“Mermaid hair”
It is no surprise to anyone who knows Katie that she would use the opportunity of impending hair loss to launch a wildly creative, multi-phase hair project.
Phase 1: Bleach hair — goal to be as blonde as possible! The blonder the hair, the brighter colors will show up on top of it once dyed. Caution: avoid the roots!
Phase 2: Apply super bright hair dye(s).
Phase 3 (Current): Shave part of head in trendy celebrity-esque way.
Phase 4: Rock the mohawk. Will need vast amounts of hair gel.
Phase 5: Shave head. Learn to fashion head wraps, wigs, turbans, and scarves.
Perhaps in normal times Katie would have gone to a salon, but in pandemic times, she turned to her “Superpod” mates - the “Marys” (longtime friend and former roomie Mary G. and myself) for supplies, dye, and stylin’, Nate for shaving, and Joe (bro-in-law) for oversight of said shaving.
Prior to chemo class, we had a girls’ night at Katie’s house and bleached her hair in her kitchen, giving her a beachy blonde ‘do. For those of you who knew Katie back in high school, it seriously brought back memories!
The next night we dyed her hair bright blue (Anime) and purple (Pony). While the dye brand was called “Unicorn Hair” it turned out more mermaid-esque, so we’ve been calling it Katie’s “mermaid hair”. At this point I think Katie has thoroughly confused her nurses. “But you were just blonde yesterday!” said Katie’s nurse. “Yeah, and I was a brunette the day before!” responded Katie.
Katie is now in phase 3 of her hair project. She didn’t even pause before she cut off her braid with scissors and sat down for Nate to shave part of her head. She looks pretty amazing with a partially shaved head and mermaid hair. While phase 5 will be tough, I know Katie will rock her new style with as much ease and glamour as one could in the circumstance. Head over to Photos for more hair pics.
On the treatment side: Katie had her third round of chemo yesterday, followed by acupuncture to help mitigate some side effects she is experiencing. Overall, she is doing well and remains in high spirits. And she wore her homemade Halloween costume to chemo which was hilarious! She brought smiles to all her nurses and to no one’s surprise, Katie is one of their favorites. Halloween pics coming soon!