Miss USA contestant Mary Sickler is proudly embracing her alopecia on the runway!
The present Miss Nevada, 22, boldly competed within the 2025 Miss USA preliminary spherical on Wednesday, October 22, with out her wig through the night put on portion of the competitors.
Sickler initially got here out for the swimsuit spherical in a protracted brunette wig, whereas rocking a purple two-piece, per footage posted on-line. However when it got here to the night robe portion of the preliminaries, held in Reno, Nevada, Sickler made a daring assertion by protecting her head with a bejeweled silver headpiece, which matched her shimmering silver robe.
“I can not imagine I simply walked THE Miss USA stage!!” Sickler wrote on Instagram after Wednesday’s preliminaries.
She continued, “This dream has been so a few years within the making, and to lastly step into this second feels surreal. I by no means imagined I might stroll that stage on this manner, however I at all times hoped I might do it with confidence, authenticity, and style. I’m so proud to have achieved that purpose, particularly by being the primary girl to stroll the Miss USA stage with out hair.”
“What makes this much more particular is realizing it isn’t nearly me. I’m the primary girl with alopecia universalis to compete at Miss USA,” Sickler wrote. “I’m dwelling proof that no trial can stand in the way in which of your wildest dream.”
“Tonight, I walked with gratitude — for Nevada, for my sisters, and for each step that introduced me right here,” she concluded.
Within the feedback part, lots of Sickler’s mates and followers praised her for embracing her pure look on stage.
“My Queen!! You add a lot worth to the world!!” wrote make-up artist Anna Cantu. “Thanks for trusting in me and all of the exhausting work you’ve gotten proven for the final 3 years !! You belong on a giant stage!! You might be already a ICON!! Love u a lot.”
One other individual wrote, “Actually introduced tears to my eyes watching you reside out your dream tonight, and in essentially the most inspiring manner! Your magnificence was radiant! 🤍”
Sickler first opened up about her alopecia prognosis in September. In an interview with Individuals on the time, the pageant queen mentioned she started shedding her hair in December 2024. She was initially identified with partial hair loss, earlier than her physician informed her she had alopecia universalis, which causes full hair loss.
“[The doctor] principally mentioned, ‘I’ve tried all the pieces I might,’ and that was like a dagger in my coronary heart,” she mentioned. “I keep in mind coming dwelling, and I seemed within the mirror and I had by no means felt uglier. My hair was all in patches, my eyelashes had been fully gone, I had no eyebrows, and I truthfully couldn’t acknowledge myself anymore.”
After experimenting with wigs and regaining her confidence, in July, Sickler received the Miss Nevada competitors and the best to compete in Miss USA.
“I misplaced all my hair, and I positively didn’t assume that I might be strolling on the Miss USA stage with none hair, however I’m,” the mannequin mentioned. “It took me a very long time to lastly be capable of see myself as stunning, and I believe that’s step one. I believe in the event you see your self as stunning and also you personal it, then different individuals will too.”
