Wigging out

   Wow it has been way too long since I wrote anything. Sorry everyone, I guess I’ve had a pretty eventful week. Let’s see… my mom left on Friday and my friends Jim, Betsy, and Lucy did a great job of keeping me company/ babysitting me/ taking care of me until my sister got here Saturday afternoon. I feel like I’ve been awfully busy with my sister, although mostly we’ve been staying home and trying out a bunch of new, healthy recipes and watching a lot of TV. It’s a tough life, right?

    Oh, and another really exciting thing happened… my wigs arrived on Monday! I was definitely looking forward to that. When I first found out about the whole cancer thing I wasn’t even really sure if I would want to get any wigs, but then I learned that my insurance refunds me up to $500 ($500!!!) in wigs per calendar year. Well, they call them “hair prostheses” and require a prescription from your doctor, but it’s the same thing. Turns out $500 doesn’t get you very far in the wig world though, since any decent synthetic wig costs at least $250 anyway. Cancer is expensive! So now I have four options when it comes to the top of my head: I can go bald, wear a wig, tie on a scarf, or put on a hat. Let’s examine them one by one.

1. Going bald. 

Hello up there!

Pros: Super easy, no prep time. I have been told I have a pleasantly round head.

Cons: Quite chilly, especially in the winter. Also, it is obvious that I have cancer and sometimes people give me odd looks. Today I thought it would be funny to stand in the “hair care” section of Marshalls and sigh forlornly while staring at the products; apparently no one else shares my sense of humor.

2. Wearing a wig.

Hair. In my face. All the time.

This wig is actually more flattering, the lighting is just bad.

Pros: Not immediately obvious that I have cancer. Easy to achieve a chic hairstyle with absolutely no time investment.

Cons: It gets really hot. When I wear a hat I just whip it off as soon as I get warm to cool off, something tells me that this will not be as socially acceptable with a wig. Also, I feel like my hair is always in my face, and I can’t tie it back because then the mesh-wig part shows.

3. Tying a scarf on.

It's staying on, for now!

Pros: Can be more festive than a hat. Lots of different ways to tie it and show off my individual style. It says “I might have cancer, but I have cancer with flair”.

Cons: I really don’t know that many ways to tie a scarf, although I see ethnic girls on the street rocking cool scarves all the time. I can barely manage pulling it into a bun-type thing without having it fall out immediately. Also, I feel like it looks super cancer-y.

4. Putting on a hat.

So warm and fuzzy!

Pros: Very warm and winter appropriate. Can easily be removed when I get too warm.

Cons: When wearing a cool-looking knit hat, the wind will go right through it and my head gets very cold. To combat this, I wear a less-cool-looking hat outside and switch to a knit hat indoors. Who wants to carry around two hats?

    Well, there you have it, the four head-styles (a more appropriate term than hair-styles, I think) available to a woman undergoing chemotherapy. It could be worse though, I could be a dude and then I’d only have two options!