That's right, it's time for another hair post!
So, my hair has been... interesting.
Most people think that the hair falls out because of the chemo. What they might not understand is that in my case, the hair loss is from radiation, not chemo. The radiation beamed its science into my brain, but it also burned me pretty badly. It led to a 'do that was less than ideal, and although I don't consider myself particularly vain, I also don't prefer being stared at.
See, at the final stage of radiation, they do what is called a "power up, cone down" for treatment. What that means is that while, for the first five weeks they beamed radiation over a larger area of my brain, but at a lower dose. During "power up, cone down" treatment, they tighten that beam so it is hitting a much smaller area of my brain, but with a higher dose.
I tell you all of this so I can show you this:
Essentially, I got the equivalent of a severe sunburn to my head. Now, as someone who has only ever had one sunburn ever, I had no idea how painful and irritating this would be. If you look at that area right by my ear, you can even see blisters.
No fun, right?
And then it started peeling.
So, when the peeling was finally over, I was left with an almost perfectly smooth side of my head. It looked not terrible from this angle, but it was an unholy mess of unevenness from every other angle. Also, because the peeling skin also took out hair follicles, I am going to bet that I might be half-bald for quite a while, or maybe forever; who knows?!
I found myself feeling self-conscious because my hair kept reminding me that I'm cancer lady. I don't like being cancer lady. As a shy introvert, I tend to make decisions based on what will bring the lowest amount of attention, so I went back to this 'do:
You've seen this haircut before, and for the time being, it will probably stay like this. Unfortunately, it's the wrong time of year to be rocking a haircut like this, but it's a good thing I like hats!
❤️
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