Purple Hair for World Pancreatic Cancer Day

November is National Pancreatic Cancer month, and November 17th is World Pancreatic Cancer day. I have always wanted to dye my hair purple, last year I donned a gorg purple wig for my Facebook profile picture to raise awareness for pancreatic cancer. This spring when I got my hair done, I asked my hairstylist to make it lighter juuuuuust in case I decided to dye it purple.

One Friday at work this summer, I finally got the bug, and ran to the mall to pick up some purple hair dye.

I asked Kyle to help me, but somehow that meant he would sit on the couch, downstairs while I tried to paint my hair strands. Poorly.

As I was dyeing, it occured to me that my hair stylist was getting married the following morning. Meaning if it was a DISASTER, I was stuck with it. No pressure.

Clearly I didn't have the proper tools for this project. 

Purple top knot while the color sets.

And a terribly lit "after" photo. I adore our new house, but the lighting after dark blows.

So you throw on a flower crown snapchat filter to mitigate the crappy light problem.

And wait for the next day and some better lighting!

I dyed it a second time a month or so later, this time with proper tools, and loved it just as much! It washed out super fast, but I kept a few lavendar strands that hung on for longer than a week and a half. The first time I dyed it I took extra care to wash it with really cold water, sparingly, but the second time I dyed it was right before my mom passed, so I DGAF about my hair. Not surprisingly. Still glad I got a few pictures before it completely faded!

I considered doing it green for my fall marathon, but then that didn't pan out. That might be for the best. :)

Pancreatic Cancer Facts (taken from ECPC.org):

• Pancreatic cancer has the lowest survival rate of all cancers – just 3-6% of those diagnosed survive for five years.
• Pancreatic cancer is nearly always diagnosed too late with 80% of pancreatic cancer patients having terminal disease with an average life expectancy of a mere 4-6 months.
• Symptoms of pancreatic cancer can be very vague and depend on whether the tumour is in the head, body or tail of the pancreas. Abdominal pain is a symptom in about 70% of pancreatic cancer cases and jaundice (also known as icterus) occurs in about 50% of cases.
• Early diagnosis is key: If patients are diagnosed in time for surgery, their chance of surviving 5 years or more increases ten-fold.
• Pancreatic cancer has been underfunded for decades and receives less than 2% of overall cancer research funding.