Hair Stylings

Hair is important to many women and when you don’t have it; it can be pretty traumatic. I really miss having my long hair. I used to have long, curly hair. I could wear it curly or I could straighten it for a different look. People complimented me on my hair and it felt good. Unfortunately my hair fell out while I was on chemo. It fell out slowly. Every time I took a shower and combed my hair it would come out. It wasn’t noticeable but I didn’t want it to get to the point where I had bald spots and it was getting ridiculous trying to keep the shower from getting clogged so I decided to cut my hair short. I got a lovely short haircut from a friend but soon that wasn’t enough. Chemo was starting to make my head break out in a painful pimple-like rash and it hurt to wash my head. I then just had it shaved instead. I hated watching my hair fall out. Eventually I was bald without having to shave my head.

The worst was when my eyebrows and eyelashes fell out. That really made me cry. I felt like I looked like an alien. It was very difficult to look in the mirror because I didn’t like what I saw. I bought wigs but I felt uncomfortable wearing them. I felt like everyone could tell I was wearing a wig so towards the end of chemo I mostly wore scarves. A co-worker showed me how to tie them around my head like they do in her country of Kenya. The scarves also weren’t as hot as the wigs when you’re going through chemo in the summer. I also learned how to draw on my eyebrows and I used tons of eyeliner and eyeshadow to mask the fact that I didn’t have eyelashes. It seemed to work.

After chemo I was hoping that my hair would grow full, curly and fast. Many people assured me that this would be the case but it wasn’t. Instead my hair is growing at a snail’s pace and not as full as I would like it to be. It’s still curly so that’s a relief but I would sure love for it to be longer and fuller.  My hair used to be fine but the fact that it was curly kind of hid that by giving it lots of volume. I was really hoping that something good would come out of chemo by at least giving me a thick head of hair. Oh well, trying to make the best of it. For awhile my hair looked like a smaller version of Richard Simmons’ fro but I recently got a keratin treatment to smooth out the curls and had my hair styled. (Thank you JB!) Having short hair takes some getting used to but slowly considering getting extensions thanks to JB’s suggestion. I would love to have that feeling of hair on my shoulders again. What do you guys think?

Right now I’m just nervous about posting pictures of my bald head. At least most people said I had a nicely shaped head. So here goes……

Me bald during chemo with my drawn on eyebrows.

Wearing my scarf.

Wearing my wig.

I think I look younger with long hair. Extensions are becoming more appealing.