Chemotherapy kills cells that divide quickly.  One of the side effects to many chemotherapy drugs is hair loss.  My hair  was falling out in droves and was in danger of clogging the drains when my husband and I decided to buzz the remaining hair off of my head.  (At the beginning of month 4 of chemo, I still have eyelashes and eyebrows, though my eyebrows are thinning).  What to do with my bald head?  I don’t know how you bald guys do it because when we first buzzed my hair off, it was still winter, and my head was freezing. Around the house, I usually don’t wear anything on my head.  (Today my son Christian was staring at me and he said he couldn’t remember what I looked like with hair!).  But when I go out of the house, I usually like to have my head covered.  (Though I have gone bald and have been complimented about my lovely shaped head). My sister Evelyn (aka- the default sister) made me a bunch of  large bandannas and bandanna-like head coverings in a variety of colors (lots of pinks and purples-my favorite).  I also purchased a couple of brimmed hats.  I usually wear the bandannas.  Occasionally I wear hats.  Sometimes I wear the bandannas and hats together. But whether I wear a bandanna or a hat, I always try to accessorize with big or long earrings.

Evelyn’s head scarves

http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-coffee-house-edison  (If you watch the video on this page, you will see an example of the hat with long earrings look.  I couldn’t find a picture).

I also purchased three wigs.  My husband asked why I bothered because in 1995 when I had chemo and lost my hair, I bought a wig and wore it three times.  The first wig I got for this round of hair loss, I purchased from the American Cancer Society’s TLC website.  I thought I picked a wig that was similar to my original, pre-graying hair color (brown with red highlights).  I should have listened to what was recommended on the website and purchased a hair color swatch to match to my own hair.  (***Buy the swatch folks!!!)  The wig was also short haired and similar (I thought) to the way I had my hair cut before I started chemo.  Not so much!  When I put it on, I didn’t look like me.  I’d say I look like a suburban soccer mom, but I don’t want to insult all the soccer moms out there.  When my husband put the wig on, all I could think was “Vote For Pedro!”  The one redeeming quality is that the wig actually fits nice.  I don’t see myself ever wearing the wig in public though.

Soccer Mom

Vote For Pedro

I went to NYC to see my oncologist and prior to my doctor’s appointment, a friend, Sally brought me to a wig store on West 14th Street.  I bought two additional wigs there.  I am going to a wedding soon and don’t want to wear a bandanna or hat.  I wanted some hair.  I recommend trying on wigs before purchasing them!  I had a couple issues with this store.  They limit you to trying on only 3 wigs, though the saleswoman let me try on 4.  That sucks.  Why the limit?  I can see if I was a teenager and was fooling around and trying on a ton of wigs but I was obviously bald and was looking to make a purchase.   They also didn’t allow me to take photos with the wigs on.  It would have been nice to get Charles’ opinion before I made the purchase.  I liked  and purchased two.  One long haired wig and one short haired wig.  They seemed OK when I tried them on, but they are “one size fits all” wigs.  The problem with that is that I have a small noggin and I feel that the wigs bulk up at the top and back of my head.  I don’t know if that is actually the case, but that  is how the wigs feel to me.  I call the shorter wig “the Chicago Wig”  and the long hair wig “The 70’s disco chick”.  So far, I’ve only worn “the Chicago” in public….once..to chemo.  Wearing wigs definitely takes some getting used to.  I find them to be itchy and hot.  As for the wedding, I’ll probably be a “Disco Chick”.

70’s Disco Chick