Recent news reports reveal Britney Spears recently checked in and then checked right out of Eric Clapton's Crossroads Centre rehab facility in Antigua. And now that Spears has returned to Los Angeles, something else is being revealed -- her bald head.Apparently Spears chose to shave her head and add a few new tattoos to her body in honor of her speedy return back home. Why, I am not sure. But the image of her shiny scalp brings back bitter memories of my own bald head that had nothing to do with free will and choice and had everything to do with cancer.
I hated my bald head, took great pains to cover it at all times, and found nothing beautiful about the prominent display of flesh that surrounded my face. I can see beauty in other bald heads -- and I think Britney looks just fine with her new look -- but I was blind to it when looking at myself in the mirror. I hated my bald head.
"What are you going to do with your hair?" one of my co-workers asked me the other day.
"I'm letting it grow," I told her. "And grow and grow and grow," I thought to myself.
This co-worker seemed sad I was growing my hair. She said she really liked it short, with its tight curls and flat-to-my-head style. Many people have told me this same thing, that I look good with short hair. And maybe I do. Maybe I look good bald too. But I never wished for short hair. I never wished for no hair. And so I am getting back at cancer by letting my hair grow and grow and grow. It's my revenge of sorts.
Bald is just not for me. So I'm relinquishing all rights I have to this extreme hair fashion to those who choose it. To those who wear it well. To Britney.
