By BRENT STUBBS

Chief Sports Editor

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

TOKYO, Japan — At one time, versatile Charisma Taylor would have been shy about exposing herself to the world about her hair loss condition as a result of alopecia.

Today, even as she gets stares from people concerned about her bald head, Taylor said she’s very comfortable about her well-being and is more willing to educate people about her medical condition.

As she competed this weekend at the 20th World Championships in the women’s 100 metres hurdles, Taylor said she found herself having to explain to a lot of people, especially athletes, about her condition.

“I was officially diagnosed with alopecia in 2022,” Taylor said. “I was at the University of Tennessee and I found some small black spots on the side of my head. “I went to the doctor and he looked at it and said it was alopecia. It started off as small spots.”

Alopecia is a medical term for hair loss from the scalp or body, which can be partial, patchy, or complete and temporary or permanent. For her, it eventually developed into the latter and so she had to deal with it. “It gets worse with stress and all kinds of things,” Taylor said. “I was going through a period where I was really stressed. It’s life. My hair continued to start to fall out. 

“I hid it for a very long time with wigs. It wasn’t until last September when I decided to just free myself and not hide behind the wigs. So I shaved the rest of the hair I had off and I went out in public and I never turned back.”

Without any concern from the public and the support of her parents Patrice and Dewey Taylor, as well as the encouragement from her family and church members, Taylor said she was more concerned about herself as she developed more confidence in who she is.

“I know that the Lord allows things to happen for numerous reasons and he allowed this to happen to me just to build my confidence because I struggled with it for a long time,” Taylor stated.

With a big smile on her face, Taylor said “yeah, I’m embracing my bald head as you can see and I love it.”

Now, people give her a stare or they inquire about her new found look. 

“I get a lot of stares, but I’m used to it now,” Taylor reflected. “I just smile because a lot of people don’t know what’s going on.”

There’s been times when she’s been confronted with the question or there’s some concern about her having cancer, but Taylor said she just chalks it up to a learning experience. “Not a lot of people are educated about alopecia, so a lot of people ask me about it and I have to explain to them what it’s all about,” she summed up.

At the time she was speaking about her condition, Taylor was watching the monitor waiting to see if she had advanced to the semifinals of the women’s 100m hurdles on Sunday.

Unfortunately, she didn’t get in, just missing the cut by one as she was the last alternate to be dropped from the list of contenders waiting for the completion of the six heats. 

She was sixth in her heat in 12.96 and was 24th overall. Although that spot would have been the final one, that position went to Sacha Alessandrini of France, who ran an automatic time of 12.99 in her heat.

Taylor, a graduate of Washington State University after she transferred in her senior year from the University of Tennessee,  competed in the event with fellow Bahamians Denisha Cartwright and Devynne Charlton.

All three athletes represented The Bahamas at the Olympic Games last year in Paris, France.

Like she did in Paris, Charlton was the only one to advance with her second place in her heat in an automatic time of 12.69 for ninth place overall. 

Cartwright, 25, was seventh in her heat in 13.50 for 40th overall.

Taylor, competing full time on the professional circuit, is being trained by John Coghlan, the coach of Puerto Rico’s 100m hurdles specialist Jasmine Camacho-Quinn.

In her transition to Jacksonville, Florida, to join the training camp, even though she is still waiting on a major sponsor, Taylor decided to concentrate just on the hurdles this year in preparation for the World Championships.

Naturally, she was quite disappointed when she got knocked out of the final spot, kneeling on the ground in the mixed zone to reflect on the official ending of her season. 

But just as God has a plan for her life with alopecia, Taylor said she’s relying on him to get her to the next global international event with renewed enthusiasm.

She is just 26 and believes that there are better days ahead of her.

Not just in track and field but life in general and she’s eager to embrace it without her hair.