'I would take it personally': Montrealers with alopecia react to Oscar night drama

Hair is so visible, but sometimes the emotions that go along with it are not.

At the centre of the Oscar night controversy and the debate over free speech rights of comedians is a medical condition not fully known or understood.

Alopecia is an auto-immune disorder that causes hair loss and appears to be the impetus behind the infamous Will Smith slap-across-the-face of comedian Chris Rock during Sunday night's live broadcast.

Smith attacked Rock after he made a joke about the appearance of Smith's wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, whose head is shaved. She has been very open about her struggle with the condition, but it's believed Rock was unaware when he made an on-stage joke comparing her to the G. I. Jane movie character.

The spectacle has become an opportunity to raise awareness about the condition for Quebecers like Michal Harewood, who works at InHAIRItance Curl Spa.

"I don't like to be burdened down by something I can't control, but if someone were to attack me because I have alopecia, or just say a joke about my alopecia, I think I would take it personally," she said.

Audrey Roy-Dorval said she felt helpless when she was diagnosed and made the decision to pursue a PhD at McGill University in microbiology-immunology to "help find treatment for not only alopecia but other people that also felt helpless like I did," she said in an interview.

Sometimes, alopecia is cyclical.

"It's like a roller coaster, like it's [the hair] falling so you're down and it's growing back so you're happy and you don't know when it's going to go back to falling or if it ever will."

Anne-Lise Nadeau is an actor and performer who sometimes wears a wig due to her condition.

"Sometimes, I have a spot without here and after it's going to fall apart on the other side. I have moving parts," she said.

"Because of the castings, they're not always ready to see shaved heads. So sometimes I wear my wigs."

Like Pinkett Smith, she's public about her condition and writes about it on her blog.

"I wanted people suffering with this condition to feel that they're not alone."

Anastasia Kitsos, a production manager, said she lost her hair within six weeks of her diagnosis. For her, the decision to wear a wig is sometimes a tricky one.

"It was hard, it was a traumatic experience. It takes your confidence away, you don't know how to react in public, people look at you funny," she said.

"Do you shave your head? Do you not? There's clumps missing."

It's a journey of acceptance for them and others.

"Let's not make judgement on people because you don't know what is going on behind the scenes, in somebody's life," she said.

"It took me 20 years to be able to take it. Now, it rolls off my back, but it took a while to get there and people's comments don't help."

"You don't have to make a joke, but be mindful that I'm going to educate you after that joke. And to be receptive to that," Harewood added.

More information about alopecia is available on the Canadian Alopecia Areata Foundation website.