Wigs Are Not Just For Halloween

In the shower today, I got a nice chunk of hair in my hand while shampooing and, of course, I wasn't happy: I've been losing hair like crazy lately, and I don't know why.

"If this keeps up, I'm going to go bald", was my first thought.

My second thought went out to Daisy.

Daisy is a loyal NY Spender's reader, and currently battling breast cancer. She wrote on the blog how she will need to start therapy and how she will likely lose her hair from the radiations. She wasn't looking forward to it.

Hair is such an important beauty trait for us women, and the thought of losing all of it... well, it is a scary thought.

But that doesn't mean that we have to just sit and take it. There are solutions out there.

When I had the worse hair loss of my life (because of some health issues) back about 10 years ago, I used a lot of scarves in my hair (think Bret Michaels  ;). My hair was so thin right in front, that I couldn't make a part because it looked too wide and obviously not pretty. So I started using little silk scarves as headbands, tying the ends on the back of my head. I also started using Rogaine for women (and I have to tell you that that stuff works!). Fortunately, after a few months, my hair started growing back even stronger than before.

This story to say that I understand the fear of going bald...

Here is another quick story for you:

On Friday we had our annual Halloween Contest at work. The shallow part of the story is that I got 4th place and I was a bit sad (more on that on Monday, maybe I'll post some pics). The relevant part of the story is that, as pretty much every Halloween, I was wearing a wig: a blonde, sexy bob.  ;)

While I was getting ready in the ladies room, other girls were putting on their costumes as well. One of the girls came dressed as Avatar (good thing I didn't) and while she was putting on her long braided black wig she was saying to the other girls around:

"I love wigs! If I ever lose all of my hair I will be ok, because I will just wear a different wig every day, pink today, blonde tomorrow..."

I was listening to her while applying my "cat" makeup on, and deep down I silently agreed with her, not with the part that I would be ok with it, but definitely with the part of wearing the wigs.

I've carefully saved all of my wigs from past Halloweens, and I have to say that I have a small collection already (short blonde, long red...), which I hope I will only need for future Halloweens, but in this life (knocking on wood) you never know.

If you are in a place right now where your hair is falling off for various reasons, don't despair. Use a scarf, use hats. And look at some wigs out there, nowadays there are so many options and at very good prices.

Let's look at some of them together, shall we?

Blonde Wig

Dark Wig

Another Blonde Wig

Maybe a Feathered Look?

Dark Feathered

I Don''t See Why Not

Foxy Curly

If You Want To Go Shorter

Shorter and Blonder

Short Black Bob

If You Can Pull It Off

Shorter

Shorter Still

Shortest

I firmly believe most of these wig will look natural enough, so don't be shy and give them a try.

Then again, some people would rather not wear a wig, and sites like Bald Is Beautiful are out there to "send a message to women that they can "flip the script" on the many traumatic aspects of the cancer experience, and embrace every part of their journey with self-love, empowerment, and a deep knowing that their beauty and femininity radiate from within and are not diminished in any way by the effects of having cancer"

While I think I would rather wear a wig, this is the best example of "bald is beautiful" for me: Melissa Etheridge.

Her performance at the 2005 Grammys, showing up completely bald as a result of breast cancer treatments, took my breath away. I always get goose bumps and teary eyes when I watch this video. I hope you will enjoy it too, and maybe derive some strength from it.