Thursday, June 4, 2015

Who's Afraid of a Haircut?

I got a real haircut today.  I had a trim at one of those quickie places a couple of weeks ago, but it wasn't enough.  I haven't had a real haircut in about 8 months.  Today, I decided that was long enough.

I purposely went to a new stylist.  It was good to talk to someone who had no idea who I was or what my life was like.  She didn't ask me how I was doing.  She didn't have that, "I have no idea what to say to you" look of concern on her face.  I didn't have to tell her I was OK, when actually I don't even know what OK is anymore.  Sometimes it's nice to be anonymous.

We discussed hairstyles.  I showed her a picture of what I had in mind.  She asked if I afraid to cut that much.  That stopped me. She probably wondered why I took so long to answer.  For the last 7 months, I have been looking at lots and lots of people with no hair.  No hair is the least of their problems.

Finally, I told her, "I'm not afraid of a haircut.  It's only hair."  If I was going to be anonymous, I didn't need to open up a cancer dialogue.

I used to think haircuts were important.  Now, a good haircut is nice, but it's not all that important.  In fact, now I'm tempted to take some risks.  I know for a fact that life can be short.  Today, my haircut was fairly safe, but one day I may turn up with blue hair or a buzz cut or one of those crazy asymmetrical do's.  Because I am afraid of some things - like cancer - but I am not afraid of a haircut.