Sara goes by “Swirl” since she’s started drawing a swirl on the side of her eye. She was 15.

Swirl is an Italian advocate model and mental health speaker.
She has studied as a hat maker and Fashion designer in Florence in her long-heritage family’s bottega, and taught the history of Tuscan hat manufacturing in schools, universities, and cultural events across Italy, LA, NY, China. She is also a singer-songwriter.

Her lack of hair derives from trichotillomania, a widespread and yet little-known OCD. She has been pulling her hair since she was 11, causing large patches on her head and face. Most of her hair hasn’t grown back, so she is often seen as having alopecia. During her first long period of distress, she has seen a business-oriented therapist and coach, going through a journey of acceptance, awareness, and self-confidence that has trained her to cope with stigmatized OCDs, such as tricho, and embrace her difference. 

Now she is using this energy to inspire others to do the same.

Published by a number of magazines including HuffPost and the Daily Mail, she keeps fighting the stigma around mental health issues, giving voice to diversity in the Fashion & Beauty industry, and she has released her own practical tutorial to empower women towards a happy life without hair.