Hair! Not the Musical

  Gimme head with hair
Long beautiful hair
Shining, gleaming,
Streaming, flaxen, waxen

Give me down to there hair
Shoulder length or longer
Here baby, there mama
Everywhere daddy daddy

Hair, hair, hair, hair, hair, hair, hair
Flow it, show it
Long as God can grow it
My hair


- From the musical "Hair"

  Let's be honest, we are all concerned with hair and our own in particular. Whether we have it or not, how long it is, does it mysteriously hide one eye, does it identify us with a particular group of people, do we add fake extensions. I must admit after watching "The King and I", I had a major thing for good old Yule Brenner and he didn't have a lick of hair. If we are diagnosed with cancer and are starting chemo it's like a ticking clock goes off somewhere in your mind and you are asking yourself, "When's it going?" I can only tell you what happened to me because everyone is different. I did however get some pretty good advice and I will share it with you.
  Odds are good you will loose your hair. Everyone hears a rumor that someone's aunt or friend never did but I did and probably so will you. Plan ahead. If you have long hair like I did, a good idea is to give it a good short cut in the beginning. DO NOT SHAVE IT at first. You will be tempted to do this. The hair thing was on my mind when I had my husband drive me down to the local barber shop to get some good advice from the experts. Luckily one of the guys mom was a cancer survivor so he knew what he was talking about. He told me not to shave it because you will end up with little pointy hairs everywhere when they fall out. Think of it! In your clothes, in your pillow stabbing you, ugh. They told me after I cut it short to let it fall out on it's own, then when I was done with chemo it would start to grow back and we could trim it all one length or shave it and it would grow at the same rate.
  You might wonder, "Well what about those comb-over strands? I don't want to look like The Donald!" I know I know, I did too. Here's what you do:
  -Collect some really cool scarves. There are some cool web sites for scarf tying. Here is one www.tznius.com.
  -Collect some hats that you like (soft ones are best). You can get crochet hats for really cheap on ebay. Remember that hats will fit differently when hair is gone. My mom made me a crochet hair net for under my hats that were bigger when this happened.
  -Wear jewelry that makes you feel good on your neck and ears.
  Your hair will probably fall out after the second chemo. Some loose theirs after the first. It will mostly fall out in the shower because the shampoo and hot water loosens the follicles. Get a drain cover or you will have plumbing trouble. Get a hair net and wear it at night. You might even want to put a towel over your pillow so it won't go everywhere. I did not loose all of mine at once but gradually and my eyelashes and eyebrows actually GREW until the very end. They fell out when they were replaced by the new ones which made it less traumatic. I just drew the eyebrows in and wore fake eyelashes that looked natural.
  Truth be told, you men will have an easier time with this due to the fact that it is fashionable for men to have shorter or even bald heads. Please don't draw in your eyebrows or wear fake lashes. For us chicks it is hard. It's ok and not vain to cry about it. I cried when I lost mine because I felt ugly and that maybe my husband would think so too. The truth is that those that truly love you will be supportive and remember it is not forever. Mine is growing back quickly and I am only one and a half months after my last chemo. It is about 1/8 inches and I had my stylist daughter shave it. It is coming in very soft and new and I am proud to say I sort of look like GI Jane without the muscles which encourages me to get exercising again!
  Hang in there and look through some hair magazines with short cuts. The good news is that short is in! Stay tuned for next time when we talk about What's the Deal With Side-Effects?