Miss USA contestant Mary Sickler calls it the proudest moment of her life. After hiding her complete hair loss from alopecia for months, she decided to very publicly take off her wig during the competition.
Sickler wore a beaded silver head covering to match her sparkly evening gown for a preliminary round in Reno, Nevada, on Wednesday, Oct. 22.
She’s the first contestant to walk the Miss USA stage without hair, the pageant confirms. It was also the first time she has ever appeared without a wig in front of judges and an audience.
“It was something that I never imagined doing,” Sickler, 22, who lives in Las Vegas and is competing as Miss Nevada, tells TODAY.com.
“I was extremely nervous before walking out on stage. And the second I walked off, I actually started crying from all the emotions.”
It’s been a long journey from feeling “ugly” after her alopecia diagnosis to now, when she says she’s “never felt more beautiful.” The winner of Miss USA will be announced on Friday, Oct. 24.
Sickler started losing her hair less than a year ago. In December 2024, she found a circular bald spot on the top of her head, but thought she had just pulled her hair out while doing a slicked-back ponytail.
When more bald patches appeared, she was diagnosed with alopecia areata. But the patchy hair loss soon progressed even more, and Sickler started losing eyebrows, eyelashes, and leg and arm hair.
The final diagnosis: alopecia universalis, or total hair loss on the scalp and all over the body.
She shaved the last 50 remaining hairs on her head in July.
‘Never Felt Uglier’
Sickler, who’s been competing in beauty pageants since she was a child, was devastated. She was also worried about her career as a full-time working model signed to a top agency in New York.
Sickler wondered: How could she work without any hair? So she decided to keep her hair loss a secret.
“I was afraid people would look at me differently. I mean, I was always known to have my hair big and glam in the pageant world and in everyday life,” she says.
“I didn't want people to think of me less than. I didn't want people to think that I was sick.”
There was also the emotional toll of losing hair, which she calls a big part of her identity.
“I had never felt uglier in my entire life. I had never looked in the mirror and not recognized who I was,” Sickler recalls.
“You look in the mirror, you have no eyebrows, you have no lashes, you have 20% of your hair, you don't even feel like the same girl. But I think the biggest thing that I had to realize was with hair or without hair, I was still Mary Sickler. I was still the hardworking, determined, courageous girl that I was with hair or without.”
What Is Alopecia?
Alopecia is an autoimmune condition that happens when the immune system mistakenly attacks and destroys healthy hair follicles, according to the National Library of Medicine.
About 700,000 Americans have some form of the skin disease, according to the National Alopecia Areata Foundation. It's not known what triggers it.
About 20% of patients have at least one family member with alopecia, it notes. But Sickler has no family history so she called her diagnosis a “complete shock.”
There are several types of the condition: Alopecia areata means patchy hair loss; alopecia totalis is complete scalp hair loss; and alopecia universalis means hair on the entire body is affected.
Another woman diagnosed with alopecia universalis as a child previously told TODAY.com people don’t realize what an emotional roller coaster the condition is.
“Superman” and “Barry” actor Anthony Carrigan told TODAY having alopecia “used to be the thing that I had so much shame over,” but now calls it his superpower. “I can’t think of myself with hair,” he said on the show in July.
Opening Up About Hair Loss
Sickler went public with her condition on Instagram in September, noting she didn't want to keep hiding and found courage after winning the Miss Nevada competition.
She believes it happened for a reason — a chance to share her story, offer hope and help others.
“I knew that I would be touching so many women and men out there because I truly believe this is not just about hair loss. This is about any person who has gone through a trial, any person pursuing a dream who thought they couldn't do it,” Sickler says.
“People have said, ‘I don't have alopecia, but I feel like I don't fit in and I'm so proud of you.’ And that's why I did it. I did that for those people.”
Sickler hopes to continue modeling and represent women who don't have hair. Opening up has been a relief.
"I felt this calling that there was a reason why I am at Miss USA without any hair," she says.
