November 15, 2021

Let’s talk Hair. I have been known for my hair since I was a little baby.  LITERALLY, when I was born I had so much hair that my mother giggled to herself when she was standing outside the nursery and she could hear all the nurses talking about, “Have you seen that baby in the nursery with ALL that hair?”.  I even have a friend, whom I met years ago when I walked into her little shop in Clearwater who still tells the story of calling me “that lady with the really, really red hair”.  That was, of course, before she knew me.

My hairdressers can attest to how thick my hair is and what a beat down, I mean, the pleasure it’s been to work on my luxurious locks for years.  (Insert a snicker from Anna Gonzales here).  I’m sure that Anna, my current hairdresser, I mean magician, was secretly glad to shave the locks off and just enjoy some short hair for once.

Anyways, I digress…….

To prepare for the inevitable and to take control of what I had control of I shaved my head before my long hair started falling out in chunks and then every couple of weeks I shave a bit more than a bit.  You get the picture.  So let me tell you something, my hair is so crazy that there are sections on my head that are just hanging on.  I mean, they are like that little lizard that you find sometimes on your windshield as you’re tearing down the highway at 70 mph and you think to yourself, ” I wonder how long that little sucker is going to be able to hang on… and he does.” Anyhoo, you get the picture.

And the thing about chemo and hair is that it doesn’t distinguish between the rapid producing cells on your head, arms, legs, eyebrows, eyelashes, or bikini area.  Nope, it just attacks all of them, but you know what??

I still have eyebrows, eyelashes, hair on my arms, legs (seriously y’all I had to shave my legs yesterday.  I was looking forward to a bit of a break if you know what I mean), and my bikini area.  My hair is like – HANGING ON – like that lizard.  And do you know what?  Today when looking in the mirror I also noticed that I have the slightest bit of fuzz on my face next to my ear and I thought, “What the….???  Where did that come from??  Has that always been there??  Did I just never notice that or was it there all the time and my hair covered it??” and I will tell y’all a secret (don’t tell anyone else, okay?)  I also have what my family and I refer to as the “granny hair” on our chins.  It is like the strongest Mitchem trait that was passed from my grandmother to my mom, to my sister and I – and you know what?? That freaking hair is still there too.  

But…….. you know what hair is not?  My nose hair and patches (like a quilt) on my head. That is what is gone.  I honestly did not even think that my nose hair would fall out but it has.  Do you know when I noticed it?  When I was going for walks and couldn’t figure out why my nose was running so badly.  Now, I walk around, like a little old lady with tissue in my pockets to catch my constantly running nose.  Now you know that your nose hairs keep all that stuff inside where it should be but mine has decided to jump ship and head out.  Ah nose hair, I will be so happy when you come back.

Anyways, that’s the news for the day – so be thankful that you have nose hair and enjoy the tissueless life.  You are one of the lucky ones. 

And if you’re wondering – will I be wearing a wig?  The answer is no.  I barely liked taking care of my real hair.  I honestly just colored it, washed it, and had Anna style it once every 3 weeks and that was it.  I feel like that is why it was so amazing – because I did nothing to it.  No blow-drying, no curling it, nothing.  Anyways, I don’t have time for a wig. 

I am going with hats and scarves.  I have bought some hats, had some hats handed down by my cousin, Sabrina, and some bought by my friend, LeAnn, and my lovely neighbor (thanks Shanna), who gave me a bunch of scarfs yesterday – those will keep me covered until my hair comes back.

So until then, I will be the runny nose reindeer this year – just call me drainy.

Love y’all!

Xo,

Tracy