Rep. Ayanna Pressley makes first House appearance since alopecia reveal

Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) on Thursday made her first House appearance without a wig since being diagnosed with alopecia, an auto-immune disease that causes hair loss.

Pressley appeared on the House floor to advocate for the Comprehensive Credit Reporting Enhancement, Disclosure, Innovation, and Transparency (CREDIT) Act: A bill she sponsored aimed at protecting Americans from predatory credit reporting practices.  

The appearance in Congress comes after the freshman Democrat opened up about her diagnosis earlier this month in an interview with The Root.

“I’m very early in my alopecia journey. But I’m making progress every day,” she told the publication at the time.

“It’s about self agency. It’s about power. It’s about acceptance. It’s so interesting to me that right now on this journey, what I feel the most unlike myself is when I am wearing a wig. So I think that means I’m on my way,” she added.

In addition to the interview, Pressley posted a picture, bald on Instagram, with the caption stating, “However you show up in the world, you are beautiful & you are enough.”