Hairstyling - or borderline child cruelty...

Week 52 of Tara's Gallery. It doesn't seem two minutes, etc, etc. This week the theme is Hair and I am so looking forward to seeing the bad hairstyles on offer from my fellow bloggers.

In 2008, I was recovering from breast cancer treatment and my hair was growing back slowly. For a pictorial demonstration of the loss and the regrowth, pop to this previous Gallery post. It was good to have it back, don't get me wrong, but I missed my long locks and straightening my pixie crop with mini-straighteners just didn't cut the mustard. What could I do? How could I sate my lust for rampant hairstyling?

It was then that my eyes fell upon 4 year old O. A boy with lucious curly locks, tousled and bouncy. AND RIPE FOR THE STRAIGHTENING!

He was pliant and still as I impressed upon him the need not to move as I brandished the scorching GHDs. He went from this:



to this, in a matter of minutes:



I know he looks sad - but it was a transient sadness. I do have a beaming photo - look!



Yes, it was wrong, but these were desperate times. Now I've got my own wild curly mane (chemo can make your hair come back curly) and my straightening days are long behind me. It takes far to long to even achieve a wavy kink out of the new hair. But O is safe too - I think at the ripe old age of six, he would tell me in no uncertain terms to PUT THE STRAIGHTENERS DOWN, MUMMY!

Self portrait - the hardcore version... The Gallery Week 12

This is my entry for Tara @ Sticky Fingers' Gallery Week 12. It's been a tough one for me but I am so glad I did it. I am sure there will be some fantastic entries this week. Please go and have a look at the other entries, as the Gallery is always full to bursting with wonderful photography.

May 2006. This first photo is a bit of a cheat, as I did not take this picture myself. But this was me, with my finger looking like it's stuck up my nose and my hair shiny, long and lustrous. I'm allowed to say that, as by November 2007, I'd been diagnosed with Grade 3 breast cancer and facing chemotherapy. The consultant who broke the dreadful news actually said, "Oh, your beautiful hair". I didn't think that the loss of my hair would be so hard to bear, but it really was.

My real mummy...

I'm a bit obsessed with my hair of late... *avoids cries from nearest and dearest who have put up with my hair moans for the best part of two years*

The weird thing about my post-chemo hair is its excessive curliness. I was a long-haired gal with a slight wave before the evil chemo made it all fall out and I liked it. There are many stories to be told about the day my hair went and the day my lovely friends held my hand, held me tight and helped me through the shock of having it all shaved off, but I think that's for another time.