When Hannah Green found hair on her pillow one morning she was distraught.

The 31-year-old from Edgebury, Chislehurst, was diagnosed with alopecia two years ago, a condition that causes hair loss.

She was also diagnosed with ME (myalgic encephalomyelitis) that made her incredibly fatigued.

Hannah, who was living in Dubai and working as a primary school teacher, had to come home to the UK.

For six years she had taught kids, including a stint at Manor Oak Primary School in St Mary Cray.

But suddenly she was jobless, losing her hair and living with her parents.

Hannah said: “As a woman, losing all your hair is a big thing to do deal with.

“I just started shedding. I would wake in the morning and there would be hair on the pillow.

“I started losing hair from the centre of my head and then it spread. I couldn’t cover it anymore, so I made the decision to cut it off.

“I’ve lost my eyelashes and eyebrows. It was horrendous.

“When my hair fell out, it felt like I had lost my femininity. You don’t realise how much your hair defines you as a person.

“Your self-esteem is dented, and it takes a long time to get used to the new person that you are.”

But Hannah refused to lie in bed and do nothing during her illness.

Instead she drew on her experiences and wrote a story book for kids, explaining hair loss.

She said: “It took a while to do. I just had to do it at my own pace. ME is an illness where you have to pace yourself.

“It was a nice project where I was able to do something with my life rather than sleep and be isolated the whole time.”

Her book ‘Where’s Your Hair Hannah?' is a rhyming story that tells of a little girl who doesn’t have any hair.

The fictional Hannah’s class mates all try and guess the ways in which her hair could have gone missing but it is explained that Hannah has no hair because of alopecia.

It will be published by Authorhouse UK and will be available online from Amazon, Waterstones and W H Smiths from around the end of November.

Hannah said she hoped the story would not just teach children about alopecia but that it would help promote difference as being a good thing.

She also wants it to help kids who have the disease.

She said: “I want it to give kids with alopecia a bit of confidence. To tell them that they aren’t alone and that there are lots of people with it.

“I want them to feel comfortable in their own skin, and to understand difference is good thing and something that should be celebrated.”