At first I called it my Covid Cut. Starting in early 2020, I stayed away from hair cutters (along with everybody else). Hunkered down up here on the mountain, my wife and I rode out the pandemic, and my hair got longer.
Then it was my Cancer Cut. A couple of years ago our oldest grandchild was diagnosed with leukemia. As a result of chemo, she was bald for a while and I thought, since she can’t cut her hair I won’t cut mine either. And my hair got longer still.
Somewhere along the way I started thinking about what to do with all this hair. I was into the ponytail stage and my hair was well past my shoulders. McKinley was back in the hospital, this time for a bone marrow transplant; chemo alone didn’t do it for her. It occurred to me that donating my hair to one of the organizations that makes wigs for cancer patients would be a good idea.
When she had her first anniversary of her transplant earlier this year, I thought a good way to celebrate the occasion would be to make the donation. My niece, who is a hair stylist and has a small shop in her basement, had done the same thing in the past for others and knew the procedure. It took a month or two for us to connect, but we finally did about a week ago.
Below are the before, during, and after shots:
