I’ve been thinking about this Robert Frost quote lately (and how it applies to hair loss, of course).
“The Best Way Out is Through.”
It comes from his poem, “A Servant to Servants,” which is about a mentally-ill woman and her life on a seemingly idyllic lakeside. She is, as the title suggests, a servant to servants on a resort of sorts. Her discussion with a visiting naturalist reveals a tragic past. Brought up in a loveless family, her stark-raving-mad uncle was chained up in her family’s home. Yes, chained up! Later in life, the narrator casually notes that she too had “been away once–yes, I’ve been away. The State Asylum.”
She craves freedom and appreciates the beauty of her surroundings, but her life is comprised of little more than menial tasks like preparing meals for her hungry house guests. Her ambivalence about her lakeside location is described plainly in the following lines:
Drawing the slow waves whiter and whiter and whiter.
It took my mind off doughnuts and soda biscuit
To step outdoors and take the water dazzle
A sunny morning, or take the rising wind
About my face and body and through my wrapper,
When a storm threatened from the Dragon’s Den,
And a cold chill shivered across the lake.
Her husband, Len, also plays a critical role in the poem. He’s constantly busy, working from sun to sun, and he’s involved in a wide array of projects around their retreat and in town. Is he an attentive husband? No, it does not appear that way. But he’s an optimist, and his notes that he “looks on the bright side of everything,
Including me.” That’s a positive attribute.
Len is the character who supplies this blog’s title:
“Len says one steady pull more ought to do it.
He says the best way out is always through.”
Now, let’s get back to hair loss for a moment, since I’ve already taken my English-Major detour.
Hair Loss – The Way Out Is Through
What does that mean?
It means when you’re dealing with a hair loss crisis, or any other crisis, the best way out is going to be fast and efficient. It’s not going to be easy, necessarily — no, there will be some pain involved. But the short-term pain will be worth it, and the long-term costs you’ll pay if you don’t get through this crisis could be devastating. Hair loss is something some men never get over. But you don’t have to be one of them.
It’s important to make a plan when you have any goal in mind. That’s step one. Think about your ultimate objective, what success looks like in mind, and go from there. Your deal-with-hair-loss plan could go something like this:
- Research the best hair loss treatments on the market.
- Review the top hair loss specialists in your area.
- Devise a treatment plan with your doctor
- evaluate your hair loss every few months, no more, and re-assess your situation in 6 months time
- Stop obsessing over hair loss!
- Don’t comb your hair when it’s super wet and the thinning is exposed
- Avoid that mirror we talked about earlier
- Just wear a cap on days when you’re feeling subconscious
Yes, I realize that plan was unnecessarily thorough, perhaps…But that’s okay, my goal is to set you up for success.
Or, If you’re looking to let your locks fall out as God intended, your plan could look something like this:
- You buzz your head!
- You buy some cool sunglasses and other accessories
- You up your fashion game, ensuring you’re a good-looking bald man
- You get in shape, because staying in shape is the great equalizer for bald men, as comedian Bill Burr says.
No Need to Over-complicate It…
The way out is through. I included an audio version of the poem below, so if you feel like unleashing your inner literary nerd, knock yourself out! God this was a weird post….But hopefully there was an inspirational nugget or two that you’ll take with you. You may also like my post on how to overcome your hair loss-related depression and insecurities.
Robert Price is a writer, consumer advocate, and hair loss researcher with thousands of hours of experience in the field. His goal is to keep you out of the hair loss rabbit hole, underworld, or whatever you want to call it. He founded Hair Loss Daily, the unbiased hair loss blog, in 2016. You can learn more about Robert in the my story section of this website.