This isn’t the first time E’s had his chance at messing with my hair. I’ve written about it once before. Funny; it’s exactly a year since that entry. Wow. Imagine that.
Being bald was liberating
Last year, we actually shaved off all my hair in late July/August. I did it in memory of my mentor who passed away from cancer. A year after her death and I was still feeling bereft and lost, and shaving my head in conjunction with the cancer awareness drive was something I’d always wanted to do for her but had been prevented because she was concerned about me suffering repercussions in the work place. It was actually fun being mostly bald, and it helped me to find a very creative part of me that was just bursting to be out and about. I got to learn interesting things about myself, about how much of my idea of myself was tied to the way I look — as well as how much hair fall contributes to the pace of things getting dirty and dusty around the house. It was enjoyable, getting to watch my hair grow back and to marvel at the pace, the thickness, everything. It wasn’t, however much I hoped, a solution for the white hairs that have started to show. In fact, it seemed as though the whites were growing faster than the blacks and would stand out, loud, proud and shining silver on my head, almost daring me to try and pluck them out.
Shaggy at CNY
I also had the chance to talk to many people who were curious about my reasons, even if I disagreed with their assessment that shaving off my locks constituted an act of bravery. It was an event of great hilarity for both E and me. He was concerned that I might regret the big change and was shaving my hair off from the bottom up so that the top layers would still be available to provide some cover if I chickened out halfway. Up to the point when all that was left was one tiny clump at the top of my head that made me looked like some kind of mad samurai, he was still asking me Are you sure? We can stop now if you like… That had me falling about laughing and telling him to just shave it all off already! In the last six or seven months, my hair was growing out pretty evenly. I had first made lots of hats to keep my head warm and to simply enjoy being able to wear hats in Singapore without feeling like I was baking my brain to a turn. By Chinese New Year two weeks ago, it was actually quite evenly grown and, while a bit shaggy, reasonably decent.
Tamm-Bobbed
But the truth was, the time has come for a change. Or at the very least, a trim. I asked E to snip off the back to make it level, and requested a kind of concave shaped bob style. He did his best. I also asked that he snip under the top layer to thin down my hair a little because it’s very thick and gets very warm. I think I still look a little shaggy. The concave didn’t quite work out and looks a bit more like a triangular gap in the back of my head, but it’s something I can live with. E thinks it’s cute, and so long as small animals don’t start using it as a place to hide from the rain, that’s good enough for me.
The 'concave' LOL
I can’t wait till my hair grows out proper and I have something to take to the hair dresser. I can’t decide if I want to go all the way back to having long hair or to just maintain a proper concave bob style (like I had at my wedding) when my hair gets to the right length. After the trim today, I have at least a couple of months to mull it over a bit more.
ttandeb
tammyebb
