A Mississippi cheerleader is raising awareness about an unpredictable autoimmune disorder.

Alopecia may have taken Bella Daniels’ hair, but not her spirit. The 10-year-old has worked hard to be one of the top girls, the ones lifted into the air on her cheer team, Pink Army Reloaded.

"When I first started, I was at the bottom, and this really heavy girl was standing on my knee, so I hated it. I did not like it at all," Bella said.

Cheering on two teams and balancing school is a lot for Bella, but this year brought a new challenge.

"At first, my brother noticed a spot on the top of my head, or something, and we thought nothing of it," Bella said. "We thought someone stepped on my hair at cheer, or something."

But soon it was clear that Bella’s long, thick, beautiful hair was thinning fast.

"Then we went to the dermatologist and they diagnosed me," Bella said.

The dermatologist diagnosed Bella with alopecia.

"What she has is not contagious. It’s an autoimmune disease that attacks the hair follicles. It thinks that it’s a virus," said Bella’s mother, Robyn Daniels.

Robyn said alopecia isn’t exactly rare – 6.8 million people have some form – but it’s different for everyone. Bella’s doctor didn’t think she would lose all of her hair, but by January, she had.

"It was horrible. I hid it from her. I cried. As a mom, I wanted to fix it, and I knew there wasn’t anything I could do to fix it," Robyn Daniels said.

Robyn worried Bella would be made fun of, ostracize, or just feel sad that she looked different.

"I'd be like, 'Baby, you know you’re going to lose the rest of your hair. Are you OK with that?' She’d be like, 'mmhm,'" Robyn Daniels said.

Soon, Bella lost her eyebrows and eyelashes, too. And to Robyn Daniels' relief and amazement, Bella took it in stride.

"It wasn’t that bad, but sometimes in school I’d feel something on my back and it would be a handful of hair. Sometimes I got nervous, but not a lot," Bella said.

Bella’s cheer coach, Jordan Hall, said she came to him privately after her diagnosis.

"Last year, Bella came to me and said, 'Coach Jordan, am I not going to be able to cheer if I lose my hair?' And so, for me, that was like we all stopped and remind these kids what cheering is all about, and what teamwork is all about," he said. "I'll tell you, I haven't seen Bella miss a beat. She hasn't let this thing get to her at all. Hair, no hair. She doesn't care."

"She has never shed a tear. She has never asked why, and when you ask her, 'Are you ready for your hair to grow back?' She says, ‘It will be in God’s time,'" Robyn Daniels said.

Bella said she doesn’t consider herself to be a role model. Her mother disagrees.

"That’s why we wanted to do this: to bring awareness to alopecia. Most people we meet ask, 'What kind of cancer does she have?'" Robyn Daniels said.

Robyn Daniels said the teasing she worried about hasn’t happened. Bella’s friends, school and community have rallied around her. She gets starts, so many that her mother bought her an "Alopecia Awareness" shirt.

Bella will try some new treatments this year that might help her regrow her hair, but either way, she’s OK.

"I really don’t care what happens because I’m still me," Bella said.

Bella’s dermatologist appointments weren’t covered by insurance, so her gym family at Jam Athletics banded together and raised money for their bills and to buy a wig for Bella. She wore it for a while, but it was hot and uncomfortable and made her feel more self-conscious, so for now, she uses it for TikTok videos.

Watch the video above for the full story.

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — Zoe Doll is loved by girls all over the country. Healthy Roots Dolls CEO and founder Yelitsa Jean-Charles says her own childhood experience inspired the creation of Zoe. She says she never saw dolls that looked like her growing up.

“It has an impact on your self-esteem," Jean-Charles said. "I know that I struggled with loving my natural hair. I know that when my parents tried to give me a Black doll, I actually started crying because it wasn’t the one that I saw in the commercials with the long blonde hair and all that jazz.”

That reason is why so many parents are introducing their children to Zoe. Parents like Veronica Armstrong who is Cameron's mother. Ten-year-old Cameron says most dolls she sees don’t look like her.

“If it’s nothing close to how you look or your skin tone it’s kind of disappointing and annoying,” Cameron said.

She calls Zoe her "mini me." She likes to pretend Zoe is hosting her own video channel.

“They kind of go on like crazy adventures," Cameron said. "Well not really crazy, but I pretend the other one broke their foot and has to go to the hospital.”

Jean-Charles says she wants Zoe to help girls love their curls. That’s why her hair is made out of a unique fiber that can be washed and styled.

“I didn’t learn how to take care of my hair naturally until I was around 20 years old," Jean-Charles said. "Which is crazy because this is the hair that grows out of my head. How am I not going to know how to love it and nurture it as it is and rock it?”

Cameron’s mother had a similar experience.

“I’m Dominican and my mother is half Asian, so we had really different hair texture and my mother actually didn’t know how to do my hair,” Armstrong said.

Now, they get to work on styling curly hair together, hopefully helping other young girls to see themselves in a positive light.

“I love my hair because it’s a very great and beautiful texture," Cameron said. "It’s of course boingy and wavy and just very beautiful hair.”

“The parents are telling us that the first thing that the kids say is ‘oh my God it looks just like me’ and it’s like yeah, while the doll is not a carbon copy of this kid’s face, the fact that they’re able to see something that resembles them closely for once, that’s a big deal,” Jean-Charles said.

Video above: North Carolina student says she was forced to cut her braidsIt was her last home softball game of the season, and Nicole Pyles, a sophomore at Durham Hillside High School in North Carolina, had just hit a double. Her hair, braided with beads and tied in a bun at the bottom of her neck, was the last thing on her mind.It quickly, however, became a focal point of the April 19 game. First, a coach on the opposing team claimed they couldn't see her jersey number, Pyles said. Pyles, 16, said she tucked the braids into her sports bra and continued playing. But then, later that same inning, it came up again.A coach on the opposing team pointed out the beads to the umpire, Pyles said. Beads in hair, according to the rulebook, weren't permitted. So despite playing four prior games with the beads, the umpire gave Pyles a choice: Either take the beads out, or don't play."I asked why is this now an issue ... and he said it's a rule, there's nothing he can do," Pyles told CNN.So Pyles' said her teammates gathered around, attempting to take the beads out of the hair. Because they were wound so tightly, they had to cut some of the hair out in order to remove all the beads, Pyles said."I felt dehumanized," Pyles said.Now, Pyles' family is attempting to get the rule changed."Everyone's hiding behind the rules of the game," Julius Pyles, Pyles' father, told CNN. "If there was a rule, it should've been applied in the beginning, (not in) their last game."Rule is 'culturally biased and inappropriate,' school district saysPyles' experience is a familiar one.In one of the most famous examples, a Black high school wrestler in New Jersey was forced to cut his dreadlocks off in order to compete in a tournament, after being told his hair wasn't in compliance with league regulations.In 2020, another Black high school student was told that if he didn't cut his dreadlocks to comply with the district's dress code, he wouldn't be able to walk at graduation. And there have been similar incidents all across the country.Julius Pyles says he has reached out to multiple people with Durham Public Schools and the North Carolina High School Athletic Association. Though DPS has publicly supported Pyles, the NCHSAA has not. "Durham Public Schools supports our students' right to free expression and opposes unreasonable or biased restrictions on Black women's hairstyles," the district said in a statement Wednesday, regarding the April game. "We believe the blanket ban on hair beads is culturally biased and problematic. We support our student, Nicole Pyles, and believe this rule should be amended."The district went on to encourage the NCHSAA and the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS), of which NCHSAA is a member and thus dictating rules across North Carolina high school sports, to review the policy, calling it "culturally biased and inappropriate."Rule may be addressed next month, national organization saysBut Commissioner Que Tucker, of the NCHSAA, stated that the rule is "not new.""When the violation was noticed by an umpire, the proper determination of illegal equipment was verified as supported by NFHS Rule," she said in a statement to CNN. "Further, according to NFHS Softball Rule 3-5-1, prior to the start of a contest, it is the responsibility of each coach to verify to the plate umpire that all his or her players are legally equipped, and that players and equipment are in compliance with all NFHS rules."Tucker called the experience "truly unfortunate," but said the coach's duty is to ensure players are aware of the rules before playing.The rule regarding beads in hair was first enacted in 2012, according to Karissa Niehoff, executive director of the NFHS. It was instituted to "minimize the risk of injury" to athletes during competition, the organization said.Though the NFHS did not say if the rule would be amended, Niehoff did say the NFHS Softball Rules Committee will "address hair beads and other adornments at its annual meeting next month."The rule as it stands, though, is discriminatory, Julius Pyles said."It's 2021, and now my child is being a part of something that should be dead and gone. I didn't serve this country to then be discriminated against," said Julius Pyles, a veteran.