In less than one month I will be doing something I will potentially
regret. I am shaving off my head of hair in The World’s Greatest Shave for a
charity called The Leukaemia Foundation. The money I raise goes not only to research
but helping out people with cancer such as providing psychological aid to patients
and transporting those who can’t drive to and from chemotherapy appointments. It’s
a really amazing event that many people get behind in Australia. Here’s the
link to my page if you want to have a look or even donate:
I was super surprised and overjoyed when I put the call out
over facebook. I raised $300 in about an hour from my friends online at the
time alone. I’m lucky to have such a large base of supportive people around me.
Either that or they’re all keen on buying the right to sign their names and
penises on my clean-shaven scalp. I’m
starting to assume the later...
It seems to have become a rite of passage for university
students to take part in this a bit left of centre who don’t give much of a
shit about what has been deemed attractive. I guess I fall into that category
in a way. I’ve never been afraid of dying my hair bright, permanent colours or attempting
a late night haircut by yours truly. These sessions usually have rather abominable
outcomes I still enjoy having my own freedom to do what I want with my own
body. Who really wants to a hair dresser anyway and be sold overpriced lotions
and tonics and be told you have a dry scalp anyway?
Regina Spektor thinks so too so it must be right.
Even with my own opinions of hair related self liberation, I have never done anything quite as extreme as
shaving my hair. I’ve always been flippant with what I do with my hair because it
is only a temporary change to your appearance really. My hair’s a pretty average
dark brown colour naturally; dense and has a complete mind of its own. After I
stopped ballet I cut it short with a fringe and pretty much left it to do what
it wanted each morning. I’d wake up one
day with a quasi-quiff and know that no matter how much I tried, I wouldn’t be
able to get rid of it no matter how much I tried. Sometimes I’d wake up from
sleeping on my side and one side of my hair would be sticking out perpendicular
to my head and the other side would be sicking straight up, like that side of
my face was continuously sliding down a wall. I had a look in the mirror,
deemed it a lost cause and left for school.
This is one of my better hair days of 2008: my last year of
high school (right).
Just as an aside: I am wearing and Ingrid Michaelson shirt. She is amazing. This is one of my favourite songs of hers but there are many more that are also wonderful.
These days I’ve let it grow a bit and I’ve only just
realised that it doesn’t look half bad. 4 years of short hair experiments and
failures and I’ve finally got to something that always looks half decent.
This is
my hair about a month ago (left). I just realised that I am eating in both of these photos. it seems to be a relatively regular occurrence.
Typical. I begin to appreciate something when I am about to lose
it. My emotions are too mixed to make
any solid opinions or comments yet. I
just didn’t expect to be this sentimental about the entire affair. I’m sure I’ll let you know how no hair is going soon.
In other less ridiculous news, I just finished reading Perfume by Patrick Süskind. It based around a French man named Grenouille
in the 18th century, cast out of society for his lack of a personal
scent. The scent he lacks is made up for however with his own super-human sense
of smell. This skill, along with his
complete lack of human empathy leads him into doing some exceptionally evil
things I’ll leave you to discover
If you’re looking for a light holiday read, I’d say look somewhere
else. This book is furiously engaging and conveys beautiful imagery though impeccable
language but it is in no way a happy book. The way scents are described I found
so emotive and breathtaking that I’d recommend the book on that premise alone. I’d
say read it if you’re a bit of a literary nerd who enjoys macabre novels but
prepare yourself for some pretty bleak happenings.
Yeah...that’s it for me now.
LOVE x
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