A Hair’s Breadth

How much time do we think about hair, quite a bit actually? When we wake, shower, and look in the mirror, we comb or brush it into place. If our hair is thinning or too long, we worry and make plans to have it cut or sometimes think about having the hair replaced if the thinning has expanded to baldness. Some men, tired of it all, shave their heads, but even they aren’t free from hair. Every few days some hair begins to sprout and the razor comes out.

Speaking about a razor, men have to deal with facial hair as well as some women. (Yes women, even you and don’t say NoNo.) Again, the mirror helps men to trim, shape, or completely scrape off those coarse bristles. Full beards are the exception. Women use the mirror and a pair of tweezers to remove those random growths when they emerge.

Women chase those unwanted hairs on legs, armpits, and private areas using a razor, waxes, or depilatories. They subject themselves to the pain, scrapes, and irritation to look smooth and sleek. Now men, other than the body builders who normally would remove body hair to highlight their muscles, are now following suit, stripping their bodies of the “unnecessary” fur.

But the thing that made me think about hair was our old neighbor. He was an older man and harrumphed in his throat quite a bit. Thin almost to the point of emaciation, he would sit on the front porch and watch the yard as we ran, jumped, and played. When we tired, we often sat on his porch and talked. As a kid I was fascinated with the crop of hair that protruded from his ears. A thick thatch of coarse hair, like flowers in a vase, stuck out from his ears. I didn’t understand how he could still hear with so much foliage growing there. I always said to myself, “I won’t allow mine to get that thick,” and have a problem, frequently having to trim of pluck them before my ear canal it filled.

My daughter says I wear a sweater all year round. I do have body hair, but not as much as some having enough hair to be considered body armor.  I wonder if that is how the mohair suit got its name, more hair. (Please don’t write me and tell me that was not the reason for its name. I do know the whys of it.)

There are all kinds of potions and treatments to get rid of hair, clean and volumize hair, to dry hair, or to grow hair, depending on the person’s need. There are also products to curl, straighten, or to color hair. If you have graying hair, even beards, they make you young again by adding color where the color has fled in its old age. If you just want to change the color of your hair, they have dyes for that as well. They make combs and brushes of all shapes and sizes for your convenience or needs.