Brickfish Community

Beth, the Grand Prize winner for Conair’s How Do You Reel It In? campaign, has won the awesome honor of guest-blogging on The Conair Blog on Conair.com. Diagnosed at age 26 with breast cancer, Beth lost all of her hair, which was always a defining factor for her in her life. Beth fought and survived and five years later, she is cancer-free and her hair is back – stronger and healthier than ever. Beth is the guest blogger for The Conair Blog for the month of October, where she will share her story, critique products and provide hairstyling tips. We’ve published her first blog post here on the Brickfish Community Blog. To read more, visit The Conair Blog at http://conair.com/conair_blog.php. Thank you, Beth, for sharing your inspiring story. We can’t wait to read more!

My Hair Story
October 6th, 2009

October used to be my FUN month. My birthday always falls on Columbus day weekend, and choosing a Halloween costume that always outdid what I wore the year before occupied most of my time. Of course, I would shop in stores and see some pink products that donated money to different breast cancer charities, but I never really paid it much attention. Why would I? I was 26 and in the prime of my life. I had long, luscious, curly locks that were my trademark…literally. One summer when I was thirteen I cut my hair, and I guess word got around, and I got a barrage of letters from friends telling me my life was over because I had chopped off all my hair. I never cut it drastically again.

I had a great body, and great breasts. And never for a single moment thought my world was about to be shattered when I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I cut my hair to a bob length, to try to prepare myself for chemo. Then I cut it to a G.I. Jane length, and though I would let the chemo take care of the rest. Boy was I stupid. The day the little hair that I had left started to fall out, was as devastating as the day they told me I had cancer.

Still, I pressed forward. And with every passing year, I reclaimed my life after cancer. My hair growth was a huge part of every milestone.
My first hair cut (I ran out crying, and thinking the guy just set me back three months), my first pony tail holder (although I couldn’t get all the hair into the pony tail without bobby pins) the first time I saw my curls start to come back (and I had to go through that TERRIBLE, awkward short curly hair helmet phase), and of course, the first time my hair passed my ears, then my chin, and brushed my shoulders.

A few weeks ago I celebrated five years since being diagnosed with breast cancer. My hair is healthy and strong, as are my body and spirit. And while I am grateful for having hair, I still have the same good and bad hair days as every other girl out there. I’ve been bald and back. I’ve rocked every shade of hair color from blond to black and all the reds in between. And now, I’m here to tell you all about it. There isn’t a product out there that I haven’t tried, a hairstyle I haven’t attempted to pull off, and what better to do with all of the hair knowledge that has been bestowed upon me, then to share it with incredible, fun, fearless females like myself. So stay tuned ladies…because the doctor is in. First on the agenda, EVERYTHING CURLS!!! Inside scoop soon to come. Hubert De Givenchy once said, “Hair style is the final tip off whether or not a woman really knows herself.”

Let’s find ourselves and our best hair together…

To read more of Beth’s blog posts, visit http://conair.com/conair_blog.php.