Shorn like a sheep

I got tired of my thinning, scraggly, fine, wimpy hair with its balding patches so I did something about it. I took control of the timing of the inevitable and I had Michael wield the clippers on my hair yesterday, giving me a very, very short brush cut.

Now, it's a lot shorter than I anticipated. I instructed him to use the #2 clippers on my pate, without realizing just how short that is. I do look like a cancer patient now. But Michael says even if I used some longer clippers, I'd probably have the same unsatisfactory results because of the patchiness of the hair. So I sigh and accept. It's going to fall out in big, bald patches in about a week and a half, so I shouldn't get worked up about it.

Last night, Noah, the sweetheart he is, said I looked good with my new brush cut. Little did he know how much that meant to me. I was feeling pretty unsettled about the whole thing.

But I have to look at the good points:

1. I need a drop of shampoo and no conditioner to clean my hair. In a week or so, soap will do the trick nicely.
2. I won't leave 50 to 100 hairs behind every time I blow dry it in the morning, coating my counter and sink with silky strands.
3. I don't even have to dry my hair any more (even though it took literally two minutes) in an attempt to create an acceptable style.
4. I can go to the cancer clinic, borrow one of their wigs and adopt any (available) hair style I choose.
5. When my hair does start to fall out, I won't have big clumps to clean up. Besides the shininess that appears on my head, I may not notice at all.
6. My grooming routine involves using my palms to position the little strands in place. How easy is that?
7. I can nap, get up and look acceptable. I'll have the same great style I had when I laid down.

Of course, my head gets a little chillier and I've had to pull out the hats and scarves to avoid the big stares and cold head; but that was inevitable anyway. As a fellow cancer survivor said to me, it's our way of taking control of the cancer. It's timing of our choosing.

Here are the before and after photos. The before photo actually made my hair look better than it was, because it wasn't good.

Before

 After

Now if I could get rid of the steroid cheeks, I'd look even better. But that isn't going to happen for quite a while (sigh). Puffy and bald(ing) will be my signature look for now. But it's better than the alternative.

Tina