A new arrival

I am now into Day 15 of my first round of chemo, but my hair has yet to begin falling out. The longer I am able to have hair on my head, the better! Everyday I find myself running my fingers through my hair and giving the odd strand a little tug to see if the hair loss has begun, but there have been no signs thus far.

I did, however, recieve one of my new wigs in the mail today! It turned out to be the dark brown "second choice" wig that so many of you voted on a couple of weeks ago. I was very excited to see how I would look as a brunette, after living my entire life nearly platinum. The bad thing was that the wig came first thing in the morning-- before I had a chance to shower and apply my makeup. Being so excited, I immediately tore the box open, ripped the packaging off the wig, and threw it on my head. DISGUISTING! I instantly thought that I was crazy to think I could ever go dark. I showed my father, who has always been good for an honest opinion, and his first reaction was: "Sell it! It looks awful!"

Being the determined person I am however, I thought that I would at least give it a chance. I got showered, applied my make-up (including a little extra bronzer, since I figured it couldn't hurt with the dark hair), and got dressed. I then adjusted the wig and put it on with care, finally toying with it a little until I felt it looked presentable and as natural as possible. WOW! Was I ever happy that I gave the wig a chance. That little extra time made a world of difference, and I suddenly became 100% satisfied with the choice. Thanks everyone!

Remember my motto: There is ALWAYS something positive to take from everything life throws at you. Since I have begun choosing to see the positive in things (even things that seem comepletely BAD), I have been much happier and content with life. This is a true example of this. Hairloss can be a completely devastating event for most people (and I know it likely will be for me when it happens as well). But some good things can come from it! You get to experiment with many different looks that you otherwise would not have a chance to, for one!

Being so excited with my new look, I immediately went to the bathroom mirror to snap some photos to send to my closest friends. I added a few of them here for you to see. Warning! Seeing Melanie as a brunette may be shocking ...

P.S. Keeping with the fun side of things, I decided to name the new wig "Layla," meaning "dark beauty."