I'm Shaving My Head...Again!

[Eeyores Butterfly]

In a little over two weeks, I will be participating in an event known as St. Baldrick's. I did this four years ago as well. Basically, we raise money for childhood cancer research through head shaving events, which means that I will be going bald! This time, not only am I a participatng, I am also the lead organizer. We will be holding ours at Raglan Road Irish Pub (I chose it because I recognized the name from Disney. This is one of two in the country.)

I am super excited but very nervous as this is my first time organizing one. I am also nervous because the last time I shaved I was in college and it was a little easier. Now I have two jobs and may be looking at interviewing for different schools. I do have a couple of questions:

One of my jobs (my theme park job) may require me to wear a wig. I've worn them before when I worked Disney entertainment, but that was when I had hair to secure it to. What is a good place to get a decent wig but one that is not too expensive? How do you make sure it stays on when you are bending over and very active? This job requries a lot of physical labor and is very hot, out of in the sun. I will be working in the new children's section of the park where there is no shade. How easy are wigs to clean/care for?

My second question is about head scarves. I have a few left over from last time, but they don't really match anything I have. I got them from the ACS catalogue. Are there any other sites people can recommend that they have experience with?

 

[Eeyores Butterfly]

This is the before and after from last time: My hair is almost exactly the same length now as it was then:

 

[a1tinkfans]

Wow, first let me say you are AMAZING
and you happen to look just as beautiful without hair as you do with (and not too many people can actually say that

As someone who lost all their hair from Chemo, to "choose" to do it for this cause is AWEsome, so Thank you for all your dedication. It is a terrible disease and when it effects kids, it is so far beyond comprehension to me............

As far as wig info, I do not know what you have locally, but the head scarf things are quite comfortable, easy care and look nice too. They make a "cap" type thing for under the wigs, but in the heat with no shade, I fear will be really "not too comfortable" KWIM?
I just want to wish you the best in your charity event AND again say Thanks for Caring and Making a Difference, because you Really, Really Do!

 

[crazyme5kids]

A big thumbs up to you !

As far as wearing a wig, unless it is part of your uniform and you are required to wear one, I would not wear one. Is there anything in the employee handbook that says woman must have their hair a certain length? Would your employers tell a man to wear a toupee if he shaved his head?

So, if it were me (and I used to buzz my hair very, very short) and I shaved my head for such a worthy cause, I would not worry about a wig.

 

[Eeyores Butterfly]

A big thumbs up to you !

As far as wearing a wig, unless it is part of your uniform and you are required to wear one, I would not wear one. Is there anything in the employee handbook that says woman must have their hair a certain length? Would your employers tell a man to wear a toupee if he shaved his head?

So, if it were me (and I used to buzz my hair very, very short) and I shaved my head for such a worthy cause, I would not worry about a wig.

LOL. They have a look very similar to the Disney look. It does say, "No partially shaved heads or designs shaved in the heads for females." I don't want to wear one, but we want to make sure it is clear with HR. The costume managers stand at the entrance to the park and will yell at you if your belt is wrong! The thing that could be an issue is that I am leading our new children's section of the park. This is its inaugural season and there will be press there as well big wigs from all over the company (this company owns many theme parks across the US). The managers are asking since the guidelines are not totally clear.

I'm hoping to avoid it and just wear a scarf, hat, or sunscreen, but I need to be ready for the possibility dependiung on what HR tells my managers. I hope they don't say I need one since it does seem to defeat the purpose!

 

[Cindy B]

Great idea and motivation!

As for wigs, you can check in ethnic urban areas-- some African American hair stores have wigs for purchase. You can also check Judaica stores as well. (Orthodox women use wigs )

My paraprofessional is an African American woman who wears wigs on occasion. (she tells me!) She told she brushes it out just like hair and uses a special type cleaning thing to clean it -- I think it was waterless shampoo spray-- Aveda carries it.

 

[briannesmom]

When does the theme park open for the year? If you are shaving your head in two weeks it may grow back enough by then to be considered really short instead of shaved.

 

[Abbie]

My mom has been wearing wigs for over 40 years...not sure I'd recognize her without one! She orders online, mostly from Paula's I believe and they always have things on sale. You should be able to find something acceptable.

On the other hand, I have to think that if you were a cancer survivor and your hair was just regrowing after chemo, would that be a deterrent to your bosses? Doesn't seem right.

 

[redlight]

You look really cute with the buzz cut. I'm envious. I couldn't pull that off.

 

[Eeyores Butterfly]

When does the theme park open for the year? If you are shaving your head in two weeks it may grow back enough by then to be considered really short instead of shaved.

We start leadership training next week and our opening weekend is in late April (so about a month after.) If I remember right from last time, I'm going to look fairly bald for most of the summer. Last time I did it, I was known as the bald singer in church.

 

[clori]

If you decide to buy a synthetic wig online you might want to sign up at wigs.com since they offer frequent coupons. They carry a wide variety of wigs from many manufactures. For headcovers some places to look at online are sparklingearth.com, 4women.com, and headcovers.com. You can also try hatswithhair.com.

If you go with a wig you can try using a wig tape or a special glue to hold a wig in place that you can probably get from a place like wigs.com. Also you might want to get a wig cap that you wear under a wig that you could stick tape on if needed.