Jennifer Galm | Arts & Life Blogger

I’m a “wash and go” kind of girl. I don’t spend much time in front of the mirror primping and preening. I mean, I love being clean, but I just don’t stand there fidgeting with a curler for a half an hour. In fact, I’ve never really thought of myself as a vain individual. I buy many of my clothes at thrift stores. I drive a car that is thirteen years old. I’m not into buying purses, shoes, or jewelry. Sounds pretty “non” vain, right? That’s what I thought until I was asked to take part in a head shaving event to show support for children’s cancer research.

My initial thoughts were the following:
“No sweat. I can do this.”
“It’s only hair.”
“It will grow back.”
“It’s only temporary.”

I thought about all of the kids with cancer and how they don’t have a choice on whether or not they will lose their hair. If they can go through cancer treatment, it’s nothing to shave my head to stand in solidarity; however, as soon as I started talking about what I had planned to do, a few of my family and friends started giving me weird vibes.

“Why would you want to do that?”
“I don’t want you to shave your head.”
“What if it doesn’t grow back?”
“I could never do it.”
“It may grow back differently.”
“Can’t we just donate some money instead?”
“You know it will take a long time to grow back, right? And it’s almost winter!”

I know these people didn’t mean any harm, but I began to feel a little less “brave” and felt like my fortitude had taken a good wallop. I started to feel a bit self-conscious about my looks. I began to linger in front of the mirror a little more than usual. I pulled my hair back and tried to imagine what I would look like without any hair. I started thinking about how other people would see me. Would people wonder why I was bald? Would I receive many weird looks? I teetered on the fence about whether to do it at all. Then, I realized that all these things I was feeling are an everyday reality for cancer patients.

It is a little bit unnerving to think about shaving off my hair. I know I have been talking about this with friends and professors like I am really gung-ho about it, but in all honesty, I’m still having doubts about how committed I really am.

Photo by Tyson Domingo