By Stuart Adelberg
Now that we are in the New Year, I need to make a public confession. This will be difficult for me to say, but probably won’t surprise anyone who has seen me recently. Here goes. . . I am going. . . I am losing. . . 1.2.3. . . I HAVE LESS HAIR THAN I ONCE DID!!! There, I said it! Now it is completely out in the open. I am not yet ready for the “B” word, but. . . maybe someday. I have had a tremendous weight taken off my shoulders – well, more accurately, off my head!
I don’t know when this happened. I used to have a big pile of curls on top of my head. In fact, I fought against them for many years and would have given anything for the straight, manageable hair enjoyed by everyone else. If I heard one more woman tell me how they envied my curls or how much they paid for a permanent to replicate the mop I was “lucky” to be born with. . . I could have screamed. But here we are, a few years later and I miss my curls.
My lost locks didn’t seem like a gradual decline. I didn’t notice them disappearing until one day, they were gone! Yes, my hairline was receding, and my forehead was looking more every day like the beach at low tide but since the top seemed OK – all was fine. I had no idea what was happening at the back of my head! Ignorance really was bliss. Then, a few weeks ago, my barber held a mirror behind me to approve the haircut she had just completed. I still get choked up about that moment. At first, I insisted that this had to be someone else’s head she was showing me. Then I spent five minutes screaming, “what have you done?!” Eventually, after some deep breaths, I had to admit that the skin showing through my almost absent hair was my new reality.
So now, what do I do? I have noticed a ton of new products on the market that promise to grow hair and bring back my once abundant mane. I have seen pills, shampoos, and even an electric cap that evokes memories of Captain Video and is sure to scare the sleep out of anyone, including me, who has the misfortune to see me in the middle of the night! Do any of them work? I don’t know. And even if they do, should I fight nature, or accept my new fate as the inevitable effect of time?
Maybe I should embrace this as a new beginning, get rid of what little is left in favor of a more distinguished look? I have no idea how to act like a grown-up but perhaps I should accept it and adopt the air of a more mature gentleman. I have seen just as many products for hair removal as I have for hair regrowth. I have a sense that some are intended for parts of my body not seen quite as often as the top of my head, but hair is hair – isn’t it?
This is not what I planned when thinking about the New Year, but things could certainly be worse. My sincere wish for all is a happy 2024 with peace on earth, good health, and the fortuity to have no personal challenges more serious than my impending B.A.L.D. . . Nope – can’t say it yet!!
Stuart Adelberg has a long history of active involvement and leadership throughout the region’s nonprofit arts and human services communities. He is grateful that the Greenwich Sentinel provides him with the opportunity to share his thoughts, and occasional observations.
