Hair

Yesterday we saw Anna off to Oxford. She and I had been out together during the previous week as she was buying clothes for her more professional role. She really did look so striking with her hair up. She is lucky to have a perfect oval hairline so an upswept hairdo doesn’t look too severe.

I have decided to do without turbans and scarves now and it really gives me a great sense of freedom. My hair is still very, very short but since more people have chemotherapy nowadays the general public have become far more used to realizing why someone is wearing a turban or has very short hair.

Last time I had chemotherapy my hair grew back with its natural colour. This time it has been very strange. First of all I gained eyebrows but they were very dark. Gradually these lightened in colour quite without my noticing it until Anna and Raymond remarked on them. On my head I had a very dark short fringe at the front and slightly lighter stubble elsewhere. Since removing my turban I have been able to watch this change also. Basically the hair grows back just like a baby’s and their hair colour often changes as it grows but it surprised me that instead of the roots changing it was right along the hair shaft which is quite uncanny.

When discussing cancer or lymphoma the subject of hair must seem so trivial but regrowth is a real sign of recovery. Lack of hair is really quite humiliating and you can never escape your illness. I can now put my scarves and turbans in the back of the cupboard. I hope and hope I shall not need them again but the more I read about cancer the more I realize that it is not always the immediate death sentence it once was, but more of a chronic affliction.