The Block took an emotional turn on Wednesday night when Sev bravely opened up about her alopecia.
The interior designer, 37, has dealt with hair thinning since she was 12 years old and was diagnosed with alopecia five years ago.
Speaking exclusively to New Idea, Sev says she decided to talk about her alopecia on TV in a bid to fight the taboo still surrounding it.
“We always knew that coming onto a show where there were going to be a lot of cameras in and about our space, that I would be quite exposed,” she explains.
“So I just thought I’d take the opportunity to be a little brave and express my journey and hopefully empower those who might be affected by hair thinning or alopecia, because there’s still a lot of stigma around it.
“It’s a big platform, and hopefully there’s a bit of reach there to those that have it, and it makes them feel a bit more empowered to see someone on TV being exposed in that sort of situation.”
Sev acknowledges that for those struggling, seeing someone on TV discussing alopecia won’t necessarily give them immediate internal confidence, but she hopes it’s a step in the right direction.
She is no stranger to battling “insecurity” because of hair loss, emotionally revealing that some of her friends didn’t even know about her alopecia until a few years ago.
“I’ve always been insecure about my hair,” she tells us.
“I naturally always had a lot less hair than the average Turkish girl.
“Unfortunately, my genetics weren’t all too strong, but throughout all my teenage years, I always wore extensions and my identity and how I presented myself was a big part of who I was.
“So when it started to get really bad, it did hurt me, and I did go through a hard time accepting that peace of hair thinning.
“When the balding started, that was the next step of that insecurity levelling up. To find my confidence, I had to go through the motions and I had to do a lot of discovery.”
Sev admits she had to battle against the misconceptions she held surrounding hair loss, something she says “wasn’t easy”.
“I’m finally at a point where I’ve accepted it, and I just really enjoy it being a part of my identity,” she tearfully adds.
Sev says connecting with others dealing with alopecia and hair loss helped her find that confidence, and now she wants to try to pass that on to others who might be struggling.
Courtney, her best friend and Block co-star, says she was very proud of Sev for talking openly about her experience on the show, reflecting that it came about in a very “natural” way.
“Obviously, Scotty Cam walked in, and Sev had pink hair,” Courtney says.
“So she either had spent eight hours at the hair salon last night, or there was something else going on.
“It was something that Sev had expressed to me that if it comes up and people ask about it, she’s not going to shy away from it.
“I was just there to support that whole situation. I’m really, really happy she did it because I just know it’s going to change so many people’s outlook and bring awareness to it.
“Male and female, we all suffer from hair thinning, no matter [if you’re a] boy or girl.”
Sev also wants to highlight the positives of wearing wigs, notably the creativity and flexibility that they give her. Most importantly, on The Block, it meant she didn’t have to worry about getting paint in her hair!
“I had easy hair days when everyone else was having really bad ones,” she says.
“I’d get paint on my hair, and I’d just put on a new wig. That was an easy fix for me.
“Whereas some of the girls had to spend their time pushing through knots and whatnot in their hair!”
While talking about her alopecia on TV was a big step for Sev, it’s one she doesn’t regret.
“We didn’t know what was going to make the edit, and I’m so glad that it did,” she adds.
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