Eight-year-old's horror after her

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Jodie Holdsworth decided she wanted a lasting memento of the family holiday on a Greek island.

So the eight-year-old paid a local stylist to braid her hair.

Returning home from the resort of Faliraki in Rhodes, she delightedly showed off her new look to friends in Pontefract, West Yorkshire.

Within days, however, her delight turned to misery when her shoulder-length brown hair started coming away from her scalp in large clumps.

One year on, Jodie is completely bald after the stress of losing her hair caused her to develop alopecia, which also made her eyelashes and eyebrows fall out.

Doctors blame the loss on the braids being wound too tight and killing the hair follicles.

Jodie's mother, Lisa Smalley, 29, said yesterday: 'She had seen other children having their hair braided so we paid £30 to have it done at a roadside stall.

"It took the lady in charge about half an hour.

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Holiday hairdo: Jodie's braids were too tight and her hair began to fall out

"Jodie thought it looked great and couldn't wait to get back to school to show everyone. At the time she said it felt a bit tight but we thought no more about it and came home.

"She was due to have her school photograph taken so we thought it better to remove the braids.

"But when we tried to loosen them they started coming away from her scalp.

"I took Jodie to a friend's house to remove the rest and we thought she would look all right.

"But when we came home and went for a shower her hair literally just came sliding off her scalp. We were all in shock.'

Miss Smalley, who also has a four-year-old son, Joshua, with partner Christopher Holdsworth, 40, took Jodie to Pontefract General Infirmary where doctors diagnosed severe alopecia. By January, all her hair had gone.

Miss Smalley said: "According to the doctors, the braiding played a big part in her losing her hair. They can't say if it will ever grow back."

The youngster, who has been refused funding for a £1,000 "real wig" on the NHS, applies a solution to her scalp each week to encourage her hair follicles to grow.

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Jodie's hair started to fall out when the braids she had put in on holiday in Greece had to be removed for her school photograph. She then developed alopecia due to the stress.

She has had to put up with so many cruel comments about her appearance that she has been nominated for a Champion Children award because of her courage.

Miss Smalley said: "She says, 'I wish I'd never had it done mummy' but we take each day as it comes.

"The trauma she has been through is immense but she has coped really well."

In August, the British Journal of Dermatology warned that hairstyles such as corn rows, braids and hair extensions could damage hair and cause bald patches.