Hair Loss

13th November 2022

Me, also me.

After giving the cold cap a good go, it took 2 rounds of chemo before losing almost all of my hair. After a million tears I had no other choice but to take back control and let @r.buchanan.art shave my head.

This has been one of the hardest parts to deal with, the bit I was dreading the most from the very beginning of the C word.

Feeling at my lowest, Martine called this my ‘grieving stage’.

Losing your hair is such a big part of a persons identity and being stripped of it not through choice makes it even harder.

Getting straight on the referral list for a free NHS wig, while in the meantime panic ordering some great ones from Amazon & stocking up on beanies. Thank god, because when I turned up to see the selection the NHS had to offer I was shocked. Even the lady looked embarrassed flicking to the back of a huge catalogue full of beautiful wigs and pointing to just 4, short back & side styles. Great for someone like Barbera, age 65. It turns out fundings been cut & in my catchment area this is all you get! So where’s the choices for all of us younger women going through this? The stigma of age strikes again.🖕🏻

But then my incredibly kind friends surprised me by all clubbing together for my ‘New Hair Fund’.

Featuring above 💁🏻‍♀️

The love & support from everyone around me through all of this has been overwhelming.

You really are all the best.🙏🏻

While my wig collection is slowly growing so is my mindset of trying to embrace the new me. If you had ever told me I would be going out in public bald, I would never have believed you.

Learning to stop wasting so much precious energy on worrying about what I can’t control. While feeling incredibly exposed and vulnerable, at the same liberating. And I suppose a little bit of acceptance, seeing the bigger picture of what I’m battling right now.