My Worst Enemy: The Hairbush
Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face.” Like many little kids, I had a lot of fears. Flying, bees, getting stuck in the elevator and sleeping alone were just a few of the nonsensical worries that impacted my daily existence. However, my biggest fear trumped all. The thinnest thing on the planet, the most random phobia, four letters but a demon that impacts my daily existence: HAIR. This might sound weird at first so let me explain. NOT hair on someones head or body but rather hair on ANYTHING else. Hair on food, hair in sinks, hair in showers, hair attached to clothing, UGH. Even saying those out loud make my skin crawl and turn my face into one of disgust. I have no idea where this fear came from but all I know is if I see a strand of hair out of place I cannot concentrate on anything other then removing it from my eye site. I have interrupted serious conversations, lectures from teachers and even gone up to random people just to remove those tiny, (I could say monster-like) things off of them. Going into college and now living in a room with another girl, who might I add has LONG dark hair was definitely out of my comfort zone. “What if her hair falls on the floor?”, “What if her hair gets left in the shower?”, Well these “nonsensical worries” came true. I got the roommate whose hair sheds more then any human I have ever come in contact with. Needless to say said roommate is my best friend and I love her more than anything, but her shedding hair made me want to hide away in a hole. In hind sight, now being a second semester junior at Syracuse University, I am truly proud of myself. I have really tried (not always succeeded) but tried hard to not let hair affect me in my every day college life. Although my fear of hair is not completely gone, I have come a long way from interrupting classes to now living in a house full of 30+ girls who leave hair balls in the sink like it is their job. I give a lot of credit to my college roommate for essentially giving me exposure therapy without even knowing it. Everyone has fears in college wether big or small they all matter and with a little help can be diminished. Here I am conquering one fear at a time and seeing hair every day! Just don’t even utter the words elevator…
By Grace Sands, Syracuse University ‘22