Hair Styles | Short, Prom & Celebrity Hairstyles | Hair Care- The Hairstyle Blog

Sheryl Crow, Breast Cancer Survivor

.

 
 
Hair Stylists Touch Cancer Patients in Unique Way
 
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and the hair styling industry plays an important role with those suffering from this breast cancer. Hair stylists touch the lives of breast cancer patients in a very special way. We literally touch people daily with the services we perform. I just read a story from a breast cancer survivor, that reminds me again how the little things we do make a big difference in the lives of those afflicted with this terrible disease.
“Hair Stylist Touch Clients in Many Ways”  
Below is an excerpt from this woman’s most heart-felt story which she credits her wig and hair stylists for not only being able to accept her fate, but “even be able to laugh at it.” 
 
“I looked into the bag with complete and utter disbelief. It was difficult to reconcile being beautifully maned one day and shiny bald the next. There was no segue, no gradual change. Nothing in my life could have prepared me for that moment. I lost my grip. I kept thinking how vain, how shallow I must be for agonizing more over baldness than cancer. But it was true; cancer I could handle, baldness I couldn’t.
 
After two days in bed I realized I couldn’t spend the next six months in bed waiting for my hair to grow back. I bought a wig a month earlier. I put it on. It looked awful. I cried. I called Raymond, from whom I’d purchased this wig, and he told me to come into the hair salon.
 
I didn’t know that in Raymond’s tiny, crowded room where he styled wigs, I would learn to face and accept the harsh realities of breast cancer. I only had one breast, no hair, no eyebrows and possibly no future.  It sounds grim but somehow in that room I learned not only to accept my lot but even laugh about it. And Raymond was largely responsible.
 
We joked and laughed. He told me about other cancer clients and their wig woes. I relaxed, grew more comfortable. Looking in the mirror and seeing myself bald became less difficult. I learned how to feel vulnerable and safe at the same time. It was a long process and Raymond was a great facilitator. I’ll bet her never knew how important he was to me.
 
Sounds odd doesn’t it? Visits to a hair stylist, a wigdresser, being the bright spots in a cancer scenario. But the intimacy of the hair stylist-client relationship is legendary; quadruple its intensity when the client is newly bald and the hair stylist is one of the few privy to the knowledge.”
 
As a hair stylist, I know the blessings you receive in being an intimate part, in touching lives in such a healing way. It’s an AWESOME job!!
 
You can donate used wigs to the American Cancer Society.

Got a question, war story or comment about this topic? Click on the "Leave Your Comments" link at the very bottom of this article. Some of my best ideas for future articles come from reading reader comments. I'd love to hear from you!

Heads Up For Long Hair Readers

Hair Care Products Support Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Another business opportunity in hair styling

Hair Care Product News Flash

Hair color cancer risk found

Afro American Hair Products Warning

Farrah Fawcett: Celebrity Hairstyle Icon