Sheila Jacobs contracted alopecia areata in 1987 -- all her hair fell out -- and a year later she wrote The Big Fall: Living with Hair Loss, the first title to cover all aspects of hair loss. The Oxford-educated, "follicularly challenged" Canadian moved to Vancouver in 1990 where she led the Alopecia Areata Support Group from 1990 to 1992. When not writing, counselling, or growing organic vegetables she is busy explaining to strangers that she didn't shave off her hair in order to look like Sinead O'Connor.

[BCBW 1992]