Woman's 'traumatising' trip to Bali as hair 'falls out in chunks'
Hollie Marie had been on holiday for a few months when her hair began to fall out. Now, thanks to an Aussie hairdresser, she's learned the likely cause.
A young woman has detailed the "horrifying" moment she realised her hair was falling out in "huge chunks" after holidaying in Bali. Hollie Marie, 27, claims the "hard water" on the popular holiday island is what caused it to happen having spent months there with some friends.
The business owner said her 30-inch long blonde hair began falling out every time she'd brush it, leaving her with bald patches. She resorted to wearing wigs after refusing to leave her house because she felt "so ugly".
Originally putting her hair loss down to stress, the sun or even alopecia, Hollie claims an Australian hairdresser later revealed the "hard, poor quality" of Bali's tap water was to blame. She visited the island in 2021.
"It's horrifying. You just take a lot about yourself for granted, it's such a shock when things like this happen," Hollie, originally from Cardiff, UK, said.
"I noticed I was losing hair, but because I had so much hair initially it took a while to notice how drastic the change was. Three months into living in Bali I went on a trip and on the drive back my hair fused together.
"The texture of my hair changed and my hair strands literally melted together, it was really scary. The bonds of my hair had changed. It had matted so badly that the people at the hairdressers couldn't do anything with it so they had to cut it all off.
"Everytime I brushed it, huge clumps were coming out. I noticed I had a bald patch and thought 'what the f**k is going on?'."
Woman details 'traumatising' few months
The content creator, who is a natural blonde and has never dyed her locks, revealed she was losing so much hair she decided to shave it all off on Christmas Eve 2021. She'd already been "wearing wigs for months" but at this stage still hadn't found what was causing it.
"I had about one-fifth of my hair left on my head. The texture was horrible, it was so matted all the time. I thought 'let's start again, completely fresh'," she explained, describing it as "traumatising".
"I didn't go out for about two months. I didn't go shopping, I didn't go to the gym, I stopped socialising because I just didn't want to see anyone. I just felt so ugly."
Traveller learns the cause of her hair loss in Bali
It wasn't until months later in April 2022 that Hollie says an Australian hairdresser in Bali revealed her hair loss was caused by the water.
"She told me this happened to a lot of people. The quality of water here is so hard that it can really affect your hair and skin," she said.
'Scary' Bali ordeal leads to business venture
The ordeal led her to create a business of her own, Travel with Hair — a travel-friendly water filter designed for showers. Now sporting shoulder-length hair, Hollie vows to "always use a filter" and wants to spread awareness to others.
"It's scary. The last thing anyone wants is to come back from their holiday and find they've lost all their hair. I suffered something really traumatising and I can help people not go through the same thing," she said.
"If you're coming for 10 days, you should be fine. If you're coming for two weeks or longer it's quite important to get a filter. The filters are actually designed especially for the water found in South East Asia.
"It's small, you can carry it on the plane, and it's easy to attach, it literally takes 30 seconds. It'll also prevent any heartbreak, because who wants that when they go on holiday?"
Kennedy News and Media
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