A Hairy Situation
Even when I was a little kid, I always thought long hair was really cool. It just seemed like every celebrity that I looked up to had long hair. Unfortunately, way back then, my mom used to make me get a haircut quite regularly, so I wasn't able to start growing it out until I was in eighth grade. Beforehand, I had always assumed that I had straight hair, but once I started growing it out I quickly learned that my hair is very, very wavy. So, since I had no idea how to take care of it or manage it, my hair looked pretty fucking terrible for awhile. I was basically walking around with a bird's nest on top of my head. (It didn't help that I was still going through puberty and suffering from acne, either--- that was definitely the peak of my ugliness. Hopefully all pictures from that time period have been disposed of.)
Once my hair grew past the awkward stage, it became much more manageable. I also had a couple of girlfriends who helped show me how to take care of it and style it and which products to use. I think I went three years or more at one point without getting a haircut. My hair was more than halfway down my back when I eventually lopped it off to shoulder length. Ever since then I usually get a haircut once a year.
For a general idea, here are two before-and-after pictures that I took last year. It had been closer to a year and a half since my last haircut then, so my hair was a little bit longer than it usually gets.
The same woman has been cutting my hair since I was like . . . six-years-old, or somewhere thereabouts. She usually thins it while she's cutting it because my hair is very thick. During my most recent haircut, however, I noticed that she didn't thin it, and I made the mistake of asking her about it, and she was like, "Well, it's not as thick as it used to be." I automatically took that to mean I'm losing my hair, and I've been worrying about it incessantly ever since. I've looked at my hair in the mirror from a dozen different angles, run my hands through it a thousand times, brushed it different ways, trying to determine if one of my biggest fears in life is coming true. I even had a nightmare a few days ago that I was completely bald.
What worries me even more is that my grandfather was bald on top by the time he was 26. My father didn't start losing his hair until he was in his late 40's, and my brother is now 36 and he still has all his hair. What if that generic trait skipped both of them and went to me? My mind always jumps to worst-case scenarios anyway. If I have a sore throat, I automatically assume it's throat cancer. I'm hoping that all this worrying about what's on my head is mostly in my head, but I'm going to be very self-conscious about it from now on. I've already been researching about hair plugs just in case I have to get them sometime in the next few years.
I know my hairline hasn't receded, because I have a freckle near the top of my forehead that serves as a nice measuring point. But I can definitely tell that my hair isn't as thick as it used to be. Hopefully that doesn't necessarily mean I'm going bald. My hair was annoyingly thick in the past (if I frizzed it out, I used to could make it look like Troy Polamalu's hair in that Head & Shoulders commercial), so I wouldn't mind it being a bit thinner. But the idea of going bald is making me freak the fuck out. My hair is very important to me. I'm "the guy with the long hair." It's a very significant part of my look, and I kinda use it as a security blanket, hiding behind it when I'm nervous or uncomfortable. I can't lose my hair. I can't!
Once my hair grew past the awkward stage, it became much more manageable. I also had a couple of girlfriends who helped show me how to take care of it and style it and which products to use. I think I went three years or more at one point without getting a haircut. My hair was more than halfway down my back when I eventually lopped it off to shoulder length. Ever since then I usually get a haircut once a year.
For a general idea, here are two before-and-after pictures that I took last year. It had been closer to a year and a half since my last haircut then, so my hair was a little bit longer than it usually gets.
The same woman has been cutting my hair since I was like . . . six-years-old, or somewhere thereabouts. She usually thins it while she's cutting it because my hair is very thick. During my most recent haircut, however, I noticed that she didn't thin it, and I made the mistake of asking her about it, and she was like, "Well, it's not as thick as it used to be." I automatically took that to mean I'm losing my hair, and I've been worrying about it incessantly ever since. I've looked at my hair in the mirror from a dozen different angles, run my hands through it a thousand times, brushed it different ways, trying to determine if one of my biggest fears in life is coming true. I even had a nightmare a few days ago that I was completely bald.
What worries me even more is that my grandfather was bald on top by the time he was 26. My father didn't start losing his hair until he was in his late 40's, and my brother is now 36 and he still has all his hair. What if that generic trait skipped both of them and went to me? My mind always jumps to worst-case scenarios anyway. If I have a sore throat, I automatically assume it's throat cancer. I'm hoping that all this worrying about what's on my head is mostly in my head, but I'm going to be very self-conscious about it from now on. I've already been researching about hair plugs just in case I have to get them sometime in the next few years.
I know my hairline hasn't receded, because I have a freckle near the top of my forehead that serves as a nice measuring point. But I can definitely tell that my hair isn't as thick as it used to be. Hopefully that doesn't necessarily mean I'm going bald. My hair was annoyingly thick in the past (if I frizzed it out, I used to could make it look like Troy Polamalu's hair in that Head & Shoulders commercial), so I wouldn't mind it being a bit thinner. But the idea of going bald is making me freak the fuck out. My hair is very important to me. I'm "the guy with the long hair." It's a very significant part of my look, and I kinda use it as a security blanket, hiding behind it when I'm nervous or uncomfortable. I can't lose my hair. I can't!