As I tried on hats in the high-end store, I looked in the mirror and told the Indian clerk I like hats because they cover my thinning hair.
He said, “Your hair looks fine. At least it’s not a vig!”
“A what?” I asked?
“A vig.”
It took me a moment to realize he was saying wig. I smiled, not at his accent (which I found endearing, unlike the strong Midwest accent I used to have), but because I was wearing a hair “topper” to supplement my thinning locks.
“What’s wrong with wigs?” I asked, as I looked at his full head of thick hair. “I’ve known men and women who wear wigs, and they can look fantastic.”
“They just scream vanity to me,” he said, standing there with his perfect manicure, plucked eyebrows, and dressed head to toe in designer clothing.
To each his own, but how can one not like wigs? They can transform your appearance, save a lot of time, and even look real if you do it right.
Wigs were fashionable for men in the 18th century. Unfortunately for me and many other men who don’t look good with a shaved head, our souls now live in a time when they’re only acceptable for women, aging rockers, and drag queens. In fact, one of the worst fashion crimes for a man is being clocked wearing a wig.
Whatever. I’ve never been one to follow rules that seem illogical to me.
Remembering the spiritual side helps me deal with the stress of hair loss and wig disapproval from others. I try to follow my advice from my book, Your Soul Knows in Chapter 6, Step 3: let go and accept.
And, as I wrote about in the near-death experience research section of the book, it’s best to not take things too seriously because life on Earth is all an illusion; our worries are often not as significant as they seem. It’s only hair, right?
We humans probably place way too much importance on appearance and all the customs associated with it.
At the same time, wigs can be spiritual; we can use them, like the temporary costumes of our physical bodies, to express our souls and be who we were, are, and want to be. Like RuPaul said, “You’re born naked. The rest is drag.”
I encourage you to let go and accept what you can’t change about your physical self, and use your creativity and free will to express who you want to be, in body, mind, and/or soul. It’s really up to you to be and look how you want, and no one else’s business. Go for it, it’s later than you think.
Copyright © 2022 Stephen Petullo
