A great many people lose their hair during cancer treatment. It's one of those "telltale" signs when you see a pink bandana over a bald head. In fact, just yesterday I identified a fellow patient at quick glance from a car window, from the loose scarf and high forehead alone. I did not wave.
Losing one's hair: man, woman, teen or child, is pretty well understood to be a bad thing. Besides being a factor in one's identity, the loss of hair for any reason is a sign of declining health and vigor... at least where your scalp is concerned. And little things like sun protection and disguise for a bumpy looking freak-skull are easily taken for granted.
Typically after the first dose of Chemotherapy, hair starts to fall out within 6-10 days . This is because the drugs work by attacking and hopefully killing, any fast growing cells in your body: Hair (sometimes ALL of it- eyelashes, eyebrows, ALL of it), blood cells, and even fingernails (rarely) are afftected. My freak-skull held on to the hair for 15 days before letting loose down the shower drain, and is still holding for the most part (for now).
Luckily, I'm curious to map out my head once and for all, and am prepared with wigs, hats, and scarves galore, for every mood and occasion of laziness, without much mourning. I could MAYBE convince people I went reddish-brown w/ pink highlights the night before, but growing the extra 9 inches of hair is a stretch, even for the most persuasive of people.
Convincing everyone it's still me will be even harder. My whole identity disappears the moment I pile the plastic fibers on my head, and even to myself, the appearance embodies an entirely different personality, a sassy one. The good news is, my hair will grow back. The bad news is, it won't be until completion of 6 months of treatments, and perhaps an entire year before it regains full coverage.
By that time, I could actually be a straight haired brunette. By some freak of science, the new hair is not guaranteed to return as normal. So, why did I pick red? Baby, because it's FABulous.
http://www.authorviews.com/authors/hunsicker/excerpt.php
http://www.theage.com.au/news/in-depth/the-bald-truth/2007/02/21/1171733842124.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1
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I think you should go for crazy-ass colors for your hair. Red is good but, maybe, you should consider green or pink or blue. OOOOH purple. Purple Bec. That would be cool. Hang in there lady.
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