I assume I’m no different than most women
when it comes to my hair: I’ve had a schizophrenic relationship with it for my entire life (at least
for as long as I remember).
I’ve worn it super short, like Mia Farrow in Rosemary’s Baby.
I let it grow till it reached past my shoulders.
Loathing my endless kinks and ringlets, I subjected them to a Japanese straightening.
Sick and tired of blowing it straight, I let it go crazy curly.
I couldn’t wait to cut bangs, then couldn’t wait till they grew in.
I teased it silly for years and then wore it flat as a pancake.
I cajoled it into a twist and twisted it with rollers.
I tried beehives and braids; flips and pageboys.
I sprayed it until it wouldn’t move, greased it, conditioned, and masked it.
It’s a miracle my hair didn’t decide to leave my head years ago, fed up with my endless abuse!
Alas, it finally started deserting me a few years ago, and, as it became sparser and sparser, there was less and less I could do with it. No matter how I had it colored, cut and styled, it was a bad hair day. A really bad hair day. My bad hair days turned into bad hair weeks, bad hair months, and, finally, bad hair forever.
When an email popped up inviting me to an event at a salon called LeMetric, which specializes in creating custom pieces made of real hair, I knew someone from up high was sending me a message: GET ONE OF THOSE PIECES!
It’s about three years later, and I’m on my second piece. When I used to get compliments on my hair, I’d have no hesitation telling the complimenters that it wasn’t actually my hair, that it was a hairpiece. I stopped that routine a while ago. It IS my hair. I OWN it, literally and figuratively.
Now, here’s my question to all the ladies out there who have thinning hair, but don’t do a thing about it: WHY?????
- Do you think your thinning hair is attractive? Sexy? The way to “age gracefully?’
- Have you given up caring about your hair entirely?
- Do you think people will “know” you’re wearing a hairpiece and you’ll be embarrassed?
- Do you think it will be too much trouble to maintain a hairpiece?
- Do you think a hairpiece will be too expensive?
- Do you think that if you admit your hair is thinning, your life as you knew it will be over?
Last week, I sent an email to members of the FabOverFifty community in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, inviting those with thinning hair to send us photos to be entered into a contest to win one of LeMetric’s wonderful, new HairyPop-ins, which will cover up thinning hair at the crown, on top or will lengthen your hair.
Although almost 20 percent of the recipients opened the email (a really good open rate), WE DIDN’T RECEIVE A SINGLE PHOTO.
Elline Surianello, the owner of LeMetric, who has become one of my dearest friends, and I are completely baffled why not a single woman will admit she has thinning hair. Surely, at least a handful of the women who opened the email have thinning hair since it’s pretty common after menopause.
Whenever I ride the New York City subways and busses, I see countless women with noticeably thinning hair. Their (thin) hair is usually nicely colored and styled, and they are dressed well, but I can’t help but say to myself: “Don’t you SEE that your hair isn’t attractive!!!!” Frankly, I think they’d look better shaving their entire heads.
To those of you with thinning hair, PLEASE DON’T GET ANGRY at me because I don’t think thinning hair
is attractive (whether you’re 30 or 60). I just sincerely want to know what you think about it.
One of my relatives has had thinning hair since she was a young women, and although she had the means to buy the best hairpiece in town, she never did. She’s quite pretty, and really smart, but her hair didn’t do her any favors. She finally said she should do something about it. I haven’t seen her in a while, so I don’t know if she did.
If she’s reading this, I invite her to send a photo to enter the contest for a gratis piece from LeMetric. I invite any woman with thinning hair who is reading this, no matter where you live in the United States, to do the same.
If you agree with my point (even reluctantly), go ahead and take the plunge. I promise, it won’t be a hair-raising experience, at least not figuratively.
0 Responses to “That’s NOT Where I Wanted To Be Thin!”
Bev Helbig says:
My hair has improved a lot because I wore wigs and allowed it to rest from all the perms and heat styling. The wigs were a big improvement over my own hair aND I could face people again. My only issue was that some brands are warm and itchy. Other brands are not. Today they are all very realistic and way better than trying to fix your own when it’s impossibly thin. I have gotten better results using Viviscal hair supplement than I did from using Rogaine per instructions for 2 years. My derm didn’t have any faith in Viviscal but it has really worked for me. If not for Viviscal I would still be happily rocking my synthetic hair that looked great every day in all kinds of weather and I never had to style it, just wash the night before and let air dry inside out. Plop on in the morning and out the door I go. I still miss that and am not above getting myself some new styles now and again for when I simply want a nice change or not to have to color my roots for awhile.
Freeze Away Fat says:
Cute article, brings back memories of some really bad hair days (or years). I was glad to give up the perms of the 80s.
jan says:
Hey Geri, I only have two words to say about this…Jackie O. Im not saying she was thinning but I follow her tribute facebook page and am amazed at how many times she is seen wearing the scarf and rocked it by the way! Your piece is divine!
GeriFOF says:
Hi Jan,
Delighted you like the piece! Jackie O did look wonderful in scarves. But then, she looked wonderful in everything, didn’t she?
Fondly,
Geri
Jeans and Gems says:
She had cancer. Perhaps that’s why she wore scarves.
The Frugal Exerciser says:
I don’t like thinning hair. Even though I have thick hair, I noticed some thinning hair on my crown because of my hypothyroidism. I have been using the laser comb and that has helped. You have to do you, others might be okay with thinning hair.
GeriFOF says:
Dear TFE,
Hard to believe any woman could actually like her thinning hair, but if she’s okay with it, that is definitely what counts. Glad the laser comb helps.
Geri