Having a bad hair day

Here is the new look. Not really what you would characterize as "bald" or even "chemo head" but clearly a major image shift.

It is not nearly the punch in the gut that I played it out in my head (the inside part) to be for the past few months. Several of the hairdressers in the salon actually said they liked it better than the old look. One guy in the salon was so inspired that he decided to shave off all of his hair also (I'm not bullshitting. This really happened).

It played out pretty much like it was portrayed in 50/50. When I was washing my hair this morning, the hair was coming out in clumps. I called Karen, who usually cuts my hair, and she told me to come on in.

Yesterday, when I came home from the hospital, I wanted to wash my hair, but I was told I could not get my dressings wet. So I went down to Bob Roy Salon, where I usually get may haircut and one of the stylists was nice enough to wash my hair for me. She used two different shampoos plus a conditioner. When I arrived there today, I charged up to her and angrily said "What the hell did you do to me yesterday?" while I pulled out a huge clump of hair. Mercifully, I cut the punking short, and I even offered to pay for her therapy.

Karen then went to work and the results are as demonstrated above. The reason I did not go completely shiny is two fold....1) Dr. Vescio recommended that I do this because the hair will begin growing back after my final chemo on Feb.9. When it does, it will be very itchy if we start from scratch. 2) Karen, who has done these things before, said that going down to skin from a full head of hair results in a very unappealing differential between the normal tanned skin and the whitish/grey skin that has been protected all along by hair. For people that do end up going to the Mr. Clean look, she recommends starting out with this "military" length and letting it weather a bit before shaving it all off.

We'll see what happens from here. I don't think I'll ever need to go full Yul Brenner. Meanwhile, I am noticing that things are draftier. Additionally, my face hair has slowed down and I no longer have to shave every day, which is kind of nice. Showering time is cut in half. So there are benefits.

Plus, now I can find out how many true friends I have and who has been hanging out with me just because I am so handsome.

Feel free to cast your vote....short hair vs. long?