If you’re a regular member of our Keeping It Real with Dr. Anita podcast community, you may have noticed in my July monologue that I have a new hairdo! It’s hardly because I decided to have a make-over, although a dear friend did suggest that I ditch my signature ponytail. Instead, over the past several weeks I have been reframing the feeling of something having been done to me with the opportunity to do something different for myself, hence the new look.
You see, not long ago I experienced a medical condition which literally caused my hair to fall out. At one point I had more scalp than hair and it was devastating to look at myself in the mirror as handfuls of hair came out while I simply combed it. First in the salon, then at home for several days following my visit. It all happened within just a couple of weeks.
After seeing my dermatologist and getting the diagnosis of alopecia, it took me another couple of weeks to get over what had happened to my beautiful hair. Finally, I decided that I had two options: I could continue to feel like something was being DONE to me and let that impact my entire outlook on life, or I could reframe what was happening and decide how I would embrace the change I found myself facing.
Fortunately, or unfortunately, this isn't the first time that I've had this type of experience in my hair journey. The first time it happened, it was my stylist who wasn't paying attention and actually burned out my hair with the curling iron. I’ll never forget having left the salon feeling like a runway model. Until I went home and took one last check of myself in the mirror before heading out to an event, and I noticed there was a hole in my head that she had to have seen as I was leaving the salon. I went back to her and while she confessed through tears, she gave me a beautiful cut. I had to make lemonade out of lemons that day.
The second time I experienced a traumatic hair mishap was when I had finally grown my hair out to the perfect length, and I sectioned it off so that my stylist could TRIM the part that I had put in a ponytail. What did she do? Gave me the first ever female mullet! I’ve always been a trend setter, but come on…
The third time I had a hair incident, again my stylist burned it out with a curling iron, and again, I had to have it cut short. Needless to say, all three incidents had obviously been DONE to me by my stylists. If there’s such a thing as hair malpractice, those three were guilty on all counts.
Can you relate to an unexpected change that you had nothing to do with which impacted your world? Reflect on that until next time.
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