Last Saturday, I participated in Relay for Life where, for the second year, I donated my hair. While in 2015 I cut twelve inches, this year I went a step further and actually shaved my head.
Shaving your head is a huge decision, and has to be one you can live with for at least a year while it grows back. Though I was nauseous from nerves two full days beforehand, I don't regret my decision one bit. I didn't shave my head for shock value; I did it for the people who don't have a choice in losing their hair. It's those people that make me proud to share my bald head with the world.
Post shave was definitely different. I prepared myself to hate how I looked, or for terrible foundation lines, but neither of those things happened. Instead, my head was just really really cold. Though the weirdest part was that for the first time in my life, I sympathized with men on something.
Besides the cold, I also get stared at a lot, though I don't mind that part. It is a bit nerve-wracking at first, watching my fellow students or professors ponder at my baldness. But once the support for my shave started pouring in, everything got easier to handle. Now it's only the townies who do the staring. Some smile but others pull their children closer and avoid eye contact. It was jarring at first, but now it's just kind of disappointing. I can see the questions in everyone's eyes, "is it because she has cancer?" and while it sometimes bothers me how intrigued they seem to be by me, it bothers me more that there are people all over the world losing their hair to cancer that have to go through this without the knowledge that their hair will grow back and they'll be fine.
Shaving heads at Relay has become a tradition because like, #NoHairSelfie, it promotes solidarity among cancer patients and helps raise funds and awareness. This is vitally important because as anyone reading this knows, cancer has touched all of our lives. Whether it's a grandfather, a sorority sister, or a best friend's mom, cancer has an impact. Through shaving heads and donating hair, we are doing what little we can to help the 15 million people who have been diagnosed with cancer worldwide. Especially because there is a predicted increase of 47 percent by 2030.
After learning these stats, I decided to shave my head. And, while I understand that not everyone is ready for a shave, I still promote hair donation as another, wonderful way to help others. Through organizations like the American Cancer Society or Children with Hair Loss, cancer patients of all ages are provided free wigs post hair loss. While these are great programs, there are 15 million people with cancer and not enough wigs. Instead of throwing out your hair next cut, why not bag and donate? Or better yet, you can do like Relay and fund raise as you grow your hair to provide monetary support and wigs. After all, every bit counts when we're fighting such a deadly disease.
