Alyssa van der Werf (20)
First-year student Teach Education in English
Cool prints, typically Alyssa?
“Yes! When it comes to style, I am still kind of searching: which colors suit my face and hair? I mainly wear black and white. When I go shopping with family, they pull colors like pink and yellow off the racks. ‘Isn’t this something for you?’ I don’t really listen to them because that’s not a bit of me.”
Your hair has a particularly beautiful color!
“I used to get asked a lot if it was dyed, which I never really liked. I have albinism: if they ask, I answer, but if people stare, I don’t engage in conversation. Albinism is congenital and means I have no pigment in my hair and skin, which is why it’s white. I’m also visually impaired and walk with a cane: I have six percent vision.”
Is shopping difficult when you are visually impaired?”
“About three years ago, I went to a regular school for the first time. From then on, I started doing more: traveling by public transport, going into the city. Before that, I found it too frightening to go alone. If I can’t see something, I take a picture with my phone and zoom in. I use the same technique at train stations when I can’t read the signs. It makes a huge difference if the background is black and the letters are white.”
Do you spend a lot of time on your appearance?
“I don’t wear makeup because there aren’t any colors available that match my skin tone yet. I do have a whole routine for my hair. Two to three times a week, I spend over an hour washing and conditioning it: shampoo and conditioner for curls, a mask, leave-in conditioner, mousse, ánd gel. Then I put in some oil to soften it up. I can’t comb my hair in between, as it starts to frizz right away. I use hairspray to keep it looking neat.”
text: Michelle van der Molen
photo: Jasper van Overbeek
