The problem in front of us right now can’t be put off…

“There are other things you need to worry about before you worry about your hair, right?”

Foam, gel, hairspray, mist…this is what my parents often told me during my teenage years, when I would use my precious time before school to style my hair, even though I was desperately sleepy, using all sorts of hair styling products.

I never thought I’d hear the same words from my wife decades later. However, it wasn’t in front of the sink early in the morning, but in the shampoo section of the drug store late in the afternoon.

When I first started to worry about my thinning hair, the first thing that came to mind was to change my shampoo.

I hadn’t really paid much attention to it before, but I had no idea there were so many types of shampoo for men. There are various claims such as adding volume, cleansing the scalp, nourishing and improving hair quality, etc. Prices range from cheap to expensive. However, when I think that there might be something among them that can save my current situation (hair), I can’t help but get serious.

Looking back now, I think it probably didn’t look very good to see a middle-aged man crouching down with shampoo in both hands and a frown on his face.

The wife’s words at the beginning also conveyed a feeling that she “couldn’t bear to watch.”

And with that one word, I came to my senses… I didn’t come back to my senses. “That may be true, but…” The words that came to my mind were the same as they were back then. I haven’t grown at all.

What may seem trivial to others is a big problem for the person involved. Aren’t most of our worries like that?

“I know there are other important things, but I can’t put off the problem in front of me right now!” If you take a step back, look at it from a third-party perspective, or think about it after a few years have passed, it may not seem like that at all, but once your mind is caught up in it, there’s no way to change it.

However, being able to ridicule himself by saying “I haven’t grown at all” may be the bare minimum of growth.

I think what my mother told me decades ago about the “other things you need to worry about more” was things like, if you have time, you should just memorize one English word, or get to school on time, or chew your breakfast well and eat it slowly, in other words, to focus on the things you should be doing at your age.

So, what are the other things I need to be more concerned about now that I’m middle-aged?

There were so many things on my mind that I felt depressed after just a few seconds of thinking about it, but I decided to make an appointment for the city health check-up that I have been skipping for the past few years. I hope they will find a cause for my hair loss other than aging.

Text by Harunobu Toribatake