Chances are if you watched sitcoms during the 90s, then you’d be familiar with actress Countess Vaughn. She was the funny girl on “Moesha”, then landed her own spin-off show “The Parkers”, and then did a brief stint on the VH1 weight-loss reality show, “Celebrity Fit Club” and can now be seen on “Hollywood Divas” ensemble reality show.
The actress found success at a relatively young age, but it wasn’t without a cost. The comments and “industry suggestions” she received about her appearance only fed into some self-esteem issues she had. One issue was about her hair.
After a five-year-long love affair with the hairpieces that require constant application of wig glue to stay in place, Countess revealed that she had developed a severe scalp infection. But because she couldn’t accept that a wig could be causing such damage, the actress let the oozing and hair loss that resulted from the infection go on for six months before consulting a dermatologist.
“The red flag was the oozing from my ears, from my forehead, the whole nape around my head. The puss, that horrible smell, it was painful. I let this go by for six months,” she explained on the show. Little did she know, Countess had a severe reaction to the glue that she used to apply the wig. The reaction resulted in severe pain, massive hair loss and skin discoloration. The skin around her ears even fell off.
READ: Is Hair Glue Hazardous To Your Health?
Some women wear lace front wigs for the simple convenience of shielding their own hair from damage and changing up their style. Others use these wigs to conceal severe hair loss from illness, such as cancer or even stress. Lace front wigs became popular when women saw how versatile and natural-looking the appearance of the scalp looked. Using tape or glue to hold the wig in place is common, however, those can be very damaging to the scalp and hair if used consistently. Countess struggled with self-esteem issues and used this experience to instill self-confidence in her daughter.
“I was embarrassed, you have to be at home, and be bald,” Countess said while holding back tears. “I had to go through this to teach my little one that you have to love yourself before anyone else will.”
She’s always been open about her struggles with her weight and self-esteem over the years. Countess shared that when she was a pre-teen on the set of the sitcom 227 she overheard an adult actress making fun of her size. This type of scrutiny affected her self-esteem and has negatively impacted her self-image. Vaughn has attributed her thyroid disease as cause for her weight fluctuating over the years.
It was because of these feelings that she underwent extensive liposuction to jumpstart her fitness goals. But…
… as she told PEOPLE, it was a necessary move in order to feel better about her post-baby body.
“I wanted to do a mommy makeover,” she told People. “I had done it after my oldest child. I really needed to just treat myself, and I’m happy about it!”
“It’s a lot of hard work,” Vaughn tells International Business Times, adding that she’s now down to a size 8 or 9 from an 18. “People think lipo isn’t hard [but] it is in recovery.” She added that it took an entire year for her body to fully heal from the procedure.
“Each surgery is different. My first surgery after my son, I saw the results a lot quicker,” Vaughn explained. “But due to the thyroid situation, this time it was a little delayed.”
Recently, Vaughn took to Instagram to share an adorable photo with her daughter that she captioned, “Loving me regardless of my skin Situation.”
The skin situation she was referring to is vitiligo. Vitiligo is a condition in which the skin loses its pigment cells (melanocytes).
This can result in discolored patches in different areas of the body, including the skin, hair, retina and mucous membranes. It affects nearly 200,000 people in the U.S.
In the short video, Vaughn has a few visible discolored spots around her mouth and in the comments section of a separate post, which has since been deleted, the actor admitted she struggles with vitiligo.
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