Nadia Bouchikhi, young hairdresser, has Vitiligo, so what ?

Many of us don't know the Vitiligo disease and with good reasons, it only touches 2-3 % of the French population. It is characterized by a skin depigmentation which touches especially the hands, the face, the lips and the feet but also other parts of the body. Any person, man or woman of all ages can be affected.
Nadia Bouchikhi, young hairdresser, has Vitiligo. The look of others is not always easy, she daily fights against the inappropriate attitude of others and pose with confidence for the advertising campaign of the French Association of Vitiligo " we've got tattoos too but ours are natural ". Exclusive interview.

Daphné Malan.

Livecoiffure: You have had that disease since you are 14 years old, why did you choose hairdressing, a profession which deals with appearance ?
Nadia : Nadia: I've always been passionate about hairdressing, I made my first braid on a Barbie doll like many little girls.
My vitiligo appeared at the age of 14 so when I did my first internship in a hairdressing salon. After that, I already knew what I wanted to do of my life. I only had a few patches on the face and the hands that I would hide with foundation.
Today, my vitiligo is at about 40% on my body and of course the look of my clients is very difficult even if they don't know anything about that disease.
They are curious to know what are these patches but their questions are generally awkward. From the Mediterranean part, I have a tanned skin.
Consequently, during summer the difference between my natural color and my depigmented parts is very contrasted. That period is the most difficult one because of the look of others.
For me, hairdressing is more an artistic profession than a profession of appearance. I like highlighting the natural beauty of my clients. The relation between hairdressing and fashion is very strong.
I don't think neither that fashion is a world of appearance but more of identity.

Livecoiffure: You support the French Association of Vitiligo, what led you to pose for their advertising campaign "we've got tattoos too but ours are natural" ?
Nadia : I've been living for years with my partner who is a fashion photographer and who works for great hairdressers. He has been supporting me every day to accept and highlight my difference instead of hiding it. Very often, one hide that disease, today there are still people who think that Mickael Jackson bleached his skin but in reality in he had vitiligo. Unfortunately, he didn't say anything and didn't help research.
I think it is important that in the 21st century, we can finally live with our differences without hiding them and without being afraid of the look of others. After having setting up the project of these pictures, my partner contacted directly the French Association of Vitiligo which accepted directly that kind of innovative communication for that disease.

Livecoiffure: You also posed for Gérard Kuchno of the House Gérard Laurent, how did you have the idea of collaborating together for that cause ?
Nadia : I am a great fan of the House Gérard Laurent, they are my mentors and an artistic source of inspiration. When I take the exam for my additional hairdressing option, I was inspired by one of their pictures I had seen in their magazine and I obtained the best mark in male haircut for that exam.
The surprise of my life was that by chance I fell in love with my partner, Daniel Pister, who is the childhood friend of Gérard Kuchno and Laurent Delafoy. It turned out that he was the photographer of the House Gérard Laurent. I didn't know he was the one taking these amazing pictures and he motivated me to evolve in hairdressing.
Daniel had the idea to bring us together Gérard and I for that picture. He is a very handsome guy with amazing tattoos. For Daniel, vitiligo is a natural artistic form whereas the ink tattoo is artificial. The tattoo tendency has been omnipresent in our society for a few years and Daniel wanted to show that a person with vitiligo has beautiful natural tattoos and despite their patches, they can also be sexy and sensual.
I would like to thanks Gérard of the House Gérard Laurent to have been immediately committed to that project which was really important to me. Furthermore, imagine, I posed with one of my idols in front of the camera of the man I love, I was breath-taken...

Livecoiffure: You pose for that disease, but are you interesting in modeling ?
Nadia : Because of my depigmentation, I hate being in the light but thanks to Daniel, I was extremely lucky to be noticed by many of his clients. Pictures regarding that disease are very recent. I have been posing for many advertising campaigns for 6 years but on each picture, Daniel had to retouch and remove the patches of my body because the diffusers was a bit afraid of the look of their clients and their readers.
Photography is for me a marvelous therapy, it helped me to accept my own look on my body. Every picture where I pose appears in the press and in poster campaigns. I managed to convince myself that my patches are not so ugly.
I regularly have psychological relapses about what I think about my appearance and my difference. My vitiligo daily evolves and it is not always easy to see my appearance changing. Many photo diffusers have seen the pictures of the advertising campaign for the Vitiligo. As a result, they don't ask anymore to retouch my patches. If I changed, at least a bit, the look of others, my challenge is a success. The feedback of the communication campaign of the French association of Vitiligo is more than positive. I received an amazing number of messages of thanks from persons touched by this disease. My desire now is to pose without removing my patches like the Canadian model Winnie Harlow for the campaigns of the brand Desigual.

Livecoiffure: What message do you want to transmit to persons who don't know that disease ?
Nadia : In India, even today, vitiligo is treated like leprosy still present in that country. A great Indian specialist of Vitiligo told us a frightening anecdote, a patient came to ask him to amputate his arm because he noticed signs of vitiligo. Because of that, he couldn't ask the woman he loves to marry him because of the look of the family. An dating site specially designed for persons touched by vitiligo in India. After having heard that anecdote, I was choked because I didn't know how far vitiligo could be mentally devastating to such an extent that people commit suicide.
Since that, I am even more motivated to make known that disease so that it can be accepted by everybody.
The message I want to transmit is that Vitiligo is absolutely not contagious and we still don't know why persons are touched by it. I can tell you that it's not so easy to live with it every day. We represent only 2 to 3 % of the French population but I especially want to transmit a message to persons touched by that disease, together we can change the look of others and help the medical research. My only desire would be that thanks to my pictures, I helped to change people's look.
I also want to add that hairdressing for me is an art of living and that that profession enabled me to blossom and to meet amazing people. Even if I have many opportunities as a model, my main profession remains hairdressing.
I would like to conclude with thanks to LiveCoiffure to be interested in that cause and to my partner Daniel Pister to motivate me and to daily progress. Thanks to the diffusers of my pictures and to our artistic partners in these projects of Vitiligo, without forgetting of course my family and my friends who support me and fight with me every day.