Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

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I first published this one on 6/21/11

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Some people have a little. Some people have a lot...No, I'm not talking about money (although the latter would be sweet, indeed). I speak, today, of hair. Every mammal I've ever known has had hair at one point ... My four-legged friends have it on the majority of their bodies... that is, when they aren't shedding it all over my living room carpet. My uncle started losing his while still in his teens (my mother is convinced it was all the chocolate covered graham crackers with bologna he ate as a kid), and I can't tell you how relieved I was to see a certain Disney superstar finally cut his overly-publicized hair.

Every day we are bombarded with ads on how to make your hair shiny, keep the hair you're losing, get rid of hair you don't want, and other varieties of ways to tame the mane. It seems as though we are a society obsessed with hair. As a parent, I obsess over making sure my children have clean hair (and bodies).. and with them being in a public school system, they get the occasional "head check" to be sure they are free of creepy crawlies... I shudder just thinking about it... but, it is a necessary task. My boys have very short hair... short enough that they don't even need to comb it. My daughter, on the other hand, has always had to put extra maintenance into hers. She also happens to be going through the hormonal stages associated with becoming a teenager, so her hair chemistry is a little .... off. Our local beautician suggested we use shampoo with tea tree oil to help remedy this, so this is what we bought...

Regis DesignLine Tea Tree shampoo and conditioner helped her for a little while, but after a couple weeks, we were back to square one. I don't think it's necessarily the shampoo/conditioner that's the problem. The weather lately has been hot and muggy, and even with the air conditioners on, a person still gets kinda sweaty in triple-digit weather. I've used it, and I rather enjoy the cool, refreshing feel of it, and the smell is somewhat minty... it did, however, cost me almost twenty dollars for the pair. In all, not a bad set. (Want a good shampoo laugh? Click here)

Our next option for Megan's almost waist length hair, was to cut it short, which brings me to my next "shoutout" to the fine folks of Locks of Love. We managed to collect a little over ten inches of hair from her head, and she made her third hair donation, and I couldn't be more proud of my little girl.

I heard about this organization when Megan was little, via another parent of a child in my daughter's kindergarten class. I know, from personal experience, how expensive human hair wigs can be, and for the people at Locks of Love who help families of children who've lost hair to cancer, alopecia, ect... my hat's off to you.
I've always been very particular about my hair... I don't like other people to touch it, and I try to take good care of what I have. I am plagued by a condition known as Trichotillomania (wrote a blog about it, like to hear it? Here it go... ) which I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. Because of this, I've become a little - ok, a lot - sensitive about the subject, almost to the point of becoming completely hardened. A bit of a contradiction, I know... after being punched by comments, insults and questions over the years, the pain becomes all too familiar, but that doesn't mean I want to keep getting beat up.

This brings me to a lovely young woman from the U.K. who suffers from the same affliction. She has her own YouTube channel (clicky, clicky) and has done a fantastic job at not only informing the public about Trich, but allowing an inside look into this horrible, horrible disease. Here's her latest video blog.. which must have taken an unbelievable amount of time and gumption to put together...

I've been watching Beckie's videos for some time, now, as well as being a Facebook follower of hers... and yes, Trichotillomania is what led me there, but over time I've seen much more to her... she is an extremely talented artist - her photographs and paintings are, to say the least, moving.

Until next time, best beloved...