Tuesday, October 23, 2007

The Haircut, Part I

"Some people don't lose their hair", they said to me. Well, I can let go of any hope that I would be "some" people. I am officially shedding more than the dog. When I first noticed more than my usually shedding, I decided I would get a haircut and donate to the Locks of Love Foundation while I still had enough hair to donate. I happened to be in Auburn visiting my parents and had time for a haircut so I went to the salon I used when I was in high school. My stylist was Ashley, an ultra-hip, twenty-something who had given the little girl before me big ringlets. Seems appropriate for a little girl, except the girl was actually more like 12 and wearing a polo shirt, khaki pants, skater sneakers, and a big sheepish grin when leaving the salon. Okay, so Ashley is a girlie-girl, but I'll trust that she will give me a haircut for a person my age. We start off great dividing my hair into ponytails of 10 inches for Locks of Love, cut them all off and bagged them. Then she washed my hair and we talked about what to do next. I told her short, very short, otherwise I didn't care what she did. Have fun, I said. I don't think she quite understood that I would eventually not have any hair becasue she was asking questions like how fast does my hair grow. I ended up with a "wedge" haircut, which apparently puts much of the volume in the back of my head, if you style it so, which I will never do. She did though, to the nines. She left it long enough to be feminine and stylish. Not necessary, but fine. I resigned myself to the fact that this haircut will be an intermediate step. That's why this entry is labeled "part I". The important part was Locks of Love and that was accomplished. The gel product and curling iron came out and I simply threw up my hands. All the other stylists were so complimentary, congratualting Ashley on her poofy masterpiece. She had given me, a young woman, the haircut of Hilary Clinton or Nancy Pelosi, 60 year old politicians. I graciously said I liked it to everyone smiling and nodding at me and smiled big when leaving, just like the little girl before me.

I should have taken a photo of the finished product just for kicks, but I didn't . As you can see in the latest Camp Chemo picture, the haircut does not have to look like Hilary Clinton. It does alright as a choppy, bed-heady haircut too. Part II will be a buzz cut when thining becomes noticable. I have a long way and a lot of hair to go first. - Candace

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh, poor misguided Ashley... I remember when I got my last haircut there. They don't seem to be super keen on style. =) Anyway, your bed head hair is cute, too, and is much more appropriate for your personality than a Hillary Clinton 'do.

Sara and Jonn said...

I love the way that you tell stories, not only can I picture exactly the cut you were given, but I have a pretty good idea of Ashley as well. The more interesting thing will be to see how your hair grows back. All the people that I know that have lost their hair to chemo have had it grow back different than it was pre-chemo. And right now, I know 5 people in some stage of chemo, radiation or both. Crazy!