logo products feature the new Bald Out collection with 3 different designs on hundreds of products for you and your friends. 100% of proceeds directly fund our programs and materials for women with alopecia areata.
Click here for ESPN-AM 1000 radio interview with Thea Chassin. The show “Beyond Sports” featured Thea for a full 45 minutes in the Chicago, Illinois media market ( 11/09/2008)
Do you like the way BGDL public awareness reaches more people than a local walk-run among people who already know each other? Please click here to make a tax-deductible donation of any size no matter how small. Thank you for supporting us so we can do even more to educate the public and help women with Alopecia Areata feel normal, not strange.
“Hairless”… Baldly Going Where Few Women Have Gone Before.
Click here to watch the movie “Hairless” ( 17 minutes).Winner of short film awards including Best Actress in the New York Short Film Festival (2004); winner of the Audience Award at the Cinerama Film Festival ( 2004) and Official Selection of the Los Angeles International Short Film Festival 2004.
Announcing the launch of the first BEAUTY EVENT and fundraiser co-hosted by Bobbi Brown Cosmetics and Bald Girls Do Lunch. All women (with alopecia and without) will gain valuable tips from the NY based make-up artists in individual consultations and master class. Come show your support for our nonprofit and help raise funds. Excellent raffle prizes, too, including a wig raffle for one high quality, mono-top synthetic wig in your style and color donated by Fuller-hair.com. Value $300 from collections of Louis Ferre, Henry Margu and Rene of Paris.
Raffle tickets are 1 for $5, 3 for $10 and 10 for $25. Use Donate button at right to purchase. Be sure your contact info is accurate and must include a postal address to receive your ticket stubs.Winner need not be at event.
“Women want to look and feel like themselves only prettier and more confident”
Bobbi Brown
Reserve early . Click on Upcoming Events far right for your invitation and all the details or send a message to events@baldgirlsdolunch.org
When your friends Donate in your honor we’re delighted to list them in our program. Thank you for your support and good luck in the raffle!
“Living a Bald Life” a beautifully produced segment by abc News 10 in San Diego, California with prime time news anchor Hal Clement and one of San Diego’s inspirational BGDL attendees. Attending BGDL a year ago “…was a revelation.”
The pitch is simple: BGDL is 100% donor supported and we need your help today very much. Here’s why:
In under two years: three category awards from the American Academy of Dermatology for our website, the AA Day of Beauty event and our savvy brochure “How Are You Nurturing Your Self-Image?”
We met women in 31 cities and 16 states. We change lives.
This blog is becoming THE go-to place for everyone interested in AA to get up-to-date medical updates and accurate information.
Our media impressions are global, unique and highly educational - they focus on real women, not the same bald male athlete year after year. We’re pro-active to improve public understanding of alopecia areata: what it is, what it isn’t and most of all who we are! We’re not waiting for you to donate a ponytail to get in the news.
Founder Thea Chassin works full time and for free. Our meetings, brochures, beauty help for women, public awareness, website, AA specific products…..all take funding. We have done so much in under two years. We have so many more new and exciting projects on the drawing board - like the first ever Bobbi Brown cosmetic team event for BGDL on March 1, 2009/Larchmont, NY
Use the Donate Now Button and accept a gift with our thanks. Your donation of $100 entitles you to BGDL signature Brow Sealer ; $25 entitles you to the BGDL brow brush.
No matter the size. Every single tax-deductible donation helps us continue our important and progressive work.
Bald Girls Do Lunch is a winner of the 12th Annual Gold Triangle Award from the American Academy of Dermatology. The award is given in recognition of outstanding communications for the specialty of dermatology and skin diseases.
Download our colorful new brochure,“How Are You Nurturing Your Self Image?”, pass ‘em around at the table and let the conversations begin. Savvy props are handy when you get things rolling for the first time. “Check out this new organization ..” Some will read. Others will ask questions. Some won’t say a word….yet.
No matter. However your family processes information, our brochure will help them better grasp what’s been on your mind. Need more hard copies? Contact: brochures@baldgirlsdolunch.org
Someone is really puzzled over what to get you for the holidays. Tell-a-friend to honor you this holiday season. They won’t mind the nudge when you remind them that every day another woman finds our website and finally feels less alone.
Your local awareness events give new power to the words healthy women &alopecia. How often do women lament “If only more people understood my condition.”
BGDL awareness educates the public. How many of us have had strangers stop us to commiserate or offer unsolicited advice about living with cancer…which we don’t have and know nothing about?
BGDL awareness events tell the world that AA is a vital women’s issue. Your events help women and the people who love them find us.
BGDL is devoted to generating positive images of successful women who are totally normal…..just don’t happen to grow hair the way the majority does.
Awareness events raise funds that BGDL uses today while better treatments or a cure for AA are very far off.
Awareness events can be any size and any type: from car washes to letter writing to walk/run events to the Derby Duck and Turbo Turtle races
Plan an event. Let us know. We’ll help with your publicity and we’ll schedule our lunch to double the fun.
