Ricki Lake Shares Powerful Hair Loss Update on IG Two Years After Shaving Her Head

• Ricki Lake, 53, shared an inspiring hair loss update two years after shaving her head.

• The actress was diagnosed with androgenetic alopecia after years of show business took a toll on her hair health.

• She tried vitamins, diets, and more to reverse the damage, but eventually decided to start fresh—and she doesn't regret it one bit.

Two years ago, actress Ricki Lake said goodbye to her sparse strands and shaved her head. And now, looking back, she's confident that she made the right decision.

The 53-year-old’s decades in show business, especially her iconic role as Tracy Turnblad in Hairspray, took a toll on her tresses and she was eventually diagnosed with androgenetic alopecia, a common form of hair loss in both women and men. Since the big shave, her mane is returning, and in her latest Instagram post, she reflected on the growth she’s experienced in her hair and her heart.

“2 years ago today I took a leap of faith. I finally surrendered and came out about my decades long struggle with hair loss (and shaved my head.),” she wrote. “It was so scary and so liberating. The journey since has been such a gift. Self-love and acceptance has been the great takeaway. And 2 years later, I sit in total gratitude for the journey.”

She continued: “Thank you to my friends, loved ones and role models who helped me along the way to loving myself exactly as I am. It has been pivotal in my quest to call in and find my beloved Ross and true happiness.”

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Friends and fans responded with adoration, and others thanked her for boldly sharing her journey. “Thank you for being a voice and using your platform to help normalize hair loss. Not only for women but for children and men as well. We are all enough exactly as we are, and it’s so helpful to know you aren’t alone in the journey. Sending love 💕,” one person commented.

“Beauty isn’t always physical, beauty is within yourself. Who you are and how you show up in the world is what beautiful looks like. You’ve always been a beautiful lady in my eyes. 🙌🏽❤️,” another added.

When she first began losing her hair, Lake inundated herself with hair growth supplements, extensions, diets, and more. And she eventually grew tired of fighting the uphill battle. “I learned so much through the process of really letting go of something that had been really bothering me,” she told Good Morning America in 2020.

Now, she's learned to accept every part of herself and is nothing but grateful to have turned 53 in September. “Reflecting on this beautiful time in my life, this next chapter,” she wrote on Instagram at the time. “Embracing my age and all that comes with it: wisdom, self-love, resilience, wrinkles, and gray hair. This is me.”

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