Charmaine honours mother by shaving off her hair

Last year I shaved my hair off at the Shavathon held in Pavillion Shopping Centre, Durban. See my photo’s from before, during and after. It is one of my proudest moments and it is truly a liberating and personally explorative experience, as well as a rewarding and life-affirming action.

I shaved bald for my mother, who when I was 5 and my brother 3, was newly divorced and moved 2 hours away from her family in Durban, to Richards Bay. At the time she was studying correspondence through UNISA, teaching full time, living in government housing and was undergoing chemotherapy for very bad skin cancer (melanoma).

My brother and I were only told about her cancer 7 years ago, when we were old enough to understand. She still today returns to her GP to have the cancer spots burnt off as they appear. At 18 I moved out of my mother’s house and into my grandparents’ house whilst I studied and worked in Durban.

I see my mom every 3-4 months but we try to keep regular contact. My mother wasn’t with me the day I shaved my hair in person, but in my heart. I saw her about 6 weeks after the shavathon and I don’t think anything could have made her prouder. She still is my true hero and an inspiration to everyone who meets her.

Thank you for organising this event, and making it public. Even if we never find a cure to cancer the impact of shaving in condolence means the world to those affected by cancer.

Charmaine Crystal Drury