She won gold in the team pursuit at the World Championships in both and , and gold in the European Track Championships in Her second gold medal was in the individual pursuit against former world champion Alison Shanks of New Zealand.
Now, Joanna is philosophical about her condition. I am happy and healthy. Now I want to focus on the things that matter — like getting that gold medal at the Olympics. Bald patches can eventually spread across the scalp leaving complete baldness — but there are different degrees of the condition and mild-to-moderate, patchy Alopecia can be treatable.
The exact cause remains unknown but it is thought to be triggered by stress and trauma. Hair loss in patches on the scalp or elsewhere on the body generally signifies Alopecia Areata. When the entire body is affected by hair loss, this is known as Alopecia Universalis — the kind that TV star Matt Lucas experienced. Alopecia Areata is surprisingly common — it is thought to affect up to , people in the UK alone, and is often treatable. Our hair loss specialists have successfully treated patchy hairloss conditions such as mild to moderate Alopecia Areata and Traction Alopecia , by using treatments such as high strength minoxidil.
Rowsell was diagnosed with the condition, which causes loss of hair from the head or body, at the age of She first lost an eyebrow, then within months began losing clumps of her auburn hair. Soon she began to lose eyelashes.
Despite the efforts of numerous doctors, she was told the condition was incurable. Recalling her childhood, she said: "I remember crying one night to my parents and asking what was happening.
While in everyday life she often wears a wig, she proudly competes bald beneath her helmet and has become a poster girl for the condition. Alopecia occurs when the immune system becomes confused and attacks the body's hair follicles.
This causes the hair to fall out leaving bald patches that can eventually spread across the entire head. Along with team-mates Laura Trott and Dani King, Rowsell smashed three world records en route to the gold medal.
My teachers used to tell me I would burn out as I worked so hard. But, to me, working hard stopped me worrying about the future. Then there was the cycling: at 15, Joanna was scouted by the British Cycling talent team when they visited her school in Sutton, Surrey. At the time she had little interest in cycling but, after clocking her incredibly fast time in a school trial, the scouts felt she had raw talent and she started to train.
Then, at the age of 16, the thing she had longed for happened: her hair started to grow back. Within a few months it fell to below her ears. But it changed everything. It was so nice to leave the house and feel normal. My heart would sink when I saw another clump coming out. She went through that process again three years ago, when her hair again grew back in patches, although this time only for a month.
After the previous cycle of hope followed by disappointment, it must have been another crushing blow. Maybe doing it would mean properly confronting the fact that I had lost my hair. There is still part of me that is in the process of accepting it. This time, though, she was determined. She enlisted the help of a friend, and together they went to Selfridges in London for a wig trying-on session.
That, suddenly, I could be in control and I could have hair whenever I wanted, look however I wanted. She emerged from the shop with two wigs: one dark brown and straight with a fringe for daytime, and a dark curly one for evenings. It felt like a new me. I remember trying on all these different clothes and just really enjoying it. I felt more feminine. Among them was her boyfriend Dan, now 25, a fellow cyclist with whom she lives in Manchester.
The pair met through cycling when Joanna was 18 and were friends before they became a couple three years ago. Today she has about ten wigs, all different, and she changes them according to her mood, although she currently gravitates towards a light brown one during the day. My wigs get shoved in bags a lot.
Her natural eyebrows and eyelashes, meanwhile, come and go. She seems entirely without vanity, although looking after herself is part of her job.
Standing on the podium was, unsurprisingly, her finest hour, although she confesses to some initial reluctance at the notion of becoming a sort of poster girl for alopecia after her appearance alongside team mates — and friends — Laura Trott and Dani King.
For all that, she has sent a powerful message about self-image.
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