Thursday, December 27, 2007

What was Samson's deal?



Well it is done. My hair is shorn and unlike Samson who lost all his power and ju-ju after a too close hairdo I am empowered, emancipated and back to being a product whore.

I had been thinking about it for some time. I mean my hair was just out of control. I swear that it weighed in at 10 pounds and it would never, ever dry all the way. The only way for me to get it dry was to use the blow dryer on HI for 45-60 minutes. Having my head heated for that long in tandem with the hot flashes was like being in a sauna.

The other treat was that it was falling out. Seriously, every day that I showered there would be a giant wad in the drain. Totally disgusting! Then if I brushed my hair the brush would be full---every day! I was losing more hair on a daily basis than most men I know have on their prematurely balding heads.

Matt says that he read somewhere that 5-10% of women on Tamoxifen have hair loss as a side effect. Dr. Kaplan said it was probably stress, drugs, menopause and just bad luck. It really didn't bother me that it was falling out because no one would ever be the wiser but it was getting on everything, my clothes, my bathroom floor, the kids. It was gross, like a shedding cat.

I have heard of this magical wig-maker in Bellevue named Anton. Apparently, he can make a wig for you out of your own hair. I decided that proactive was the way to go. I was going to have all these long tresses to make the wig of my dreams when and if my hair does actually fall all the way out. I could get a styrofoam head and style it while off my head. It could be so cool and so retro and the back would always look as good as the front.

The directions are to "section the hair off into 10 areas" and shave. Because I am not ready to shave (Britney wrecked it) my lovely stylist Petra got 18 ponytails out of my mane. She cut them off at about 2 inches. Eighteen, I mean seriously these 18 ponies are bigger than most women's one pony. It is funny because now I have the 18 carefully marked sandwich bags drying on my dining room table. Left Occipital temple, Right parietal by ear, top left near part, the baggies are all marked so they can be put back together again later.

I loved it when she just cut off the ponies. It looked so rugged and fresh to me. To Petra it looked like "you let the girls cut your hair with plastic scissors." It did have that 'not quite right in the head look.' She fixed it up just so. I tried to go blonde but after 4 processings my head was on fire and I couldn't take it any more. We took it from a very brassy orange to pretty close to my normal color but redder.

Well, here are some pictures for you to see. Everyone seems to like it. It still doesn't get me any verifiability that I actually have cancer. All I hear is "you look so good (with this lilt at the end like I really had prepared myself for you to look like shit so I am not really sure how to end this sentence....a question or a statement.)

I love it! I love that fact that it dries. I love being able to use product again. I love that it is spikey or flat or whatever. I love this crazy blue goop that makes it stand straight up. Mostly though I love that I had a choice. That's what I really love.