We’re Bald & Beautiful - Will Our Blind Dates Agree? | DATING DIFFERENT

I absolutely love being bald

I feel like it's shaped me into the person I am today. I'm getting set up on a blind date

where the individual does not know that I'm bald. I always try to set my expectations low

whenever I go on dates. I have been disappointed. People have had adverse reactions to my alopecia

How do I think he'll react? I think that he will... I don't know

I'm getting ready for my blind date and I'm feeling really nervous but really excited, kind of hopeful, but mostly nervous

I think what makes dating hard is just that I don't fit the beauty standard. And so already going into a date knowing that, you know, I don't look like most girls

So I'm Kiara. I'm 23. When I was 10 years old, I actually started losing my hair

Just started with a few bald spots and then progressed until I was 12 and all my hair completely fell out

I was just not at a point in my life where I felt comfortable being bald

I just could not handle it. I'm 23 now. The joke's on me, but it ended up being my greatest blessing

Do I look different? Yes. But alopecia is also a reason that I have a lot more genuine connections with people

It takes a lot for a man to feel confident dating a bald woman. How do I think he'll react

I think that he will... I don't know. I'm feeling extra nervous, I guess

I thought I'm actually in the cafe. It feels a lot different. I'm Michael Mims

I'm 28 years old. A little bit nervous. Dating in LA is very difficult

I've dated some pretty crazy people during the pandemic. Hello. Hi. How are you

How's it going? I'm Kiara. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. I'm Michael. So, a little bit nervous, not going to lie

Yeah, same here. It's like my first time doing like one of these things

Same, same. This is like totally different, but I mean, we are coming from a world where everything's been different, right

Yeah, for sure. The one thing about living in like this part of LA, there's like so many good food spots

Yeah, understandable. Definitely a food guy. The way that people react to alopecia, there's like a variety of different reactions that I'm used to

I would say 7 out of 10 times people don't know what it is. I've definitely had some off-putting reactions

That's just not something that I'd ever be super interested in. You have a pretty face, but do you ever wear a wig

So many guys have asked me, do you often wear a wig then? As if insinuating they'd rather me wear a wig

And I'm like, no, I never wear wigs. Obviously, I have no hair

Well, do you know why? I don't know the term. Okay. So I had a couple friends growing up, but I don't remember what the term was

Like who you think had the same thing as me? Yes. Okay, it's called alopecia

Have you heard of that? One of my friends, she was like that. It happened to her in fourth grade

Okay, yeah. And it was really tough. Yeah. I was like one of the only people that stayed her friend during that whole time

In high school, it was super rough. Even the boys who thought I was cute, they would always be very secretive about it

They'd be like, I think you're pretty, but let's talk in secret

Let's not tell people we're dating. I never had an official boyfriend in high school because no one wanted to be associated with a bald girl

Cheers. Yes. Cheers. Will you excuse me for a second? Yeah, yeah

Sorry, Wins. My first impression, obviously he's a good-looking man. He has, like, beautiful green eyes

How do you think he has a bubble with Allison? Are you happy with that? Yeah, I think he handled it with flying colors

Ten out of ten, he really handled it well. What's up? Hey

Can I get the spicy tuna roll, please? Yeah, I'm going to get the same. Yeah

Thank you so much. Thank you. Perfect. So, like, what have your experiences been like with dating

Okay, so, I don't think I've had a good dating experience during the pandemic, actually. Yeah

yeah one the woman was married she didn't tell me she was married husband pops up on the date

uh on our third date he pops up i don't know what he did i'm so sorry popped up on the date

very uncomfortable he wanted to fight me i know he wanted to fight me but i was very calm and very

respectful yeah that sucks oh my goodness so how has dating been like like having alopecia and

Yeah, it sounds like it's probably like super tough. Dating with alopecia is definitely different

because obviously like with my disease, like you see it immediately, right

Like the first thing you notice is like I have no hair, right? Yeah

When I first walked in, like I knew what it was, but I didn't know what it was called

How do you feel happy? I would say I love being bald now

but it definitely has like, you know, its own challenges on a day-to-day basis just because like obviously like the universal symbol

of femininity is hair. And when I literally can't grow any, you know, obviously I get stares

We live in such a judgmental society anyway. Yeah So it already tough The way I look at things in life is like we all you know it doesn matter The skin color doesn matter whether you know like alopecia Alopecia Yeah yeah yeah

We're still all human at the end of the day. Yeah, no, for sure. So that's the way I look at it

Yeah, that was good. Yeah, it looks really good. Thank you so much

It was so fun. Like he was like the nicest person I've ever like gone on a date with

He was super good looking. That was a happy surprise. I had no idea what to expect

It went great. Someone who I would definitely go out with again. So, yeah, she was very cool, very nice

Yeah, you guys seemed to get along very well. Yeah, it was definitely Joe

So, are you going to see it? I mean, I hope so. He was a really nice guy

He definitely has a lot of food recommendations and things to do. So, fingers crossed. We'll see

All right. See you. Bye. Can I say it? Yeah. If I had the choice to, like, grow my hair back

I genuinely don't think I would. I've become so comfortable in this look

So today I'm going on a blind date. I'm excited to put myself out there again

and just, you know, get back on the dating bandwagon a little bit. I'm feeling a little bit nervous

I feel like it's kind of setting in that I'm going on a blind date. Hi, how's it going? Hi, nice to meet you

I'm Josh. Yay, thank you for coming. So today I'm going on a blind date

I'm really nervous. I have not been on a date in like over a year

All right guys, I need your help. I am nervous and excited. Yeah

Don't be nervous, you got this. My expectations for today is just that he'll be open-minded

and willing to get to know me past my hair loss. Well, I always about a leather pants moment. Right

Giving sexy, giving bold, that's what we want. Yeah. I hope he's not too taken back for alopecia

I know it might be a little jarring to some people. Do a little spin, yes

Yes, so cute! Yes, yes! I love it! I've never worn wigs, I've never done any of that

But when I put lashes on, it's like me feeling like myself. I'm feeling a little bit nervous

But I'm also getting excited. I feel like it's kind of setting in that I'm going on a blind date

I just want someone who's like down to earth, empathetic, like warm-hearted

who's just like a nice human being. My name is Josh. I am 24 years old

I know that my date has alopecia. Other than that, I don't know anything else about her

Hi, nice to meet you. I'm Josh, nice to meet you. I'm Allison, nice to meet you

I wouldn't say necessarily have a physical type. I would say I tend to go for people

who are more active, athletic. Thank you so much. You have a favorite food type, like Italian, French

Sushi and other Japanese food has been one of my favorites since I was a kid

I'm a sushi addict, for sure. Yes, definitely. I can also eat a lot, so for me

I'm always trying to get as much protein as I can. So

Got it. Working out purposes, like. Yeah, I lift, yeah. I did gymnastics when I was a kid. Stop

So, did you? I was homeschooled for gymnastics. Really? I was like intense gymnastics

Okay, gotcha. I like to say like gymnastics almost gave me that protective factor

Like I remember in gym class, I would break the pull-up record and it kind of made it so like people didn't mess with me

in a sense. For many reasons, I stopped doing gymnastics when I got into high school

and that is honestly when it was the hardest time for me. It was like that identity was like stripped away

I was just now the weird bald girl in school. We know I have to like rebuild my entire identity

to not be like this gymnast, super strong girl. Like now I'm just the girl who doesn't have hair

at school with like two friends. Right. Those are hard years. First few years of high school

Yeah, like, oh my God, I'm mad. Like, I'm sure the same for you, it's like

I'm gonna take a son, I'm gonna stop at the bathroom real quick. Yeah. Honestly, it's going way better than I thought it would

We have more in common than I expected. He doesn't seem too fazed by my condition

Who knows, maybe on the inside, the wheels are turning and he's like curious

I probably wanna ask him more about like any past dating experience or

if you've alluded to cats because cats are boring to me. Don't try to come back

I know I haven't mentioned it yet, but I don't know. You probably don't know what it is

Maybe you do, I don't know. Alopecia or? Wow, you knew that on your own

My dad's a dermatologist, so I, yeah. Oh, wow, okay. So I'm kind of curious, what is dating like for you

Dating apps, everything is just, People respond interesting. On dating apps, I've had people ask to lick my head

People want to like touch my head or like just make weird like sexualizing comments

almost about my hair loss. When did it start, if you don't mind me asking

No, go ahead. I'm very open. For the past like year, like I've gone like kinda hard

with like the awareness work on my social media. I do a lot of adequacy work about alopecia on my Instagram

and so it's out there. I'm pretty open about talking about it on a date

I have no issue with really answering any questions they have as long as they're not like creepy, weird

bald fetish questions. So yeah ever since I was six I pretty much just been completely bald and rockin it Yeah long time Yeah it is for sure But I guess maybe because you grew up with it it not something I guess that you

It's always pretty much how I've seen myself with the exception of some photos. I feel a little bit lucky that I can look in the mirror and recognize myself

So there's no real cure for alopecia. I hate the word cure though because that insinuates there's something wrong or bad

And I imperfectly find the way I am. and there's really nothing I need to recover or cure from

So I'm kinda curious, like what are you looking for in a partner

I've always been the kind of person who's like, I've date to date long term

like I'm not really into hookup culture. So I've been in like one serious relationship

I definitely got stuck in it because of my hair loss a little bit because I thought maybe I'll never find anyone else

I knew I was worth more than what I was given and once I realized that

I was able to break it off at the end when I found that confidence. but also someone just like down to earth

A nice human being, which seems hard to find these days sometimes. Someone who's not allergic to cats maybe too

Cause you're not allergic to cats right now. I used to be, I'm not anymore

Okay, there we go. I got shots, a lot of them for a while so. Perfect

And I like cats a lot too, it's not just that. Perfect, yeah. All those fails, I will just be a crazy cat lady

But I'm hoping I can find someone too, is you know, what I'm looking for

Yeah, I get that. I couldn't have really said it better myself. I mean, I know 24 is not old

but I'm definitely kind of feeling that same dating to date. Allison's condition didn't change

how I saw or thought of her. We had a great conversation. We gelled together really nice

The date went really good. I'm actually kind of shocked at how good it went. It was really cool that he knew immediately Alopecia was

I was really attracted to her. I thought that she had a really nice smile, which is a very big thing for me

I definitely think he's cute. You think we'll meet up again? I think we will

And I hope that he wants you too. Uh, yeah. I think we could

I definitely had a good time. It seemed like she did. So I hope that's how she felt

I think this experience definitely made me more hopeful. Maybe it will help me get back out there more

Today, I'm going on my first ever blind date. I don't know anything about my date

I honestly haven't had much experience dating as a bald woman. On dating apps, I'll have guys message me first and they're like, oh, like, I like your shaved head

And so obviously I tell them about alopecia and then they unmatch me right afterwards

Well, I have alopecia areata, so that's an autoimmune disease and it causes your hair to fall out

Hi, I'm Dani Candre. I'm 23 years old and I'm from the Inland Empire

I do plus size modeling with an agency in L.A. and then I also work at a gym on the side

Today I'm going on my first ever blind date. I honestly haven't had much experience dating as a bald woman

My last relationship that I had, that was my first relationship where the guy only knew me as a bald woman

I suppose I'm open to a relationship. I'm not looking for one, though

My name is Cameron Jackson. I'm 29, and for a living I am an actor, full-time, and musician

Today I am going on a blind date, my very first blind date

All get to sit across from a beautiful lady, get to talk, have a conversation, have some food, have some drinks

Perfect to me. Sounds great. Mom. Hi. How you doing? Hi. Nice to meet you

Nice to meet you. Cameron, nice to meet you. Hi. Uh-oh. How you feeling

I feel good. I'm excited. I like your shirt. It's really nice. Thank you. I like yours. I like yours

It's a nice yellow, nice beautiful sunny day, blue sky, and a yellow dress

Now, we got a nice menu coming out here. So, is there anything that you are looking forward to

Me too. What about you? Sorry, I got lost in your eyes

Oh, shoot. You guys are beautiful. Thank you. I appreciate that. I like a guy that can make me laugh

Physically, I like guys that are tall, pretty eyes. I love a nice smile

Have you ever done this before? A blind date? No, I have never done this before. Never? Okay

What about you? No. No? First time. What do you do for work? I'm an actor full-time and musician

So I do both. Acting is really my full-time thing right now. Music, actually, when I came down here, was more of my focus

And then it just so happens that acting just started. I love music, too

I don't really do music anymore, but I originally went to school for music

Yeah, so I played trumpet. Like, I did any music group at my school that was offered, I would join it

Yeah, marching band, jazz band. Like, I loved all of that stuff. What was it that you were seeking to

What were your goals? Realistically, I want to be a motivational speaker. That's my, like, dream that I want to do

What would you like to speak about motivationally to people? Well, I have alopecia

I don't know if you know what that is. I just recently heard about it and read about it

How did you hear about it? It started with the Jada Pinkett thing. And then for some reason, I started reading

And then all of a sudden, all my YouTube videos started popping up. That's so funny. Yeah, yeah, yeah

So I did a lot of it. So alopecia is an autoimmune disease, and it causes your hair to fall out

And a simple way to put it is that I'm allergic to my hair. The type of alopecia that I have is alopecia areata

And that means that my hair falls out in patches. On dating apps I have guys message me first and they like oh like I like your shaved head I like your look Did you do it by choice And so obviously I tell them about alopecia and then they unmatch me right afterwards

They're like bothered by that. I've had people in person and on dating apps

they'll be like, does the carpet match the drapes? Immediately I'm like, no, no, don't talk to me

You cut that off the top. Yes, I could probably, if I got a dollar

for every time someone told me that, I could pay off my stupid ones. When was it that you first found confidence in having it

Like freshman year of high school, for my sophomore year photo, I took my photo without my wig

which is like a big deal because I would hide with wigs. Like I just covered my face, did not want anyone to see me

I've been wearing wigs from when I was four years old up until I was 20 years old

When I was in college, it was during finals week. I was rushing to my final. I was super late

It was a very windy day and I'm rushing into the building and a gust of wind just like swoops my hair away

And immediately I was just like re-traumatized, even though I'm an adult

I'm in college. Like these are my finals. I'm re-traumatized because when I was a kid, that would happen to me

People would pull off my wig. During recess, my wig would fly away. So it just all of these memories were flooded into me

Then I realized like, OK, I can't do this anymore. I'm too dependent on this thing. Like it's controlling my life

and so I just showed up to school without my hair. Okay, I'm talking too much though

No, you're not. You need to tell me a little bit about you. Where I come from, I come from a city called Lansing, Michigan

Where I'm from, it's like being able to really make a big impact and do things, you have to step outside

You got to go do your thing and then bring it back home. So for me, one of my goals is to really establish a foundation on here

take it to the top, be one of the best actors all the time, be up there with some of the greats

And then use my platform to be able to bridge a gap between where I'm from and here

Pave a way where kids don't have to do all the things that I have to do to get where I'm at. Absolutely

Give you back to your community. Exactly. It's important to me. For sure

Light. You are light, you know. It's nice to have to see some light

But it's nice to see light, you know, and have that brightness there. It's clearly you have a lot of this

Thank you. That's so nice. I've never been told that before. Really? It's true. Oh, it's true

It's true. Will you excuse me? Just a second. Go ahead. Go ahead. It's going well

He seems very nice. It's so funny. When he walks in, you see his unbuttoned shirt

I imagine those romance novels and the guy's on a horse. That's what I thought when I saw him

She really is full of light, it seems like. It's just you can feel it

Just her personality and who she is, what she represents, what she does. To me, it's all around fascinating

So it's wonderful. Yeah, I wanted to know more about the alopecia, of course

And, of course, she has fantastic answers and does wonderful things and is very confident in herself and things like that

So, it's beautiful. Beautiful. Do you go out at all? So, occasionally, like, a couple times a month

Like, I'm really not, like, a big partier. I only go out unless it's, like, there's an event

I'm meeting with a director. I am invited to, like, a private thing. Where you're at, you have a lot going on

You have a career move. You have all these different things going on. Do you feel like a relationship is something that can flow easily in your life or that can be more of a distraction for where you're at right now

It definitely depends on the person that I would be dating. I'm open to a relationship

I'm not like actively looking for one, but I am open to it

Are you looking for a relationship? I'm not looking. I think it would be great and nice to find somebody who can enhance and not take away

you know, or help, you know, come in with the same type of focus and not distract

That would be beautiful. You know, it's hard to find, but I believe for it

I believe it's possible for sure. So I definitely want to exchange contacts with you

Yeah, for sure. So, Danny, that's the end of the day. How would that go

It went really well. He's super cool. I think I want to see him again for sure

He's honestly just a joy to be around. You could just, just his personality. And I really liked his drive and how motivated he is

You guys are going to exchange like contact details? Yeah. Yeah. How did that go

Fantastic. I loved it. It was a great experience. Way better than I thought it was going to be

She was amazing, fantastic. And yeah, it was, it was, it was bomb

I think I'm extremely attracted to her. I think in every single way, to be honest with you, inside and out

You know, she just has it. She just has the it factor

So it's safe to say you would want to see her again. I know for a fact I'm definitely going to. I know I will

I know for a fact I will. So guys, that's the end of the day. How do you think that went

It went very well. Yeah. I love it. It was really nice

Yeah, I enjoyed it. Again, she's very vibrant, very light, very bright, very awesome, confident in herself

I really love your drive, like how motivated you are. Not only that, you're like super handsome

Thank you. So the big question is, do you guys want to see each other again

I'm going to say, for me, it's definitely a goal for me. Yeah, I'm down to hang out again. Yes, absolutely