One of the privileges of being somewhat of a citizen of the world is that I have been lucky enough to see a range of animals in their natural habitat. On a recent safari in South Africa, while watching some truly amazing cheetahs, the park ranger was explaining the often made mistake of confusing a cheetah for a leopard, which unlike a cheetah which has hair markings which have a different pattern of spots. It got me thinking about some of nature’s finest creations, and how significant their hair is in their characteristics.
The cheetah has rosettes on its fur, easily blending them into their natural habitat and enabling them to go unnoticed by their prey until making a final attack at speeds up to 60 miles per hour reached within 3-4 seconds. The white lion’s hair is colored for good reason; especially on its face and around its eyes to enable moonlight of the night hunter to reflect off the hair on its face into its eyes, enhancing its night vision. Can you imagine the graceful giraffe without its distinctive markings? But the distinctive patterns and colors of hair which make up the markings of countless animals and birds are only part of the story. Imagine a polar bear without its fur, or your beloved cat or dog at home perhaps? Imagine if the hair which makes of the feathers of a bird did not absorb oils effectively waterproofing them? Hair it seems is an essential part of most animals and birds survival.
So how does all this relate to a simple human like me, who has been through a Bosley hair restoration procedure? Well in my mind, I think that us humans, or certainly me perhaps, for too long have taken our hair for granted, and its only when we start losing it that we realize its importance to us. On my recent safari I did not wear a hat – certainly something I would likely have done prior to my hair restoration. But the benefit of a full head of hair goes much further than simple sun protection. These benefits are not the point I am trying to make (I have spoken much of them in previous blogs).
The point in my mind is our hair is an essential part of our makeup and our characteristics. Unlike our animal and bird friends, who I have no doubt would need little convincing of the importance of their hair in their survival, us humans seem to have taken ours for granted and also complicated our feelings toward getting it restored by experts like Bosley by feelings of self-consciousness or privacy perhaps. I think we should look at our friend the cheetah and understand our hair, like theirs, defines us, and is an essential part of who we are.