“I had been losing hair for three years before anyone gave it a name. I thought it was just stress. It wasn’t. Getting a diagnosis changed everything — even though by then the damage was done.”
— African American woman, 52, Alabama.
Mary Geter
Founder and Executive Director
Our Founder
Diagnosed in 2020. Built this because the data didn’t exist.
Mary Geter is a consultant, content creator, civil rights compliance expert, and host of the Fifty and Unfiltered podcast. When she saw women in her community losing their hair with nowhere to turn — no tools, no organized data, no voice in the research conversation — she built one.
Beyond the Hairline grew directly out of her Beyond the Hairline expert panel event, which brought together dermatologists, physicians, psychologists, and specialists to finally address what was being left unsaid. What started as a conversation became the first state board approved continuing education course on scarring alopecia for licensed cosmetologists, barbers, and instructors in the country, and the first national patient registry for scarring alopecia.
Mary was diagnosed with scarring alopecia in 2020. She holds an MS in Counseling Education from Mississippi State University and a BS in Business Administration from Mississippi University for Women, with 15 plus years in management and compliance leadership. She serves as a board member of the Scarring Alopecia Foundation and is a fierce advocate for closing the diagnosis gap for Black women and all people affected by scarring alopecia.
“I was diagnosed in 2020. I started building in 2024. Because if the data does not exist, you build it yourself.”
— Mary Geter, Founder.
- MS Counseling Education, Mississippi State University.
- BS Business Administration, Mississippi University for Women.
- Board Member, Scarring Alopecia Foundation.
- 15 plus years management and compliance leadership.