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\"I shared my story on TikTok, and when I did, I panicked because a video I made got, like, 30 million views,\" she said. \"But I don't think I'd be where I am right now if I didn't share my story publicly, because it introduced me to a community that I never knew I needed.\"

Bean now has more than 2 million followers combined on TikTok and Instagram, where she shares her life, her business -- a wig and brow company called Baldie Bean -- and beauty tips for women with alopecia.

\"I feel like it heals my inner child,\" she said of sharing her story with others. \"When I used to deal with this, I thought I was alone, and social media helps me help people realize that embracing your flaws is what makes you so unique and beautiful. I started my own business because of that, embracing alopecia ... I'm helping people feel beautiful.\"

Building a community that embraces bald

As Flores grew into her identity as a person who is bald, she said she too began to share more of her story with people in her life and on social media.

Instead of her world crashing, as she said she expected, Flores described feeling completely \"embraced.\"

\"The amount of love... I was just embraced by everyone, and when it came to dating, it was like they liked me more,\" she said. \"So, that's what I'm saying when I say, 'Just be you,' because they're going to like you for you, and you will be embraced.\"

\"PHOTO:
Courtesy Felicia Flores
PHOTO: Felicia Flores, third from right, poses with attendees at the Baldie Con conference she founded.
>

Inspired by the community of support she felt in her own life, Flores said she poured her life savings into what she describes as her \"passion project,\" an annual conference known as Baldie Con.

Baldie Con, which was held in September this year in Atlanta, is a two-day gathering for women who have hair loss issues, whether from alopecia or any other condition.

\"That's what makes Baldie Con so special, is that we're inclusive,\" Flores said. \"I just want them to be recognized for being special and beautiful and to know that they're loved and know that there's a community out there for them to embrace and to have any kind of information that's out there, whether it's about hair loss, different remedies, treatments.\"

Shadina Blunt, a 38-year-old mom of three, was a speaker at this year's Baldie Con event.

\"PHOTO:
Courtesy Felicia Flores
PHOTO: Felicia Flores, center, and Shadina Blunt, far left, pose with attendees at the 2023 Baldie Con conference.
>

Blunt said she lost her hair due to chemotherapy treatments for invasive carcinoma breast cancer, with which she was diagnosed in January.

Blunt said she covered the mirrors in her home and wore wraps on her head initially when she was left bald. She said she tried wearing wigs, but felt the same emotions because she knew she was bald underneath the wig.

\"I couldn't accept what I was looking at in the mirror,\" Blunt told \"GMA.\" \"I finally said, 'I'm going to have to dig deep and find a new self-love.'\"

\"PHOTO:
Courtesy Shadina Blunt
PHOTO: Shadina Blunt, 38, of Atlanta, lost her hair while undergoing treatment for breast cancer.
>

For Blunt, embracing being bald was a process that she said was not easy and one that took several months. \"You have to really love yourself in order to walk around as a bald woman,\" she said.

\"You just have to look past what you see as appearance and realize who you are internally, who you are as a person, your character -- and that speaks for itself,\" she said. \"So, when you're bald, and you have all these positive things that you can show to others ... they don't even see the baldness anymore.\"

Blunt said that even though, for her, hair loss means cancer, she now sees her baldness as something beautiful.

\"It is very liberating,\" she said, adding of her advice to others, \"Know that hair is just hair. It does not define you. If you lose your hair, try to embrace it. Try to love it, and ultimately love yourself, and give yourself grace on the days that you don't.\"

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