The Rapunzel Foundation: raising funds for alopecia sufferers

Claire McGee loves her very long, richly-coloured brown hair.

It’s slightly wavy and when she’s at school in Bridgetown Vocational School, Wexford, she wears it in a ponytail or up in a bun.

Her regard for her crowning glory goes deeper than fashion. “If I wore a bandana, everybody would stare at me. With my wig, people think I’m the same as everybody else,” says the 13-year-old, who was born with a small patch of hair on the back of her head that disappeared within six weeks.