Hair, a Manifesto is a creative project by two longtime friends -- Denise and Wendy -- who spent our youth (in the 1980s) longing for long, thick, big hair. Now in our 50s, we have both experienced hair loss -- Wendy due to chemotherapy and Denise due to hormones and hair extensions. 

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In our younger years in Ohio we dreamed of having the luxurious locks we saw in magazines and TV.  Yet, our fine, thin hair defied the "Bigger is Better" standards of the era.    

 

Flash forward: We have had our individual adventures living and working in far-flung places -- from our childhoods in Ohio, we went on to live in Lake Tahoe, Wisconsin, Texas, Morocco, Japan, Belgium, Turkey and the UK. We have worked in international education and international development in many countries.  (So, we are legit cool.)​

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We now live in different countries -- Denise in the USA and Wendy in the UK -- but have found the subject of hair a fascinating doorway into the many emotions and challenges that come with being human.

 

Not only is hair a potent topic for exploring our lives ... at times it's also hilarious. We've found the subject of hair and hair loss something to cry over, but also to laugh about, especially as we remember our early life dreams and ponder where we are now and where we may be headed.

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Through chats online we found that hair is a fruitful entry point to so many issues: transition, shame, envy, anxiety, loss of control, aging, quest for authenticity and ultimately grace. Grace is about sitting in the stew of uncertainty as we get older and face some of life’s tough realities. You can’t engineer uncertainty out of life, so we’re trying to dance with it together.

 

This writing collaboration is therapy; it’s way-finding through fear and shame. Humor helps a shit ton, and you will see it sprinkled throughout as a way to help us, and maybe other women out there, to move through the spiral of emotions associated with hair loss. 

 

This is not a fearless attempt to examine loss. We hold emotions through the various prisms of truth, but we have fun at the same time. This project has shifted the heaviness of our respective hair loss into a source of connection. What you will experience is how connection can transform emotions, and humor has turned lemons into a blog.

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We hope you feel inspired.  We hope you laugh your ass off.

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With Love,

Denise and Wendy