Rogaine Ain't Gonna Help - Various Thoughts on Hair

My hair has started falling out. Don't be surprised when you see me in a scarf or hat next time, minus hair.

Or I may be "buff." Uma recommended this versatile headgear designed for outdoor/active types known by the brand name Buff. My outdoor friends all knew of it. In the past, I've worn mostly scarves and some "chemo hats," some from places that always have brochures where women and chemo hang out.

Buff of Canada has a range of patterns - from Grateful Dead to fishscales to beautiful, stylish prints - and a few different fabrics (fleece, Merino wool, Coolmax, etc.) and are designed to be versatile ("can be worn as a neckerchief, headband,wristband, mask, hairband, balaclava, scarf, scrunchie,saharaine, pirate cap, beanie and bandana").
For a Buddhist the nice thing is that with the tube-shaped buff, unlike a hat, you can open the top of your crown when you're in the meditation room, which at least symbolically helps you receive the blessings.

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I could tell gravity was pulling extra hard on my hair from the way my scalp started feeling a few days ago - sensitive to the touch.
Yesterday, a bit came out when I was washing my hair, with more in the comb afterward.

I've been through this twice before, so it's a bit "old hat" (or is it new hat, time for a new one?). I have to say the first time it is a bit traumatic. And I am not someone who spends a lot of time on my hair, or any other part of my physical "image" - to state the obvious. Imagine what it's like for most people: Hair can be a very big part of your identity.

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It's disturbing to wake up and find all this loose hair on your pillowcase, and during the day it gets to be a nuisance to "shed" so often. Our dog already covers the house with her fur.
What I - and many others - find is that it's better to just cut it, then shave it off (Richard wielding the clippers in the bathroom) and then get on with being bald for a bit. Trying to make your hair last doesn't seem to help.

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Getting your hair shorn off by a friend may remind the nuns reading this of their first buzz-cut on the way to becoming ordained. It's a big symbolic step, and I can only assume there's some trepidation involved for some, but I wouldn't really know. I do remember that Dachog threatened to do a 2-stage process, with a neon-colored mohawk as the middle step. (For those of you who don't know, Dachog is a Kadampa Buddhist nun who got ordained in her 80s; she's my amazing "pseudo mother in law" [Richard's mom - mother of 5!])

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The experience is good for my compassion. I know it's a fear of a lot of middle-aged men to go bald. I'm going through the process quite quickly. (Just like I went through women's middle-age "crisis" menopause, through surgery, quite quickly.)

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There are people who decline chemo because the chemo drugs they need cause hair loss. (By the way, not all chemo drugs do.) Sad. No potentially life-saving treatment because you'll be a few months without your hair? When there are many comfortable wigs you can wear, that very few people even know are wigs? There are even wigs you can get made from your own hair (though they're pricey).
When I was getting chemo one time, the nurses were talking about a women who refused chemo because she didn't want to lose her hair. For her, the chemo was supposed to be 95% effective at giving her a cure. A couple of years later, her cancer came back and she wanted chemo, but the odds were much longer then.

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Arjuna told me about a coworker - a Leo (big personality) - beautiful - not just a cosmetologist, but a teacher of cosmetologists. When she was initially diagnosed with cancer, she was in denial for a brief time ("this is not happening to me!"). Then she swung into gear and embraced it - she had a big party to cut off her hair before it fell out to chemo. Friends, in solidarity, shaved their heads bald. I think she now helps others have a joyous time while they're losing their hair.

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Thankfully, as I told the radiation techs, my hair isn't my best feature.
I told them my brain was, so that they'd take extra care with me.
You'll have to fill in the blank what you think my best feature is .... or are you still looking for one?