‘I want to say my piece and talk about hair loss’

Síofra Grant

A Mullingar native and proud alopecian, Caoilfhinn Ní Choiligh, the new Westmeath Rose, is looking forward to using her platform to support those experiencing hair loss, which she is well equipped for thanks to her work as the founder of the Hair Loss Haven.

Being the Westmeath Rose is also a way for Caoilfhinn to support herself and in a way, specifically, the 15-year-old version of her who was first diagnosed with Alopecia Areata.

“I just turned 25 last August, and I was like ‘you know what’, I haven’t really been putting myself out there and I felt like I need to start living more, saying yes to new opportunities and taking the chance with a lot of things that I’ve thought of doing in the past – things I thought I wasn’t ready or good enough to do.

“So that’s why I said I’m going to start doing all these things and see what happens.

“If they don’t work out, they don’t work out, but I was lucky then to start the Hair Loss Haven and that’s going very well.”

The Westmeath Rose selection was made on Sunday June 13 in the Radisson Blu Hotel, Athlone, where 20 Westmeath women came together in the hopes of being selected.

In the end it was Caoilfhinn who took over the mantle from outgoing Rose, Grace O’Connor. “I kind of froze,” Caoilfhinn said, recalling the moment she was crowned as Westmeath Rose.

“I was like, did they say my name? I was just so surprised because I was honestly on a stage with some amazing girls. Any one of them would have been a worthy rose.

“When they called my name, I’m an emotional person at the smallest of things, so something like that means so much to me and that I just thoroughly enjoyed as an experience. It was just amazing.

“I hadn’t really thought past just enjoying being on the stage and meeting the new girls and being part of that process. I hadn’t really thought past the next step, and I was like ‘oh my god, now I’m going to Tralee’.”

The selection day was long, filled with interviews and activities, and just a short break before the evening reception.

“I had booked a night in the hotel and I signed in and then it was straight to my interview. It was a short interview, only seven or eight minutes, and they’re strict about that. I enjoyed my interview. I didn’t feel nervous at all and just left happy with it.

“Then after lunch we had our group interviews. They didn’t really care about the questions or the answers we were giving – it was more to see how we flowed, how we bounced off each other and getting a feel for our personality in a group.”

Following the interviews, it was time for the contestants to get ready. Caoilfhinn did not have much to do having already styled her wig the night before.

“A few of us went for cocktails afterwards, they promote a food atmosphere, they don’t want you to be nervous.”

Then it was time for the actual event. “We got our dresses on, our makeup on, and photos taken before we all went out. Then we had five minutes on stage and some of us did performances.

“I had a showcase of all the wigs I wear. I put a couple on myself but then I put one on the presenter as well, and he was having the craic running around the stage with his new do.”

As we know, she charmed the judges and was crowned as the new Westmeath Rose.

While Caoilfhinn doesn’t want her alopecia to be the defining focus of her tenure as Rose, she also acknowledges that she can make an impact for people with hair loss when they see her on stage.

“I felt like, when I was growing up I had no one who looked like me.

“Especially because I’ve got a very patchy head and I struggled with knowing the right time to shave my head. I didn’t know if my hair was going to come back and now I get so many people messaging me asking, is this what you have?

“What can you advise? When is the right time to get a wig? And just asking about the hair loss process.

“If I just get to say my piece and talk about what’s important to me and try to connect with someone else going through Alopecia or little girls going through cancer and seeing someone on stage in a lovely ball gown with no hair. I’d love to be that person for them and just bring it more on to the forefront.”

The next step for Caoilfhinn is the traditional Rose Tour in which the roses visit every county in the lead-up to the Rose of Tralee festival. “I’ll be pretty much gone from August 8 or 9 and then it’s almost like a week-long tour between different locations.

“Then we’ll be heading down to Tralee.”