Hair We Go Again!

No, that wasn’t a typo. You read right. I said hair we go again, not here we go again. And that’s mostly because this post is about my hair or my lack of it thereof.

The again is because the last time my hair was like this, I was seventeen. Now I’m thirty-six! It’s a long post too, so sit tight. Do you know that saying it’s just hair? Well, it truly is, and it will grow back. So what’s the big attachment women have to their hair? Beats me!

As a matter of fact, for a good portion of the first half of my life, my hair was short because I attended a boarding school in my home country Cameroon, from the ages of eleven to seventeen and part of the rules were, girls couldn’t grow their hair out. And if you had long hair, then you had to cut it prior to attendance. And I’m not talking a bob or anything stylish. I’m talking extremely low…

It’s all good though because we were still fierce! Thank you Sanaa Lathan.

The first thing my doctor said to me after my first chemo treatment is, “In seven to ten days your hair will begin to fall. Will you be getting a wig, a cap, a headwrap of sorts or what?” At the time, I still had my braids in and I was tempted to say, “I’m African, and my hair is pretty tough. I’m sure it’s not going anywhere.” But I didn’t say that. Instead, the moment I got home, I called a friend of mine Gracie and asked her if she would help me take out my braids and wash my hair. Then I recorded the video below:

My fascination with my hair more recently started with my son. He loves playing with it, and I don’t know if it’s because he has missed me, but he would hug me and tell me, “you’re so beautiful, mommy.” (Can he stay five years old forever?) Don’t believe me? Then watch…

He is my baby, so it’s normal that he has this huge attachment to me

Anyway, I didn’t heed my doctor’s warning. In the first three days post-chemo, every time I would comb my hair, it would fall. As a matter of fact, all of it got stuck on my comb, and I noticed that I was losing all my edges! My hair looked long on the outside, but I had huge potholes on the inside where the chemo had caused it to fall. Eventually, I couldn’t even use my edges to hide it as it was falling off too. I decided to trim everything to the same level.

But before we get into hair loss, let’s just see where I started off…

That morning in my scrubs on my way to work, once I realized all my hair was falling off, in patches, I decided to use a head wrap. Unfortunately, when I took it off, half of my hair came off with it. How frustrating! That’s when I knew it was time to make a call… to my friend Marcus. He is a barber, but he is also a breast cancer survivor. And yes, men can have breast cancer too!  I sat in his chair and my heart pounded as he prepared his tools to cut off my hair.

I wasn’t even trying to go bald. I just wanted it low enough where I wouldn’t be shedding all the time. Here are a few interesting convos we had that night.

And he spilled more juice…

And one for the road…

I’m sure you’re wondering what the outcome of this situation was? Not bad actually! It felt like a cleansing; like I was getting rid of my hair and of the disease at the same time. The product of my visit with Marcus is below…

Not too bad if I do say so myself. Anyway, I thought that having leveled my hair to the same length would give me some sort of closure with the hair situation thing. But that was not the case. The thing is when chemo affects your hair loss, it doesn’t happen all at once. It falls in patches and your hair looks like a three-year-old went into it with razors. Do you remember that movie with Johnny Depp known as Edward Scissorhands? Well, it felt like the chemo had done that to me, except chemo was a three-year-old with sheers and no tact and creativity!

To see what happens in my next post with the accelerated hair loss from the chemo, you’ll want to click here.

Not sure at what point of my journey you’re on? Be sure to check out The Contents Page.
Hugs and have a good night.
Muah!
Mabih