Miss America Contestant Kayla Martell, Miss Delaware, Could Be First Bald Miss America

It's going to be hard not to root for Miss Delaware Kayla Martell, who is probably the only Miss America competitor that doesn't worry about coloring her roots, at this year's Miss America competition. The 22-year-old could become the first bald Miss America, after suffering from alopecia areata, a rare condition that causes hair loss. Kayla Martell has been bald since she was 13 years old, and the way she's proudly held her bald and beautiful head high since losing her hair truly makes her an inspiration to all young girls struggling with a condition that makes them "different".

On TODAYShow.com, Kayla Martell recalls her first attempt at wearing a wig to school at age 13, stating that she took it off in the middle of the day and never bothered with wearing a wig offstage ever again.

However, to avoid standing out from other pageant contestants and making her condition come into play, she's worn a wig in all the pageants she's competed in since age 13 (and she wears a wig most of the time when she's appearing as Miss Delaware). But she prefers not to wear it in her personal life. It's definitely a brave thing to do, too; most women wouldn't be comfortable sporting a bald head out in public (except Britney Spears, of course).

Kayla Martell's platform for the Miss America pageant is National Alopecia Areata Foundation, and she wants her bald head and those of the other 5 million other sufferers of the disease to no longer be seen as a symbols of sickness. She even sees her bald head as a bit of an advantage when to comes to competing in beauty pageants: she can style her hair well in advance of the pageants and can take it off anytime she's afraid it might get messed up.

So is America ready for a bald Miss America? Beauty pageants often get a bad rap for being so superficial, with all the fake tans, fake eyelashes, and fake breasts we're so used to seeing in them. But Kayla Martell's fake hair could be just what the Miss America pageant needs to generate more interest in the controversial competitions.
The Miss America pageant airs Saturday, January 15, 2011 at 9:00 p.m. ET, so check it out to see if the first bald Miss America is crowned.

SOURCES: http://abc.go.com/shows/2011-miss-america-pageant
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/41021492/ns/today-today_fashion_and_beauty/