My Hairy Tale

I'm excited! My reason might seem silly to some, but makes perfect sense to others. I have an appointment to get my hair cut today. Hooray!!! How excited am I? I am so excited that I came to town at ten for a one o'clock appointment. There is no way I will be late for the shampoo basin, scissors, blow dryer and curling iron. I am good and ready.

I am also good and tired of my present hair. The style is just fine, but I made the mistake of going six weeks between appointments instead of my usual four. During those extra fourteen days, my coif has gotten too, too long. It should be just below my ear lobes and slightly curled under. Now it is more than chin length and won't hold any type of curl more than the few seconds it takes me to walk from the bathroom to my front door. Now I look like the illustrations of the old witch in Hansel and Gretel--long, stringy, grey hair. If I had a black, pointed hat with a wide brim, you couldn't tell us apart.

I wish I had my granddaughters' hair--thick, thick, full of body, and thick. Mine is extremely fine, extremely straight, extremely gray, and getting thinner all the time. The extremely fine part is okay. My hair is just like a newborn baby's hair. How nice. (Did you catch the sarcasm?)

The extremely straight is okay too, well almost. I do wish it had a little curl in it--just a little. I would even settle for hair that would hold a curl for more that a few minutes without the help of extra strength mousse and strong hair spray.

I can handle gray. In fact, I rather like it. Quite distinguished, you know.

But its the "getting thinner all the time" part I don't like. I do not like "thinner all the time" no matter how you frame it. Whether I part my hair on the left, the right, or down the middle, the result is always the same. Anyone who looks at my head can immediately tell what color my scalp is, there is plenty to look at.

Why, why, why can't "thinner all the time" be my body instead of my hair. But, if I ever get lice, they will be easy to locate.

The solution this past week to my old hag appearance has been to wear a baseball cap--not a macho, rah-rah, Support-My-Favorite-Team type of cap, but a feminine, I've-Been-to-Hawaii type of cap. A pretty pink it is. But I don't think my apparel change fooled anyone. I know it didn't fool me. My hair remained the same, but much less of the thin, straight, gray stuff was visible. I must admit the cap added a certain mystique to my appearance. It probably raised several question, too, such as, "Who is that lady in pink?" or "What in the world is she hiding under that crazy cap?"

Now that I have all this crazy frivolity out of my system, and had fun doing it, I must go on. Many men and women have to deal with hair loss on a daily basis. That is just one reason for a multitude of self image problems. Physical changes from medical treatments, disease or accidents can cause enormous challenges. Genetic disorders cause others.Sadly, too many people struggle with confidence in who they are. The mountains they face seems huge. For others, the battle to summit the mountains has been won.

It isn't always easy to put aside what society's says is acceptable and beautiful. Despite what the media says, we aren't our hair, our weight, our lips, our abs. We aren't our clothes, our makeup, our nose, or our skin color. We are our hearts.

The closer our hearts get to the heart of God, the more beautiful we become.

Lord, help me become more beautiful for you,
Jan