Happiness Through Hair

Believe it or not, your hair could hold the key to someone else’s happiness. RANJAN MUKERJEE explains why donating your hair can bring a smile to the face of someone battling cancer.

One doesn’t have to look too far to see how pervasive cancer is in our modern day to-day lives. Chances are high that every one of us knows of at least one person who has been diagnosed with it at some point in their lives. Needless to say, increasing awareness about it is of paramount importance; so much so that the entire month of October is dedicated to Breast Cancer Awareness, and to tell the stories of those fighting it as well as those who have survived it.

If you have ever wondered how you can help in any way, your hair might just hold the answer to that question.

Hair loss has its psychological effects

Whether someone diagnosed with cancer has to undergo chemotherapy or radiation therapy, hair loss is an inevitable side-effect. The treatments take their toll on the body, and the hair is not spared either. However, the toll isn’t just physical, but psychological as well. Hair loss is often one of the tougher aspects of the disease for the patient to deal with—it is the visual representation of what they are undergoing and their lack of control over their own lives.

A 1997 study in the journal Supportive Care in Cancer revealed why this is so. Cancer patients associated losing hair as a cause for lower self-esteem and even made them feel sicker than they actually were. Hair loss also had an effect on their cognitive and rational thinking capabilities, which affected their problem solving skills. Losing hair due to cancer is not a vanity issue—it is about the lack of agency, especially in the case of children who are too young to grasp what is going on with their bodies.