by Brianna Murphy
Last Thursday, Alpha Sigma Phi held its annual Cuts for Cancer event in part of Livestrong Week. Students volunteered to donate their hair or have their heads shaved while other students can bid money to be able to cut the volunteer’s hair or shave their heads.
The funds that were raised were all donated to the Livestrong charity. Usually, the men of Alpha Sigma Phi have odd designs shaved into their heads and wear those designs proudly for a few hours until they completely shave their heads.
In an unprecedented action, two young women shaved their heads. Amanda Slick, a freshman, and Kyrstin House, a junior, both elected to shave their heads.
“I wanted to be able to give back to those who are affected by cancer,” House said. “Hair is such a temporary thing. It will grow back.”
“I had been thinking about shaving my head for Livestrong since August of this year,” Slick said. “I had been on the fence, not really sure if I should or if I could.
It was the day of the event when I suddenly realized how important it was for me to do it. I decided to shave my head because I realized that hair isn’t the most important thing in someone’s life.
It doesn’t define who you are as a person. And it doesn’t emanate beauty. I think donating 10-12 inches of hair is a remarkable thing, and I respect everyone who has done it in the past. I, myself, donated my hair to Wigs for Kids.
But the men and women who suffer the side effects of chemotherapy do not get the option to keep any of their hair – they lose it all.
Being a woman, it is very impactful when someone loses their hair, and I felt like I needed to make that impact on our campus.”
Many women identify themselves by their hair styles and cannot imagine not having it rest on their shoulders every day.
These women took an opportunity to go against the mold of what a woman should look like to send a poignant message.
“After shaving my head, I feel stronger,” House said. “I have my moments, though, especially looking at photos where I have hair. Going out in public has also been weird. I notice people’s looks a lot more often – some approving, some disapproving, and a lot of pitying looks.
I have learned in the past three days that confidence is key, to keep my head up, and a smile on my face. It’s crazy to me that cancer victims have to go through this every day and it’s not by choice.
I’m glad that even though I don’t have cancer, I have a chance to partially put myself in their shoes.” “I thought I would feel sad or regret shaving my head, but I don’t,” Slick said.
“Giving up my hair gave my a huge boost of confidence in myself, even though I do get some surprised looks from people who see where my hair once was. None of that matters because I really feel like I did a remarkable thing.”
As young women on a college campus, these two broke all sorts of stereotypes and sent an important message. House sums it up well: “Bald is beautiful.”
bmurphy@capital.edu
