In May I went to the barber and left with a new do that I did not request. The comedic element of the barber showing me the double mirror showing me the front and back of my cut. The back mirror then showed me a spot of skin that would soon become my talking point going forward for the summer.
I arrived back home, thinking the barber may have just cut down a little too much so I posed this question to the person who always would tell me I looked good even if she was blind.. my mom. I said “Do you think that barbers know when you are losing your hair and can speed it up if they cut your hair wrong?” Most of my barbers over the years have been bald, I have never known if that was a choice or that they actually had their hair fall out. Also having your profession be hair you must know when the writing is on the wall for the shelf life you have for your hair. Outside of their dick I feel like males idolize their hair second. Anyway, my mother was confused by the question to say the least and then questioned what I was actually trying to get at.
If you have been reading WD, you know that I did a piece about my withdrawal from switching from cymbalta to wellbutrin. After, going through the stages of grief of thinking my barber gave me this bald spot I assumed my hair would have fallen out do to stress. My parents also were the first to bring this up to me after two weeks had passed of my new look. This then became, the new talking points whenever someone would ask what happened to the back of my head. I even convinced myself that my new sunblock spot was the result of stress.
So now, I have my alibi that is dark but it makes my spot less of a roasting point of the classic line “looks like you dropped something” and now is the point where my hair is growing back maybe even to go over the spot. However, it is summer and the first summer that climate change is really starting to show itself C+C Music Factory style so I decided to get a hair cut.
Chatting with my new barber in a new city I am pleased that he has not commented on the spot yet a new school record for meeting someone new and not being asked about it. I spoke too soon, he says “What happened here” I get the courage to now share with this new barber about withdrawal and switching meds before I can say what medication he jumps in. “My buddy was like that to, drugs are bad and so on his hair fell out and spots every where like a dalmation” I quickly try to say something about how I am not using hard drugs and this is only my hypothesis. He shakes his head clearly thinking I am just trying to save face and not being a drugatic. Being the hair expert I have come to believe that barbers are he then starts prescibing me. He tells me his druggie friend, stopped eating meat and started doing yoga and the spots were gone. I shake my head because yoga is always good in my book still like to eat though. Finally, he leaves me with that if the hair never grows back, that I should get a haircut and then tattoo it in immediately after. I gave him a ten dollar tip for his bed side manner.
Lastly, we are here today as I type this entry, I went out on Saturday night and when leaving the bar a woman pulled me aside and said “do you mind if I ask you what happened?” I said oh of course, and read the withdrawal notecard I have memorized and then ruined her night because she was then left with melancholy in the north end. My bald spot journey will either end with having longer hair or when I ask the doctor what they think I will log back in to WD and write the next chapter.