The Awesome Annmarie!

Check us out!!

Don't we look beeyouteafull?!! We both have Annmarie to thank for that! She always looks amazing and makes magic with my hair, which at the best of times is somewhat fine and sparse. She manages to make it look and feel wonderful.

But she really rose to the challenge yesterday, when I showed up with easily half my normal head of hair and asked her to shorten it.

The last time I wore my hair short was 10 years ago when I was pregnant with Gaby. And I didn't really care for the style then. But it wasn't Annmarie who was caring for my hair then, so perhaps that's why!

Yesterday, she worked magic and we both loved  the result, as did Jean, who was actually 'processing' while I was there.

I came with clean wet hair. Not my norm, but given the amount that I was shedding, I chose to take care of it at home rather than ask that of Annmarie. It was coming out by the handfulls. In my wise decision to stop brushing it after last washing it on Tuesday, I think I made the situation worse. I always put my hair up in the summer heat, and when I took it down Thursday night before bed, it was a loose and matted mess. Except that this time, when I was trying to untangle the matts, the hair would just come away from my head. Kind of creepy, actually. Once it's away and gone that's fine, but pulling my hand away from my head and seeing what I call gorilla hands (hands covered in hair, like when we bathe Roxi!) is a very strange feeling. Knowing that it's your own hair.

What was also weird was looking at my hair, and part (line, as Gaby calls it) before stepping into the shower yesterday morning and seeing how much it had 'widened' once I was done.

However, you wouldn't have known how little Annmarie had to work with when you saw the final result. She actually started cutting with a different style in mind, then changed her mind halfway through. An artist with a vision!

I love it and wish I had more time to enjoy it!

Written advice and accounts that I've read about chemo and hair loss suggest cutting your hair short before you start losing it. But a part of me still didn't know, for sure, if I was going to lose it. You don't really believe it until it starts to happen. Nurse Betty didn't say I might lose my hair, she said I WOULD lose it. And she should know! Even now, it's happening, and I know it will be gone soon, but I still can't envision it all gone. I do know that now that I have my new hair style, I wish I had cut it sooner.

Annmarie styled and scrunched it and used hairspray not only to hold the style, but to hold those hairs in place a little longer. It looked great all day, for my lunch and trip to IKEA with Nary, for my dinner at LuLu with Marc and for my night out with Carole and Elizabeth to finally see Eclipse. (I'll also mention that Nick spent the afternoon and evening with friends celebrating one of their birthdays, Gaby enjoyed another marathon Monopoly game with Sarah all afternoon, and Marc got his weekend off to an early start with a Friday afternoon round of golf)

I always enjoy my appointments with Annmarie. A chance to catch up and laugh. Yesterday was as much fun as always. Occasionally, there are other clients there and they're always nice people too. Jean was certainly no exception.

I'm thankful that Gaby came along to snap photos, even though I think a visit with Buddy the dog was more her motivation.

I'm thankful for Annmarie and the gift of this haircut. Yes, when she was done, I was told that this was a gift. Thank you Annmarie! You know how much I love it and as I said, I only wish I could enjoy it for longer.

Gaby snapped quite a few pictures from different angles, so we do have some images to reference when it starts to grow back and I finally have enough hair to style again.

Many people who experience hair loss due to chemo find that when their hair begins to grow back it can be a different colour, thicker, curlier. I'm hoping for all of those, unless the different colour is all grey! Though Annmarie also works wonders with colour, so that should be the least of my worries.

Many say that hair loss is the most traumatic of the chemo ordeal. Too early to say at this point, but it's certainly strange and unlike anything else I've experienced. I'm sure I'll have a better idea after a few months of hairlessness. But what I can say is that, like everything else I've been through since my breast cancer diagnosis, going through it with the love and support of so many amazing people, family, friends and sometimes even strangers, is what makes it manageable. They certainly buoy me.

Thanks again Annmarie!