Miss USA contestant Mary Sickler calls it the proudest moment of her life. After hiding her complete hair loss from alopecia for months, she decided to very publicly take off her wig during the competition.

Sickler wore a beaded silver head covering to match her sparkly evening gown for a preliminary round in Reno, Nevada, on Wednesday, Oct. 22.

She’s the first contestant to walk the Miss USA stage without hair, the pageant confirms. It was also the first time she has ever appeared without a wig in front of judges and an audience.

“It was something that I never imagined doing,” Sickler, 22, who lives in Las Vegas and is competing as Miss Nevada, tells TODAY.com.

“I was extremely nervous before walking out on stage. And the second I walked off, I actually started crying from all the emo

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