Headgear styles for the bald chemo girl

 I love dressing up and that is one of the many things that was a thread which connected me to a life beyond that of a cancer patient. As soon as I was diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer, with the little bit of time I had before the chemotherapy began I decided to get scarves! A lot of people including the nurses and the doctor at MVR told me that hair loss is only a probability and not everyone loses their hair during chemotherapy. This girl I met at Toni&Guy who's father was diagnosed with Colon Cancer told me despite undergoing 24 rounds of chemotherapy, uncle did not lose a strand of hair. But, I went to Toni&Guy to trim off my hair before it fell off dramatically and I was not sure if I will be able to process waking up to fallen hair strands on the bed and related drama. I have to tell you at this point that I am not a crier, so I actively avoid situations which can cause my eyes to well-up. Even though I have always had short hair since 2017, and I was not like the Biblical Samson, I felt loss of something I was always used to without my control and decision would hurt me, so I trimmed it all down. 

HEADGEAR: 

Now. I have developed some headgear styles which I would urge you guys to try and match with your outfits. If I wear a printed dress, I use a plain headscarf and vice versa. I have listed down some things that might come in handy as you begin to understand why repurposing your fashion style along with other things in life post your cancer diagnosis might just make your hospital visits and any other outings or video calls, much more fun.

Ingredients/Tips

1. Rectangular cloth materials [22 x 72 inches]
2. Square cloth material [22 x 22 inches]
3. Materials should not be thick and stiff. It will be heavy on the head and will cause sweating. 
4. Materials should be light, breezy and preferably cotton or muslin cotton mix. This worked best for me. 
5. Get block colors, graded colors, nice prints etc. 
6. Your local cloth store might just have it for you to cut and get. As an activity, you can even stitch up the sides. Stitching is oddly very calming. 
7. OR you can just repurpose an old saree or dupatta!

Style 1 and my go-to style: 

    

This is how I dressed for the follow-up after first chemo. I have used a graded color scarf. This brings out the beautiful layers without any effort from my side and if you pair it with a dress or shirt + skort like I have in sort of these purple/blue hues, it goes really well. Do not forget to get a mask which goes with this look as well. Get a cream colored mask to complete the lewk.

Here is the video explaining how to do it along with some other styles. Once you drape it, adjust the twists by bringing it forward, backward, tightening, loosening etc to your convenience and style. 

https://youtu.be/FLBa7IjV6Ow?si=AMBJJ-2mOFX73QU9 

Style 2 for occasions - decorate the headgear: 

Drape the headgear without twisting the cloth and add some nice jewellery pieces like a necklace or maati on it for an empress lewk. I pulled off this look for Christmas. I aim to try out a Frida Kahlo look sometime as well.