Something Unexpected Is Still Growing

Hair Today, More Tomorrow

The summer I interned at the National Institutes of Health, I got a perm.

The chemicals burned my scalp, scorched my hair, and may have accelerated my hair loss by years. I had no regrets.

It was an act of curiosity, rebellion, or denial. Probably all three.

I’d grown up with curly hair that I never had a particularly good relationship. It would always develop a life of its own. By my twenties, that hair was already departing, and somewhere deep down I knew my days of meaningful hair were numbered.

The perm was a final gesture.

For one brief shining period, I had the full curly look, easy to manage and radically different for a usually conforming guy.

When Sheila came to visit, she was so inspired that she went straight home and got one herself. With her full head of hair, she looked fabulous. She still does.

Within a few years, the hair loss was nearly complete. I visited a stylist to discuss my options.

She looked at me carefully and delivered her professional verdict without hesitation.

“Shave it off, baby.”

She was right. She initiated that first full cut, and I have been shaving my head ever since. That was forty years ago.

By my rough calculations, I have saved approximately $40,000 in haircuts, styling products, mousse, gels, conditioners, and emergency anti-frizz interventions. Not life-changing, but I believe in reporting data whenever it appears.

The bare head naturally led me to experiment with facial hair. Beards, goatees, mustaches, clean-shaven. All of it.

When our daughter Corinne became ill with cancer and lost her hair to chemotherapy, I was halfway there in solidarity, needing only to shave off my beard. For my birthday that year, she sent me a card listing the Top Dad Hairstyles for “we hair-challenged individuals.” With Father’s Day approaching. this seems to be even more important. It’s life’s full journey.

Recently, I decided it was time for another change.

Instead of shaving everything off, I’ve started letting the remaining hair on the sides and back grow out. My now-white lustrous hair is returning, and for the moment, I’m letting it run wild.

Where it leads, I’m not sure.

A ponytail down my back?
Braids that my granddaughter and I can do together?
A comb-over?
A micro-bun to channel my inner Samurai?
Free-form curls à la Albert Einstein?

All options remain under consideration. Except for the comb-over.

At this stage of life, most people are managing decline. Apparently, I’m at Ulta buying shampoo, conditioner, and a brush while exploring new possibilities.