I've debated for days over this post. I risk losing all my faithful readers.
I don't want to offend anyone by 'spilling my guts', but I have a problem.
I'm going bald! Seriously bald.I'm not a vain person, not high matinence for sure. But I grew up in the late sixties and early seventies and hair was IMPORTANT. Long hair and moustaches for men and long straight hair for women. Now I can give up this notion of the importance of hair. I'm willing to slip into senior status without kicking and screaming. I'll go quietly. But can't I keep just a little bit of hair, ...please??? For old time's sake???
Not that I EVER had Good Hair.
(These baby pictures are also a portent of things to come weight-wise! EEEK!!!)
Apparently my Mom was not good with hair. All she worried about was keeping our hair out of our eyes.
Mom! There's a good three inches of forehead showing! Nowhere near the eyes!!!
I was about 15 in this picture. Scary isn't it? This was back in the early 60's when kids had no control over what their parents did to their hair or anything else. Kids did what their parents told them. PERIOD!!!
Mom just loved this one. She told me I was so lucky to have naturally curly hair and that I looked just like my Aunt Dolly. My Aunt Dolly was forty years old! Moooooommmm!!!
After I got married I had control over my hair and used straightening perms attempting to calm the frizz.
Here in my mid thirties is probably the most normal my hair had ever been.
Once I hit 40, it was all downhill. I became severly anemic due to 'female problems' and had to have a hysterectomy. The hair loss started with the anemia. I recovered from anemia but my hair did not.
You can see, very thin hair and terrible texture! Hairdressers look at me and shake their heads in dismay.
Which brings me to my new blog profile photo. I am going to start wearing my wig.
I've bought wigs over the years, but enjoyed wearing them about as much as Zip enjoys his dentures. Not at all!!! But I think the time has come to bite the bullet and do the deed.
The strange thing is that I feel just as self conscious wearing it as I do over my thinning hair with the scalp showing through. A dilemma for sure! Bag over the head, maybe???
OK, I got that off my chest. Now can life go on?
Thanks for listening to me rant.
First off Pat, I just loved looking at your younger days. The Aunt Dolly comment cracked me up though :).
ReplyDeleteYou are as beautiful outside as you are inside. It's a shame that society has put such an emphasis on the looks, styles, etc. My own wardrobe shows just how much of it I'm into it. I have no wardrobe. Been wearing the same thing for years. Just hate the styles. And my hair style has been the same for years as well.
I think your wig looks very natural! I like this one! And if it makes you happy, then wear it!
Look foward to seeing you tomorrow over Joan's!
I really like the picture of you as a toddler and holding what looks to be a pillow. Soooo happy! I think you should wear your hair however it makes you comfortable. You have a genuine smile with a spark in your eyes and that is what makes you who you are!
ReplyDeleteDearest Pat,
ReplyDeleteI LOVE it when you bare your soul! You are my hero! Your toddler pics are adorable. The pic of you with the kitty.......SOOOOO precious! You have always loved cats! Now as for the hair..... I know you are self conscious.
The more you wear a wig, the more comfortable it will become! As 60's and 70's baby boomers we can rock with whatever! You keep on Rockin!!
Thin hair, long hair, white hair, No hair.........You are ADORABLE!!!!!
P.S. I was a beautician in a former life (seriously) my specialty was thin hair...........I'll email you when we get back from Bayfield!
Love and Hugs!
Cathy G
Hi Pat - Boy is this a timely blog! I have been fighting hair loss for the past 9 months. I've always had lots and lots of hair and now I have practically none and the texture is so different. I don't know what to do. Every time I wash it there is so little I cry. You are not alone. I'm with you pal of mine - we'll go to the old ladies bald head home together and hook,hook,hook!
ReplyDeleteThe more you wear the wig, I'm sure you will become more comfortable. Your new profile pic looks great. And remember - our beauty is on the inside!
ReplyDeleteI did get a giggle about the stories of your mom. Have you had your thyroid levels checked?? This could be another cause.
Kim
Pat I read your blog with such appreciation about your hair problem. I too have thinning hair and I've been anemic before also because of female problems. I too had a hysterectomy.
ReplyDeleteWhen I went through chemo for advanced breast cancer in 2003-04, I lost all my hair. It fell by the hand full so I had them cut to about a quarter inch by my Tai Chi instructor who in support shaved her own head. I went bald head everywhere I went and I didn't cared if I got stares from certain people but most admired my boldness and even my baldness. I said it's my reality and I'll deal with it. Since I was told that I would probably die of it, I enjoyed life to the fullest as every little moments seem to be more precious than before and I still do now. I would love you even totally bald because I can see your beauty with the eyes of God. You are beautiful just the way you are . ( sorry I'm so long winded)
HUGS ,Julia
And here you thought you'd lose your faithful readers :).
ReplyDeletePat ~
ReplyDeleteIt would take a lot more than thinning hair to make me stop reading your blog! You are such a beautiful person and an inspiration to many with all your talents.
I just love the glasses in the Aunt Dolly picture!!! {Oh, Eema's new mommy's name is Dolly.}
Pug hugs :)
Lauren
Oh Pat - sorry this is bothering you but I am echoing what others said - you are beautiful inside and out and I don't care if I see you with no hair or with a long wig or whatever - do what makes you feel good and just know we love you! I see in that pic in your 30's you have a kitty there! Oh I can relate on the Mom doing the hair - my Mom cut my hair in a pixie cut until about 4th grade and the bangs were halfway behind my forehead! ughhhh - She always told me (even a few years ago) that I was ugly with long hair and made me keep it short! Anyway- like I said - do what makes you feel good!
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful post...funny and honest. So many can relate I am sure. My mother has this problem so I am quite familiar with the feelings of self awareness to say the least. She struggles with weather or not to wear the wig. I incourage her that she is beautiful just as she is but would be the first one to help pick one out. I am proud so far she has not.
ReplyDeleteAt this point my head is full of hair but "true" menopause is yet to come. I am in the peri stage as they say . Now combing my hair needs to be done near a trash can for the amounts of hair that come out in the comb. I need to be careful in the sun because the scalp burns quickly. I believe the wig choice is in my future...I think I will either tough it out or have a colection of all different colors and styles to keep them guessing what I will look like each day.
Oh, Pat ~ you could be writing my story!!! I had a head full of thick, CURLY, dark hair!! I cursed that curly hair for years ~ straightened it ~ flat-ironed it, and colored it!! Now, it is getting so thin on top and frizzy ~ I complain about it every day!!! I soooo understand where you're coming from ~ the wig looks great! I think I would go that route, too! I've also tried many hair product systems from my DIL's beauty salon that encourage hair growth ~ getting ready to start using another one!! Cathy G, when you email Pat, include me on that email!!! Thanks, Pat, for a candid post ~ I love your honesty!!!!!! Have a good Sunday!! Alice
ReplyDeletePAT...... you are soo funny and so talented and so kind... what does hair have to do with it... I loved your new look today... but didnt know what to say .. well cause I read this blog after the hook in... you were such a cute girl and a beautiful 30 yr.old lady and your smile lights up a room!! I think I would weave a cool little hat or knit up a cool head scarf..for fun!!!!! make me one and we will wear it together.. better yet make us all one and we will be the atha rug hookers with the most cool look ever.... okay get those hands busy!!! Love you!
ReplyDeleteI too have tried to accept my fine hair all my life. Fine and few.. always said I didn't care what color it was as long as it stayed on my head. Some of us just aren't meant to have hair..
ReplyDeleteHi Pat,
ReplyDeleteI feel like I know you after reading your blog.
I am SURE you are a beautiful person inside and out! Please don't fret over losing your hair. You have far more going for you.I am a cat lover also. We have a 20 year old female Persian who we adore. There should be more people like you...
Hi, Pat
ReplyDeleteHave you seen the documentary "Good Hair?" It changed the way I think about hair, wigs, weaves, etc. I checked it out from the library.
There's also a children's book called "The Goat Lady" that I checked out recently. I can relate to the goat lady's life style and I can imagine myself looking like her in years to come.
I have thin hair too. I don't have bald spots yet, but I'm sure it's just a matter of time. I made my first big decision about my hair last week....to stop coloring it. I can't tell you the feeling of freedom making that decision has given me. I am joining those who go with the "Popeye" philosophy..."I yam what I yam!" Freedom to be myself is what makes me happy.
This is the first time I have visited your blog. I have seen and admired your rugs on RHD. Now I know you are also an excellent photographer and an animal lover. Plus, we have something in common...our husbands love fly fishing and learning how to play the guitar!
Andrea from RHD
Greetings Pat,
ReplyDeleteForgive me for weighing in on this, considering I am a male, but one who also grew up idolizing the Farrah Faucet queen of hair when he was in his twenties, if my math is right.
EveI looked in the mirror just yesterday and noticed the continuing recession of my own hair, but lets go back ten or twelve years when I was in the habit of colouring my hair so not to look my age. Now I know that has nothing to do with hair loss, but for the last six years I have accepted my silver hair. Now I am trying to accept that I no longer can pass looking ten years younger.
I know that some men will wear a head piece in order not to look old, I know I will not, yet I also know that for a woman it is a different thing.
There is a fine difference between a woman being bald due to cancer and a woman going bald due to age. Like you already mentioned, we grew up were hair was much of our culture and I see nothing wrong with a wig. Going bald as a statement I think is reserved for cancer patients, being a former cancer survivor myself.
Looking over what I wrote, I wonder what I was trying to say. I hope you can make sense of it.
Wishing you all the best,
Miss Kitty and Egmont