What price hair?
- Deb
- Oct 26, 2016
- 3 min read
I still have hair.
But, I am now shedding.
Each time I rake my fingers through a now slightly sensitive (feels like I was hit on the head) scalp due to the "itchy" feeling, I lose hair strands. Not clumps. Strands. If the average person sheds 100 hairs per day, I have finally caught up, and surpassed this, all in 48 hours.
I have gone beyond the "12-14 days of the normal chemo patient on Taxol" to lose hair.
I am not the ordinary, regular, keep the status-quo, blend in with the masses normal kind anyway.
It is day 23, and I am thankful that I have made it this far.
But it has also made me wonder, what price do we give our hair?
Priceless, to many, as our image and esteem are pony-tailed up in keratinized proteins that grow at a rate of 1/2 an inch a month.
Devastating to lose this "crown and glory", our power and, if you were Sampson, your strength.
(Ancient Hebrew teachings tell us of Sampson who was told that once a razor touched his head, his strength would be depleted. It was not the loss of hair that caused his weakness, but the fact that he broke a divine vow.)
Ancient Egyptians believed that to have hair anywhere on the body was animalistic, and thus, wealthier Egyptians shaved their heads and faces daily, often employing a full time barber who was even buried with them to keep them well-groomed in the afterlife.
Kenya's Masai warrior tribes initiate young men at the age of 24 by having their mother's shave their heads. It is then that they can take a wife. When the warrior becomes an elder, it is his wife who will shave him bald. Interestingly, it only the Masai warriors that can wear their hair long. The women - wives shave their heads.
Tonsure, shaving all or most of the hair from the head, is a sign of religious devotion. This is still practiced in Buddism, where monks and nuns keep their heads shaved. Those who practice Hinduism practice tonsure during certain life cycle events.
And in India, today, destitute women make a religious pilgrimage to temples to give thanks to their G-d for life's blessings. This hair, considered the best in the world, is shorn by one of 650 barbers who wait daily for these poor pilgrims. Indian hair sells for upwards of $850 a pound, and ironically, it is sometimes the wealthy women in India who purchase the hair of their countrywomen. (https://youtu.be/2XOxXXTRDyA) Hair India
What is YOUR hair worth? I found out at Hair Sellon that my hair would have only been worth $83 to begin with. My son, Zane, with long flowing black hair never touched by chemicals, would reap a larger reward: $213.
I have a few questions to pose, including:
1.) At what price would YOU place on shaving your head?
2.) And what would the reason be?
I've posted results as of 10/26 8:30 am below:
84% of the survey participants were women.
84% of survey participants have not shaved their heads in the past.
65% of participants said they would shave their heads
The majority of these participants stated they would shave their heads in support of a cancer patient, their child or other loved one.
- Solidarity
- Shave it before cancer takes it
- Donate for a wig
- If someone asked me to
- If my hair was falling out
- To save a life
- I'm half bald anyway!
-To start all over
-Health issues
- To support family, friend, child
- Lots and lots of money!
- Screen role
- Sisterhood
31 people answered the question:
How much money would it take:
18 people stated they would NOT do it for money.
Of those, who said money would be a factor, responses were:
- Not a lot
- $1000
-$2000
- $2500
- $500
- $5000
- A million
- $100 for charity
Here is a link to the survey: (I thought you could see results afterwards, but I'm not sure you can.) https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/K2XC6JF
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