Let’s Talk Hair

How important is your hair? I’ve never liked mine. It’s unmanageable, does whatever it wants, is wavy/curly, thin but frizzy, and a weird golden/reddish color that changes whenever it wants to. I seriously used to wish I had straight, blonde hair like many of my peers.

I was never allowed to dye it, either. Yet, my brother came home with bleached-blonde hair and my mom just shrugged and kept going. I was furious. She told me people pay a lot of money to have hair like mine. I laughed, sarcastically. Yeah, right. Why would they do that?

I’ve recently begun to appreciate my hair and the fact that I’ve never dyed it, even with a washout temporary dye. I understand it’s uniqueness now, though it still drives me crazy. I did call my mom and tell her all bets are off when more of this grey comes in.

I appreciate my hair even more now, as it has started to fall out. A lot. Not the normal daily shedding, but handfuls throughout the day. This has been going on for the past couple of weeks. I’ve done some research and started sharing with friends.

One of the girls mentioned it is now being recognized as a side effect of Covid. After doing some research, it fits. It’s been 3 months since my symptoms, including a high grade fever, spiked. I’m not sure how long my hair will fall out, or how much, but I am concerned.

At least I’m no longer stressing about why my hair is falling out. (It’s actually not uncommon for people to experience hair loss like this three to six months after any major illness or super stressful event, such as the death of a loved one or divorce.)

I am somewhat concerned about how much of my hair is going to fall out. I am not one of those women who can rock the bald look. My hair is one of my best features. I know this sounds incredibly vain, and it is, but I really don’t want to lose much more. I don’t have that much to begin with. I decided to cut a few inches off a couple days ago to try to manage the health and weight of it, hoping to slow down or stop the loss.

We tend to take these things for granted until we’re faced with losing them. This is giving me the opportunity to reflect, and be grateful for this mangled mess on top of my head. I’m also appreciative of my mother’s one hard rule – no dying my hair.

It’s kind of silly, looking back. She was fairly lenient, as long as I took care of my responsibilities, with everything except this. I guess this is one of those moments where a young person thinks they know best, but maybe they don’t.

At any rate, hopefully I’ll still have some hair by my next birthday! If not, I’ll be picking out wigs for my wish list. Who knows, that could be fun, too.