Hair, the Good, the Bad, the Ugly, the Bald

Born into a family where the women have male pattern baldness I am extremely thankful that I still have hair. At my age my Aunt, Mother and Grandmother hahd all gone bald. This so frightened me  that I won't dye or perm my hair. They did all that and I think that exacerbated their condition. They all relied on wigs and toward the end my Mom just wore baseball caps. We would call her Gangsta Minnie because sometimes she would wear them backwards. It was too funny. I remeber when she cut her hair real short before it really went thin, youcould see it ws pretty much going at the tmeples and she and my Dad looked like twins for awhile.

My sister must have inherited my Dads hair because it was always super thickand curly. After many years as an anorexic I think the lack of nourishment began to show in her hair, it started to look a lot thinner but it still looks quite good and, again, at least she has hair.

Mine is fine and thin, neither straight nor curly but it's still attached to my head and I'm thankful every day for that. I use a toothy comb rather than a brush . I've taken to wearing it up in a little knot with a grippie comb in it. If I wear it shorter I have to use a curling iron and I don't want to stress it out. I'm always aware of just how many hairs fall out when I wash it. People generally lose about 100 hairs a day. 

I observe other peoples hair,always. The elderly with the Lucille Ball red dye jobs, the immaculately groomed old gals with  heads of thick ,gorgeous, white hair. I always look at them enviously. I notice children with mops of thick curly hair. Here in Florida you see women with thick curley Cuban hair, how lucky are they?

Of course I am aware of the stars in Hollywood with the weaves, long, short, different styles  and colors every time you see them. Pink and her strange hair. I want to warn her "Pink, stay away from all that dye!". Have you noticed Paris Hilton's short, long ever changing do's. How about Barbara Walters. Her hair is thinning. I notice that all the time. She still looks beautifully groomed but  there is that thin area you can see when she tilts her head down. Carol Channing, for those who remember her, wore wigs for decades to hide thinning hair.  She thought she had allergies that were dooming her hair but it turned out that she was platinum blonde via dye for ever  the dye was killing her hair.

My best friend ws recently diagnosed with Cancer and is now bald due to her treatments. She sent me photos of her new look. She's still a beautiful gal inside and out. I sent her all sorts of accesories, scarves, hats, flip flops, necklaces, huge earrings and crazy sunglasses all in pink.

Tha gal who took care of my MOm for years was from Barbados. Every couple of months she would have some wonderful new "do", Geri curls, braids, weaves of all sorts. It was a delight to see what she'd pop up with next. The dogs would have a fit because they wouldn't recognize her.  

Hair can define you. Twiggy, Howard Stern, Mia Farrow , Diana Ross, Archie definitely had trend setting or  specifically their look in hair. Mr Clean, Yul Brynner. Hippies, guys with long hair, teh Beatles, the flip in the Fifties, sideburns. 

Hair is fascinating and a blessing.