Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader Praised After Performing With Bald Head For Alopecia Awareness

Latimer decided to rock her baldness while performing during 'Monday Night Football.'

A Dallas Cowboys cheerleader who rocked her baldness for alopecia awareness on the field is being praised for her bravery and willingness to reject societal norms regarding femininity and hair.

Armani Latimer, who has alopecia areata, ditched a wig during the Cowboys game on ESPN’s Monday Night Football on Dec. 9.

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The 26-year-old cheerleader used her platform to help others feel beautiful in all their forms. Her now-viral video has spread awareness of an autoimmune disease that causes hair loss on the scalp and other parts of the body.

Latimer was first diagnosed with the alopecia at age 12.

“I always knew that I wanted to eventually dance in some capacity without my wig, just to make [alopecia] not a stigma anymore,” Latimer told ABC News. “I just wanted to take it a step further, wanted to get the conversation out there a little more, and I thought, well, what better way than to go out on the field and just show the world who I am?”

Her specific type of alopecia also disproportionately impacts Black women, as reported by the National Institutes of Health.

“There’s a lot of stigma in history that involves our hair. So, I think even with the support that I had, the extra layer of being a Black woman without hair was always there,” explained Latimer.

She added, “If you were a little Black girl and you didn’t have a whole lot of hair, then you were kind of made fun of. So I think all of those memories from when I was younger kind of came flooding back into my brain in that initial moment of losing all of my hair. So that’s something that I’ve had to work through as well.”

However, Latimer has found love and support through her squad as a new cohort of fans cheers her along.

“There’s a lot of people that you know they’re gonna say, ‘I look up to you,’ ‘You’re a role model,’ and that kind of weighs heavy on you,” expressed the professional cheerleader. “And I think just the emotions from that, from knowing that it was going to make an impact on people, those were the emotions that you were seeing, and also just the love of my teammates.”