Hair Drama

First one HUGE caveat, I am completely aware that I am unbelievably lucky that I actually have a semi-full head of hair.  The FIRST thing I asked my neurosurgeon when he proposed surgery was if he was going to need to shave my head.  By great fortune, the answer was no.  By even greater fortune I had a radiation method that was alternative to chemotherapy, which only left me with (along with the small shaved portion around my surgical incision) several silver dollar-sized bald spots spread around my head, mostly out-of-sight. 

My uber-competent hairstylist in New York did an amazing job getting my traumatized hair styled for the wedding after my surgery, and I could not have been more pleased with how my hair looked on my wedding day!

However, despite my great fortune in keeping most of my hair, I must admit that lately every single day has been a BAD HAIR DAY.  The last little while has included several bad hair months.  The hair around my incision is now about 4 or 5 inches long.  The hair from my bald spots is now 3 or 4 inches long.  These sticky-outy patches of shorter hairs have effectively made a series of new callicks/cowlicks along the back of my head. 

It also means that the shorter hairs from the incision near the nape of my neck are impossible to get into a ponytail or bun, they just always hang down no matter how much hairspray I use.

And then there's the little bald spot right at the crown of my head that gives me that Alfalfa look. 

It just hangs out up there like a little wing.

And I have about 2% of bangs from the former bald spot right at the front of my hair.

Yes, things in my hair situation are really obnoxious right now.  No style can tame all of the goofy spots, there is always something sticking out or hanging down somewhere.

So I spoke with a local hairstylist and she was impressed with how quickly the hair has grown-- it seriously is growing fast, especially when they thought the hair may take 4 months to start re-growing, and may never grow back at all.  I credit this shampoo that Sopi hooked me up with, as well as my faithful ingestion of Hair, Skin & Nails pills.

She and I believe that if I have my hair shorter for the next few haircut cycles, that most of the awkward spots will have a chance to catch up to the rest of my hair-- hooray!  So I went for it, the big chop!  Credit to Kate Mara for popularizing the Lob (long bob), which is exactly what I went for.

Seeing all this on the ground was scary...

But I LOVE the new 'do! 

As I walked home and the breeze flowed through it, I thought, "This is so great!  How can anyone have long hair?!"  I think that's a good sign :)  Onward and upward!