Hair!
October is Breast Cancer Awareness month which for Artistic Hair in Orange, CA means it’s time for their annual fund raiser. They offer wash-and-cut hair cuts for $15 a pop with ALL the money, even tips, going to breast cancer research. The Boy enjoyed the hair washing and Little No Limit appeared quite smug with her snazzy sea-themed cape:
While I was with the stylist, I asked her why they do the fund raiser and learned that the salon had lost of their employees to breast cancer several years ago. In the middle of my hair cut, an older woman patted my stylist on the shoulder and said good-bye. The woman looked pleased, but tired. She made quick small talk with my stylist, hugged her, and left. When the stylist returned to my hair, she mentioned that the woman was the mother of the aforementioned employee. It struck right then, how it might feel to lose my own daughter, how it would feel to walk into my daughter’s former place of employment, where, years after her death, they continue to celebrate the life that she had, and support the possibilities for other women like her to continue theirs.
Everybody has their cancer story, whether a personal battle or that of a friend or that of a friend’s friend. There is something very communal about the battle with cancer. Everyone gets involved.
I haven’t really done much for breast cancer awareness month. I’d been wanting to write this post all month, with a list of things one could do to foster awareness, support causes for the cure. There is, of course, the obvious option of making a monetary donation. But with the economy as it is, everyone has pretty light wallets right now. There’s the click to give free mammograms site. It must be doing pretty well because the last few times I tried to click on it, the site was too busy for me to get through. There are scads of breast cancer products, like Kitchen Aid’s Cook for the Cure line (if you choose to buy make-up whose proceeds benefit breast cancer, make sure you’re buying safe make-up). There are walking/running fundraisers.
As for me, I made a donation. And when I attended the Artistic Hair fund raiser, I got more than a little hair trim. It was more to the tune of 14 inches.
Locks of Love is not a breast cancer-specific organization, but what it does is provide real hair wigs to children who have lost their hair from a long-term medical issue.
I showed up at Artistic Hair, ready to part with my locks. This probably doesn’t seem like such a big deal, but the truth is, I’m rather fond of my long hair. I’m much more obliging with my money and time, but my hair? Tell me, though, can you really look at these pictures and think to yourself, nah, I’d rather keep my hair? I couldn’t.
Before:
After:
