Friday, June 19, 2009

The Hair Thing

On  SATC when Samantha was diagnosed with breast cancer and faced losing her hair she went wig shopping. As she sat in the chair trying on a few wigs, disliking most of them, she told the wig guy "my hair is my thing"  And isn't that so true.  I know it was for me.

I had a harder time losing my hair during chemo than losing my boob.  I hated wearing a wig and I didn't have the balls to rock the bald head.  Samantha had fun with wigs ranging in style from L'il Kim, to blond bombshell and even Foxy Brown.  She rocked them all.  I hated wearing mine and yet wouldn't leave the house without it.  Ironically though I received more compliments on my wig than I had on my real hair!  

I often wonder why hair is such a huge deal.  Especially for women.  Maybe because it is a part of our sexuality, a form of expression, and sometimes it is something we can hide behind.  And of course there is the belief that men love long hair.  I recently watched one of those makeover shows and the woman didn't care about the clothes they put her in or the makeup they put on her face.  Hell, they could've put warpaint on her face and she didn't seem to care.  But having her hair cut off short sent tears streaming down her cheeks within seconds.  The followup at the end of the episode showed her getting extensions.  Apparently a life without long hair was one she couldn't handle.  

I too have cried over a bad haircut and a bad color job until I was bald.  Now there's a bad hair day!  So I can't help but get mad at myself today if  I complain about my hair.  I certainly am much better about it and really don't shed tears over a bad haircut anymore.  I guess sometimes I feel like being a cancer survivor instantly revokes my right to sweat the small stuff at times.  

How did you handle the hair thing during your treatment?  Did you wig out or rock the bald head?  Did losing your hair make you appreciate it all the more when it grew back?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I had long hair most of my life. when i was dx, it was down to my elbows. Being shy, it was my privacy curtain. When it started to fall out I gave myself some haircuts in front of the mirror. I was shocked to discover that i looked great with short hair!! Even once it grew back, I kept it pretty short. I am now a convert. Incidentally, I also got a lot of compliments on my wig but even more on my own super short shag. For some reason the hair thing never really got to me all that much. even when I gave myself those haircuts there were no tears about it. Maybe I sensed that I needed a hair change, no matter how dramatic. For me the hair details were shadowed by the trauma of being with only one breast at the age of 24. Hair grows back!

Cathy Bueti said...

Hi Shiela! Great comment! These days I am all about the short hair too. I never used to be like that. I think when it comes down to it like you said, Hair grows back and some other things are WAY more important!

:)