fringe benefits
2004-01-31

After being shaven and shorn for about a week now, I have acquired a newfound sympathy for bald people worldwide. I don�t mean people who shaved off their hair just for the heck of it (like yours truly) but those who tried furiously to stop the hairs from falling out and failed spectacularly.

You might not realize this, but hair does a lot of small things for you; in its absence, you start to get mighty irritated with your head.

Imagine walking to class at 8 in the morning with the dew still fresh and the air is prickly cool; your whole body is warm, thanks to your very stylish outerwear, but my god, your head feels like its been shoved into a freezer.
You detest wearing a hat since it makes your virgin scalp itch, so you just let the wind ravage that beautiful, round, hairless head of yours.

Or imagine yourself walking on the same sidewalk at noon. Your head is screaming bloody murder at the heat since it has no hair to act as a shield against cancer inducing sunrays, and all you have is a 4 inch thick textbook. You have the option of putting that monstrosity on your head to cover yourself from the sun or run like mad for the nearest hint of shade.
Both choices would make you look freakier than you already are.

For a few days I�ve woken up with dog-eared ears due to my lack of hair. I never realized this, but hair keeps your ears from accidentally folding i.e. terlipat when you sleep on your side. Apparently the strands hold back the ears so you�d wake up looking normal and not like a sub-species of Troll.

So people, take good care of your hair. You�ll miss the fringe benefits when it�s gone.

NOTE: Happy Birthday to Yoi! Hello to Nana (I shaved it off myself, with the help of a friend's razor) and Thank You to Asrif.