Her hair was her shining glory. Beautiful locks that would attract the attention of all and sundry. Pride and joy. But then, guest writer Divya Goel decided to chop off her long hair for a worthy cause. Wouldn't it be wonderful if people who tonsure their heads in temples as a note of thanks or penance to God follow Divya's lead? I'm sure it would warm the cockles of the Creator's heart. Divya in her own words..
I was ten years old when I met (late) Prof N.S. Ramaswamy -- engineer, historian, writer and founder director of IIMB. As he walked towards me, the bright lights in the auditorium bounced off his shiny bald head.
“You have lovely long hair! Can you give me some?” he asked as he pulled a sad, childish face for me and patted his head. “Yes uncle, I will if you can give me some of your brains,” I had replied. He guffawed in his characteristic booming voice and pulled at my cheeks. “It's a pact then," he promised me as he walked away.
Right from childhood when my long, straight, and thick hair defied my Malayali genes, any conversation with me would be incomplete if we didn’t touch upon the big “H” topic. Even to this day, I can rattle off entire toilet rolls worth of DIY’s - from various ayurvedic oils to eggs, onion and garlic concoctions, all promising that curtain of imaginary pride.
So how important is this dead keratin matter to a woman? Even though we scour the markets for magical hair potions, our pot smoking dreadlocked sanyasis prove it grows without any significant cultivation methods.
Even though we cringe when the scissors start snipping away at the ends, it doesn’t hurt a wee bit. And in a creepy way, it even grows a bit along with your nails when you are finally a corpse (lessons from Ramsay films).
It is important enough to be called “Peladophobia” or fear of losing your hair. The fear is so great that anti-anxiety medication needs to be administered along with counselling sessions for men and women who lose hair for various reasons -- genetic, medical, age or nutrition. Along with these tried and tested methods, I would recommend an additional proven way of getting over this tress stress.
A visit to your local hospital's cancer department.
In a twist of fate, I had to make countless visits to this department when my late father-in-law was under treatment for lung carcinoma. Rows of patients, of all ages and backgrounds, battling the disease and also undergoing through the same 'tress stress'. But the rules of this battle are entirely different from yours or mine.
Alopecia due to chemotherapy is one of the most distressing side effects of the treatment. Hair often falls out in clumps, and eyebrows/lashes disappear in a matter of days leaving the patient even more vulnerable to the disease.
Human hair wigs give some amount of normalcy to them as they can go about their routine without answering uncomfortable questions from strangers and get rid of that annoying scarf which seems to be the bane of every patient. Synthetic wigs look artificial, don’t last long and cannot withstand any amount of heat -- even standing near an oven can heat up the wig.
However, after coughing up huge moolahs for cancer treatment, how many patients can afford to buy a good human hair wig? The best hair extensions and wigs in the world purchased by Hollywood A-listers costs an upward of 4500$ ( approx three lakhs), which is how much an average Indian can’t even afford for the treatment alone.
Ironically for us, these wig companies procure their raw material by participating in the most coveted hair auction in the world, conducted by TTD -- Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam. This year, TTD earned a record 177.2 crore by selling 106 tonnes of human hair. A staggering 25,000 people shave their heads every day in the temple town as a form of thanksgiving or penance.
So when I cut off 15 inches of my hair to donate to an organisation which helps chemo patients, I felt like a speck in this huge thriving business empire of mane tales. The organisation, Hair for Hope-India, encourages hair donations (15" and more) to provide human hair wigs to economically challenged chemo patients. The organisation was started in 2013 by Premi Mathew, and they have conducted many hair donation camps in schools, colleges and various localities to create awareness. Donors ranging from the age of 7 onwards have participated by cutting their hair publicly for the noble cause, and the organisation continues to gather accolades.
The website, www.protectyourmom.asia gives interested donors clear instructions on how to cut your hair, ziplock it and post it.
Meanwhile, on the same day, I donated my hair, I went online and pledged all my organs too. While putting my daughter to sleep that night, she asked me, “Mamma, you donated your hair and your organs, and now you look like Neerja Bhanot. Are you going to die?"
Not yet. I have never donated blood. (Yet)
For more info on how you can donate your hair
Contact - Father Alex Praikalam .
mobile +91 9496464118/ 9496465136
email pym20101@hotmail.com
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