Recently, this paper ran an in-depth feature on hair professionals becoming increasingly aware and sensitised to the plight of cancer patients
Recently, this paper ran an in-depth feature on hair professionals becoming increasingly aware and sensitised to the plight of cancer patients. and other persons fighting grave illness.
The patients usually lost their hair due to chemotherapy or other medication and were at their lowest ebb psychologically due to this. They had cut their social life to a minimum because of how they looked.
ADVERTISEMENT
That report spoke about how a couple of hair stylists have started working towards making wigs for these patients especially.
Hair donation needs greater awareness. Like organ donation, which is organised to a large extent with doctors on board and brand ambassadors, maybe hair donation too needs an organised effort.
Sensitised to the cause
Hair donation even with all the rules about what kind of hair has to be donated, does not have all the stigma and myths associated with organ donation.
It can be given in a much easier way and it is heartening to note that stylists, usually associated with perceived flippancies like looks and entertainment, have become more sensitised and aware of the issue.
Similarly, yesterday, we ran a piece on fashion designers Narresh Kukreja and Shivan Bhatiya designing sari blouses for women who have gone through mastectomy and are breast cancer survivors.
They too, scaled down costs and tied up with NGOs so that a greater number of women would be able to afford these blouses.
The glamour industry, with its huge repertoire of creativity and talent, can surely find different ways of benefiting people who are suffering low self esteem and psychological problems, because their appearance has been affected by an ailment.
On the whole though, it is heartening to see an industry, often dismissed as self-obsessed, showing great sensitivity and empathy with patients struggling to regain their confidence to face the world — and themselves in the mirror.