Many years ago, when visiting a salon for the very first time, I had a stylist begin to question if my family had any ‘ethnic’ roots. I told her no…we are all very WASPy (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant), why? And she began to explain to me the reason I had so much trouble my whole life with my hair was because it was more ‘ethnic’ than WASPy. I just nodded my head and ignored her…thinking she was crazy. I mean, hello? Have you seen me? I’m as white as they come. However, over the years of going to her, my hair looked the best it ever did so I didn’t question her opinion.
After moving back to NC,  I struggled to find a stylist because my hair is so incredibly difficult to care for. It curls, frizzes and kinks at the slightest hint of moisture or humidity. Every day is a battle to get it in place and then keep it in place.  No matter the stylist, they just could never understand the needs I had and the daily struggle to get the hair tamed to be able to walk out the door.

When I lost my hair to chemo,  I hoped it would come back in straight. NO such luck. It came back the exact same as it has always been…curls, frizzes and kinks.  After research into the type of my cancer diagnosis and some recalling of my family’s ancestry, I begin to speculate there may be some ‘ethnic’ bloodlines after all. Armed with this knowledge and witnessing the struggle first hand, my daughter was now my stylist. After having significant experience with ethnic hair during her training, she began to take a different approach to treating my hair.  She introduced me to some incredible (and expensive) oils for wet and dry hair.  She also noticed that I was flat-ironing my hair ‘wrong’.  (I was doing what most WASPy girls would do…concentrate on the ends, instead of the roots where my problem existed).  But, hands down the most amazing thing she has ever done for me was to talk me into having a smoothing treatment (formaldehyde free, of course).  It has taken her almost a year to convince me, but I finally let her do it as an early birthday gift.  WOW!  My politically incorrect reaction was, “WOW! This is what it’s like to have white girl hair?  It’s amazing!”.  I can’t tell you the difference it has made to my daily routine.  I don’t struggle and pull and dry and straighten and spray and spray and spray.  I blow dry and go!

I have heard a thousand time “you should just be thankful you’re alive” or “you should just be thankful you have hair”.  And, yes, that is true.  But just because you beat cancer doesn’t mean you want to spend the rest of your days struggling with your hair.
So I want to say a big thank you to my daughter, Camilla, and C.C. and Company Salon & Spa for your amazing service.  I will never struggle against my hair ever again.  Thanks for helping me change the way I do things.

My daughter, Camilla
Photo by Karen Goforth