Hair

Yesterday was a great day for me because Andrea 'did' my hair! One of the underlying causes of my distress about my experience with the radiation was the fact that my hair was in such a dreadful state. We were unable to put any chemicals on my head until now. I am conscious at all times of my hair. In my whole lifetime it has been part of what defines me.

As a child I was often the topic of conversation because of my hair. Both my parents and grandparents and aunts , uncles, cousins et al had brown hair. My siblings had dark hair also. The question was posed by many,"Where did she get her red hair?" I grew to expect it and to ignore it, because there was no answer that would satisfy anyone. Actually, in recent times there have been articles published about the fact that natural red hair has become more and more rare because people of different nationalities marry. Both my parents were of Irish descent and the Irish people tend to be fair haired, and have fair skin and freckles.The bane of my existence.

The boys that I grew up with and went to school with, delighted in making fun of me and taunting me. "Red head, gingerbread, stumbled over a cabbage head!" Try that in a school yard
sing song voice and you'll get an idea of their ideas of humor. They would follow behind me and chant that and other obnoxious songs and statements. "Red on the head, freckles on the nose..." I learned to slug it out with the gang early on.

I was always pointed out by my description, "The one with red hair and freckles" that wasn't too bad but one of my cousins described me as, The ugly one with red hair and freckles. I was not unhappy to hear that he did not amount to much when he grew up!

Why are blonds and red heads singled out so often? Who hasn't heard a 'dumb blond' joke and who hasn't at one time or another heard about the Red Head's temper. Just about three years ago, I was approached in the grocery store by an old man who said, "Are you feisty? I'll bet you are with that red hair.!" (Now artfully colored by Andrea).

When I first started to get some silver threads among the gold, the hair dresser I had at that time suggested that I let her color my hair. I did. When I got home from my trip to the hairdresser's. Doc greeted me by saying, "Now, that's the way you're supposed to look!" He liked it and encouraged me to continue coloring it. He still liked my red hair even if it was enhanced.

As I grew older and had children and surgeries and potent medications, my curls disappeared and so did a lot of my hair. When women grow older they lose some of the hair on their heads and grow some on their chins. Men lose it from their heads and grow it in their ears !

As my hair has become more sparse I try my best to cover the almost bare spots, I am very conscious of them and am turned off by them, so knowing that I was going to lose even more hair due to the radiation I have been kinda' depressed. The hair that formerly grew in the area of the cancerous tumor has gone for good and will not return because of the rays. I have to learn to live with a 'Donald Trump' hair-do. My hair is so fine that when I go outside the slightest puff of wind destroys my 'do'.

It sounds like I am very fain about my hair but just the opposite is true. I try to do the best I can with what I have to work with. I'd love to have a full head of hair. I see the shampoo ads on TV and watch the flowing, swishing, glorious hair of the models and wonder what it would be like to have that much hair. I guess I could be like Dolly Parton and have a variety of wigs or like Caed O'Connal and shave my head or get a burr. (Now there's a scary thought !) but ...

In this morning's paper one of the columnists wrote about the plight of many people that have unmanageable hair and spend many years of their life trying to find some solution to their problem and I do realize that I'd rather have my wimpy hair than what they have to work with so I'll quit complaining. Hair today and gone tomorrow. Hats are the answer! My hat's off to Andrea, she is a wizard when it comes to my hair. Ciao