The Bald Mermaid: A Memoir

The inspiring memoir of interior designer Sheila Bridges, The Bald Mermaid comprises engaging and deeply personal vignettes that explore questions of identity, femininity, race, success, and what it really means to have it all. After receiving degrees from two prestigious universities, Bridges became wildly successful in her career as an interior designer, designing homes for high-profile clients and even hosting her own television show. But when she lost her hair due to alopecia, she lost it all: this is her story of coming to terms with what success and happiness mean to her, realizing the cost of freedom, and understanding what it means to stay true to herself in the face of judgement, criticism, and expectation from family, friends, lovers, and strangers. Beautifully illustrated with personal photographs and images of Bridges’ interior designs, The Bald Mermaid is a delightfully candid, insightful, and often humorous narrative of Bridges’ ups and downs, and how she persevered to ultimately find the courage to be herself. Contents: Lady Sings the Blues; Bearded Unicorn; Tragic Mulatto; Like No Other Store; Degrees of Asshole; Fluffy Clouds; Merry Christmas; The Look; Miami Heat; The Cow Jumped Over the Moon Face; Kentucky Fried Chicken; The Taste of Baldness; Wig Theories; Hair Deli; Weave Etiquette; Mermaid School; Miss Universe; The Cancer Card; Star Trek Revisited ; Hell Hath No Fury; Ole McBridges; Girls, Guys and Guns; Having It All; Blue Rondo à la Turk; Epilogue.
·Illustrated with personal photographs and mementos that span Bridges’ lifetime, as well as striking images of her interior design work
·Delightfully thoughtful and absolutely candid, The Bald Mermaid is an excellent read that will leave you wanting more

The inspiring memoir of interior designer Sheila Bridges, The Bald Mermaid comprises engaging and deeply personal vignettes that explore questions of identity, femininity, race, success, and what it really means to have it all. After receiving degrees from two prestigious universities, Bridges became wildly successful in her career as an interior designer, designing homes for high-profile clients and even hosting her own television show. But when she lost her hair due to alopecia, she lost it all: this is her story of coming to terms with what success and happiness mean to her, realizing the cost of freedom, and understanding what it means to stay true to herself in the face of judgment, criticism, and expectation from family, friends, lovers, and strangers.

Beautifully illustrated with personal photographs and images of Bridges’ interior designs, The Bald Mermaid is a delightfully candid, insightful, and often humorous narrative of Bridges’ ups and downs, and how she persevered to ultimately find the courage to be herself.