North Face Braves a Haircut

There are probably a few things that come to mind first when you think of someone with cancer.  I am willing to bet that one of them is hair-loss and the so called “cancer patient look.”  The hair loss thing is real for patients on specific types of chemotherapy drug.  Stephanie is on two drugs that can cause hair-loss.

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CANCER EDUCATION SIDE NOTE

Why Does Chemotherapy Cause Hair-Loss? 

Although I highlighted this in a previous post, I thought I would quickly review because Stephanie has been experiencing what it is like to lose her hair over the last two weeks.  Cancer is a disease that grows through cell replication.  Often, cancer cells grow very rapidly.  Chemotherapy (at least the once I know about now) are designed to attached cells that are replicating quickly.  How cool is it that a chemical can be introduced into your body and attack cancer cells because of how fast they are replicating?  (I think it is freaking amazing.)  Unfortunately, the chemo drugs do not discriminate.  They attack all fast growing cells in your body.  This includes hair cells.  It also includes white blood cells and other cells in your body that are important to your immune system and digestion.   After a few doses of chemo, the patient’s hair usually starts falling out at a fairly rapid pace. 

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Stephanie’s hair began falling out about 5-6 days after her second chemo dose.  As I described in a previous post, this point in fighting cancer is particularly real.  It is a visual reminder that the one you love has a potentially deadly disease.  Ugh.  Her first approach to dealing with her hair loss was to cut her hair into a shorter chin length.   I must say that she looked absolutely gorgeous with short curly hair. 

After about one week of short hair, the hair-loss process had accelerated and there were sections of her hair that were nearly all gone.  At this point, she decided that she was ready. 

The North Face Goes to Get a Buzz

What is one of the first things you think about when you picture a woman?  There are probably many things but I bet one of them is hair.  A woman’s hair is intimately connected to her physical identity.  It is hard for a man to understand fully the connection between a woman and her hair.  When a woman loses her hair against her will it can be devastating.  Stephanie has had long hair for as long as I have known her.  It has been different colors, it has been curly, it has been stinky, but never gone.

On Wednesday of last week Alex Kennedy, of my best friends and my barber, offered to give me a haircut after hours at his barbershop.  (He is an excellent barber and I recommend you go see him at the Derby City Chop Shop on Bardstown Road.)  When I was about to leave, Stephanie mentioned to me that she would like to tag along and may be interested in cutting her hair off because it had reached a point of annoyance to her. 

Stephanie invited one of her best friends, Brittany Yates, to come with her for emotional and liquid courage support.  Brittany dropped everything and came with us for this very big and potentially emotional milestone.  We picked up some wine and snacks and we headed to the barbershop to meet Alex. 

The set-up was after-hours in the barbershop which is an incredibly hip place with cool fixtures, lighting, and decorations.  We set up at a waiting area table, popped a bottle of wine, and proceeded to give Stephanie some liquid courage. 

Stephanie wanted me to have my hair cut first so she could build up a little courage, so Alex cut my hair as he normally would.  He finished and it was now time for Stephanie to take the chair.  She was visibly nervous and unsure that she should remove the remaining bulk of her hair. 

She sat down in the chair with her red Solo Cup full of wine and began to cry.  Not a sob, but slow sad tears.  I took it as a realization that she was actually going to lose all of her hair.  Her head was about to become a constant reminder of her disease.  It was hard to watch for a minute as she cried but she is tough as nails and insisted that Alex get to chopping. 

As we usually do, we decided to have some fun with this and took several progressive pictures of different hairstyles as Alex removed her hair.  He finally buzzed it and as you can see in the pictures below; my wonderful wife is as beautiful without hair as she is with it. 

The set-up at the Derby City Chop shop could not have been better.  This highly emotional time was spent with close friends in a very comfortable setting.  Alex was amazing and we sincerely appreciate him taking the time to make her haircut fun. 

Stephanie, with comfort provided by her North Face, has a beautiful buzzed head that will soon have no hair – One more battle in her war with ovarian cancer.