Meet Rebecca Gibson, Cluster Manager

“I have had a lot of kindness from my line managers, my branch colleagues and also from customers. As a branch team at The Cumberland, we are very close and supportive of each other.”

Rebecca, 36, lives in Stainton near Barrow, with her husband Richard and boys Albie, four and Austin, 14 months.

Alopecia, which can cause the loss of some or all of the hair on a person’s head and body, can take a heavy emotional toll as it impacts on a person’s appearance and sense of identity.

Rebecca decided to speak out about the condition in order to help others.

“Alopecia is quite common, a lot of people don’t talk about it and that’s ok,” she said. “But I prefer to be quite vulnerable and open, it’s helped me navigate the condition and I hope that helps other people.”

Her symptoms started in 2022 with the loss of one of her eyebrows and progressed with gradual loss of the hair on her head, her eyelashes and eventually all body hair.

“When it starts it’s the unknown, you start to get these patches and don’t know if or when they are going to stop, it is a really challenging time,” she says.

“As it progresses it kind of engulfs you, and takes over, and you start to think about it all the time.

“I started to become anxious about getting in the shower as some days I would find clumps of hair would come out.”

Doctors explained that alopecia is an unpredictable condition and that although she could try creams, they may not be successful.

“It was frustrating,” says Rebecca. “There’s no way to tell where it has come from. It is an autoimmune disease where your cells attack the hair follicles because they think it is a foreign body. It can all stop one day and your hair can grow back, or it can never grow back.

In 2023 Rebecca went to Tenerife on holiday and made a big decision when she returned.

“I was wearing wigs, but they are not easy to find the right one, that feels like you and I was experimenting with headbands.

“It felt quite empowering. It was at home and Richard did it. I had Albie with me – I wanted to show him it doesn’t matter about your hair, it’s you as a person that matters.

“He was only three, but he helped at one point, he held the clippers. It made me take back control because I didn’t know where the condition was going to end up.

“Afterwards I felt fine. I don’t think I have cried once – I don’t know if that is a good thing or a bad thing. I have not got upset. I can’t control the alopecia. I just thought I need to deal with this and find a way.

“It’s also important to say that we all deal with things differently and it’s ok to be upset and feel different emotions if you’re experiencing hair loss. We all have our own journeys, and they might look different for each person”

Discovering a supportive community on Instagram also proved crucial.

Rebecca says: “They helped me to realise I wasn’t on my own. I set up my own profile and began posting and people were commenting and saying thank you for your post it was so helpful.”

One post showing a chic do when she had her very short hair coloured blonde, reached 15,000 people.

Hair loss affects the body’s ability to regulate its temperature so Rebecca often feels too cold or too warm, and her lack of eyelashes means her eyes have less protection against dust or water.

“It would be very difficult if I couldn’t be open.

“There was a point before I started wearing wigs and I didn’t know how good they were, I didn’t know how I was going to look when I came into work.”

Her manager was very supportive.

“He said something that stuck with me, he said don’t let this become who you are, your identity. That helped me through.

“Walking into work with a wig for the first time was daunting, but everyone was supportive.”

Rebecca was encouraged to take time, if she needed it to see her dermatologist or try wigs and she also received help from The Cumberland’s in-house occupational therapist.

Even The Cumberland’s customers supported her.

“I felt a bit strange and worried if they would notice my hair was a bit different, or if they would think my headscarf was a sign of cancer.

“A couple of customers put me at ease saying I like your headwear. Sometimes it’s nicer for people to acknowledge it rather than say nothing.”

She was able to share advice about headwear with another customer whose daughter had alopecia.

Rebecca will soon decide whether to try a new drug which might help but which causes side effects.

“I have grieved for my hair, and I don’t need that to be who I am,” she says. “Now, when I look in the mirror I look like me. I have a couple of good wigs and many people don’t know I wear them because they are such high quality.

“I’m at peace with it. You don’t need your hair to be happy or to be you. It doesn’t define you.”

“Some people don’t have that, and some leave their jobs. I was in contact with a woman in America who was a nurse and she ended up leaving her job because she couldn’t deal with it emotionally.

“Support from your workplace is so important. You also need that bit of normality, and you need the income – what would it mean for my house and children if I couldn’t come to work?”

The Cumberland, which promotes an ethos of Kinder Banking, has many initiatives to support its team including mental health and wellbeing first aiders, a menopause group, a men’s mental health group and family friendly policies.

Rebecca also benefitted from the firm’s willingness to be flexible, including allowing her to work a four-day week after returning from maternity leave.

“I really feel the People and Culture team are always looking at what can we do to support colleagues,” she says.

“What I love most about my job is the people. The main thing for me is supporting colleagues through different challenges and working with them and seeing them improve. It’s about the team.”