STROKES OF CHANGE: FOR ALOPECIA WARRIORS

If the hair is the crowning glory, then one’s mindset is the empire.

For far longer than our perception of time, beauty has always been held at a certain standard -- the nose should be in this shape, the lips should be this plump, the body should be in this form, the hair should be in this style.

So many rules we followed, yet somehow, we never truly, undoubtedly, and confidently felt beautiful.

That changes now with the dawning of the new era. Through its #StrokesofChange campaign, it is welcoming beauty with a purpose, starting with the Beautiful warriors of Alopecia Philippines!

Strokes Beauty Lab partnered with Alopecia Philippines to bring the brand’s everyday confidence promise to Beautifuls who fearlessly continue to embrace the kind of beauty that is not in the rulebook.

The organization has worked for years to be the light and voice for people who have Alopecia areata, a condition in which hair is lost from some or all areas of the body.

Strokes Beauty Lab Founder and CEO Momoi Supe worked his brow magic on Matet Maluyo, an Alopecia Philippines Ambassadress, using the Microblade Pen Perfector.

Matet’s condition translated to her eyebrow hair as well, but on-fleek translates to all kinds of beauty.

See the before and after of Matet’s #BrowtifulAnyDay transformation! 

The realistic hair-like strokes and microblade-worthy effects without the blade were achieved through the use of the anchor product of The Brow Artist Collection. It was made to fill in sparse areas, and to adhere to your definition of beautiful and perfect.

Alopecia Philippines Founder and singer-songwriter Abby Asistio recognizes the tremendous effects of the brows on one's self-esteem, citing how brows also help convey emotions through different expressions, and how people with Alopecia are sometimes unable to do so because of their condition.

But she sees hope in what the collection has to offer.

“The Brow Artist Collection, particularly the Microblade Pen Perfector is able to give the illusion of actual hair,” she writes in an email interview. “. . . It's amazing how people with Alopecia could now take control of having their natural looking brows back through makeup by Strokes.”

After going public with her Alopecia in 2012, Abby met “a bunch of amazing individuals who reached out to share their own struggle with the autoimmune disease.” Shortly after, in 2013, she founded the organization which went on to become the first Alopecia support group in the country.

Abby hopes that as Alopecia awareness increases, so will the number of people in the world who would have a clearer perspective on what the condition truly is: how it not only affects the physical perception of one’s self, but also their mental and emotional health.

She says,” I hope people would stop disregarding this condition because it is ‘JUST HAIR’. It's so easy to dismiss the gravity of it simply because the condition is non life threatening. . . but this condition causes deep wounds to people internally, to the point of others undergoing depression because of it. I would like to ask people to become more compassionate and understanding towards those with the disease.” 

Alopecia Philippines hopes to continue impacting the world through the strength that each of its members possess. In Abby’s own words: 

“We want to show everyone that we could be brave and beautiful, regardless if we have hair or not. We are a group that empowers people to accept and love themselves, and we want those that are touched and inspired by our lives and advocacy to do the same."

#StrokesOfChange begins with a promise: to bring everyday confidence to beauty of all definitions.

So forget crowning glories and unrealistic beauty standards -- the throne is your own, and the world is yours to conquer in the new era.