Bald is Beautiful

Hmm, so I should begin this by telling you a bit about myself. I'm a 22-year-old journalism and Asian-American studies senior at the University of Texas at Austin. I'm a girl. This might be apparent right now, but once my hair's all gone maybe you can only tell from my verbose and emotional posts. Hah. I've decided that D-Day commences on Sunday, September 2, 2007. Why this date? Well, I'm shooting a wedding the day before, and out of courtesy to my clients I figure it would be inappropriate to show up with a distractingly shiny scalp... also, I'm not quite so sure how well my naked pate would do in unrelenting Austin sun. :)

Why'm I doing this? I kinda explained more lucidly (albeit in less detail) here on my regular blog... Well, it's mostly just one of those things I've always said I'd do but never figured I'd actually do. I just want to see what it's like. But also, I've always had a sense of curiosity regarding what it's actually like for a girl to lose her hair. Guys, meh, I know some are sensitive about it (look at alllll those hair-loss treatments out there), but let's face it - an easy solution is to shave it all off. But pretty much any girl finds at least some of her physical identity in her hair. I have had several family members on both sides of my family develop cancer, and have lost a lot of them to it as well. I wish I had done this sooner in support of my aunt when she lost hers to chemo. That would've been nice. However, I can do it now and dedicate it to her memory. I have too much vanity (without good cause, might I add), anyway, and it'll be interesting to see how this experiment affects my self-image. That's what this blog is for.

It's gonna be interesting. I haven't been bald since... I dunno, I don't think I've ever been since I was born. From my baby pictures, I look pretty hairy. Just be glad I'm not shaving my eyebrows off too. :D (I sympathize with alopecia sufferers also, but maybe I'm not quite ready for that step yet...)

I'd like this to count for more than just an experiment on my part, because the whole point of this is to take me out of my comfort zone and experience something potentially devastating and fairly life-changing for many people. Cancer hits without warning, and people every whit as "good" as I am develop it every day. Why should I be any different? So I'd like to set up an account on Paypal for donations to the ASK foundation, an organization that supports the families of children with cancer. Hey, you get the fun of watching and reading about my hairless saga, and they get to benefit from it... we all win. :) I also want to get more involved and make myself more familiar with the struggles cancer patients and their families face, so if I come across interesting stories and such, I'd like to post those too.

Feel free to give me any advice, opinions, comments, etc. I welcome them all. And no, I don't think I'm gonna change my mind, so please don't try to dissuade me. :) I don't really think there are any potential health concerns, and the only person it really affects will be me... I think it will be good for me to have a daily reminder to think of others. Oh, and think of all the time and shampoo I will save.

Oh someone brought up a good point... shaving it right now will seem to channel Britney, not Natalie... Haha, yes, but it's okay. :) If you love me now, I'm sure you'll still love me later... right? Right?

= no

= maybe?

I plan to try to post at least three times a week (as close to daily as I can) and throw up a webcam pic for hair progress. The goal is to have hair again by graduation in May, haha... My hair grows semi-decently fast, so *shrug* it doesn't seem unreasonable to hope for. :)

P.S. Anyone in favor of a tattoo on my scalp? Hmm...

Here's a picture of me... with hair.




Photo courtesy of Sam Ni
I guess here you can kinda see how long it is, but still not really. It's right about mid-back length for me.

OK, being a photographer means that there are usually very few pictures of me, so here's one of the few recent ones I could find on Facebook that kinda show my hair not up in a ponytail. Sorry, Texas is too hot for me to wear it down. I'm a wuss. :(

Photo courtesy of Paul Wang