People In Massachusetts Living With Alopecia Hope 'Oscars Slap' Brings Awareness Of Disease

BOSTON (CBS) - Lisa Gregory of Worcester and Chrissa Kaselis wake up every day and fill in their eyebrows and eyelashes with makeup before choosing whether or not to wear a wig that day. "It's very difficult on a daily basis to try and look normal," Gregory said.

This is the reality of living with alopecia, an autoimmune disease that causes partial to total hair loss.

It's the same disease actress Jada Pinkett Smith has been living with since 2018, and the reason her husband Will Smith says he was so emotional when comedian Chris Rock cracked a joke at the Oscars calling her "G.I. Jane." Following the joke, Smith walked onto the Oscars staged and smacked Rock across the face.

"I've been called G.I. Jane quite a few times," said Chrissa Kaselis of Walpole. "So, it's not anything new that I didn't hear. It was just a little shocking."

The "G.I. Jane" reference was a commentary on Jada Pinkett Smith's bald head, and Kaselis can relate to how the actress probably felt. "When I was first diagnosed with alopecia or I went through the significant hair loss and total baldness and decided to walk around publicly without a wig on and everything, and if someone had called me that at that point, I probably would've been very upset," she said.

Kaselis and Gregory are a part of the same alopecia support group. Kaselis lost her hair completely 25 years ago; Gregory lost hers 16 years ago.

"It was emotional," Kaselis explained. She said while she didn't agree with Will Smith's violent reaction to Chris Rock's joke, she understood the fierce desire to protect a loved one with alopecia. "Everyone would defend you. Everyone in my family would defend me against someone else, so I can understand that love of loving someone so much that you were going to defend them through anything," she said.

If there is any silver lining in the Oscars "smack" heard round the world, it's the awareness it has brought to alopecia in such a short period of time, the women said.

Immediately following the incident, Google data reveals that "alopecia" searches skyrocketed by more than 1000 percent.

"It's 15 minutes of fame to discover what alopecia is," Gregory said.

"I just want people to be aware of what I have," Kaselis said. "If they had awareness around this condition, maybe they wouldn't automatically assume other things. You know, I didn't choose to shave my head. My hair fell out."