Losing My Hair...

I knew my hair was going to go.

My nice long hair

The idea didn't really scare me. I was prepared for it.

The first week after chemo was fine. I noticed no difference. About 4 days into the second week after chemo, I started seeing more hair around me. Then, I would run my fingers through my hair and I would have a lot more in my hands then normal.

Each day got worse.

Cut many inches off and starting to thin out

I cut many inches off it just to start the process of it being gone. I bleached it lighter too. Then, it got extremely bad.

I had hair EVERYWHERE.

My pillow was covered. My clothes were too. I couldn't touch my hair or it would fall out. Definitely was not going to brush it. And to wash it would be horrible. One day when I was at work, I looked in the mirror behind me and all I could see was my scalp at the top of the back of my head. That was the day I decided it was time to shave it off. I was sick of having hair everywhere and it looked horrible. My wig came in that day so it was perfect timing.

That night, I had to bring the kids to their dad's. Afterwards, I had a friend shave my hair.

Last picture of me with my hair

Shaved!

I thought maybe I'd cry as it fell off.

But, oddly I felt relieved when my hair was gone. I was free from the falling hair. My wig was perfect for me. And it felt good on my head. I had spent many days researching wigs and spent a few hundred dollars on it. I wanted one that was real hair and looked nice. Especially when doing hair as my job, I wasn't going to walk into the salon with a fake looking wig on! My friend and I were staying at a hotel that night so I was perfect timing to try out the wig. No one knew me there so I felt comfortable wearing it.

After we used a razor and shaved it to nothing

My wig!

It felt so weird being bald! I had a hat on a lot because my head would be cold! Even sleeping at night I usually had one on. I wasn't scared to show people, but I wasn't going to walk around bald either. I wore a wrap sometimes, but I would notice a lot of people staring at me so for the most part when I was out in public, my wig was on.

And sometimes I wore a scarf.

Sometimes I wore a hat and hood

The hair on my entire body stopped growing. Now know what it's like for a bald guy to take a shower! Literally two minutes! Scrub your body and get out. Haha! It was really nice! I would do my makeup, throw on my wig, and out the door I went! I always made sure my makeup was on point because the chemo took the color out of me so I needed my makeup to brighten me up. Keep me healthy looking.

And help me forget the fact that I was bald.

A lot of people lose their eyebrows and/or eyelashes. I lost neither, which was amazing. I felt lucky for that!

But, 4 months after I finished chemo, I lost my eyelashes and my body hair slowed down. Once my eyelashes were out, they started growing back and so did my body hair. Every 3 to 4 months this cycle happens.  It has made me realize that even though I'm not on chemo anymore, some part of it is still in my system.

My hair started growing back about 2 months after my last round of chemo. It was exciting to see brown on my white bald head! Slowly, but surly, it was coming back!

My first time being out in public around people I know with my wig. Labor Day weekend.