I started to lose my hair in my twenties. It did not affect me emotionally. Now, years later, I can shower and have dry hair in seconds! But I once knew a man whose also started to lose his hair early but who took it much more seriously. He quite soon started to keep up a front. He wore a wig. OK, why not? Well, the problem was that he seemed to spend more and more thought and energy on maintaining the image. His hair-piece had to keep up with the receding hairline. The best ones had to be re-done regularly and expensively. The fear of getting caught in the rain grew on him. Then he become afraid of winds. And all the time it seemed more and more important to hide it from everyone.

He got married. He hid it from his wife! What a strain on the nerves that must have been.

But in the end when his hair was taking up nearly all his thoughts and energies he finally decided that enough was enough. It took courage. And a trip abroad so that he could at least give a dead white scalp a time to match his face. He dreaded the expected comments on his return. But in fact little was said. And why should it? People can easily take it in their stride if someone else loses his hair!

Do you think that this is unusual? Well, remember that the real problem was one of Keeping up a Front, of Living a Lie. There are very many ways of doing that. And they can be expensive.

Many 36 year olds are miserable as sin trying to look as slim as they were at 16. Millions are having sleepless nights because they have bought a more expensive house or car or holiday than they can afford. Many are perpetually stressed by pretending to be calm when other people would be screaming. Many more are straining so much to look as if they can cope with a job that they neither like nor can do that their health is breaking down.

Before you spend time or money or energy on Keeping up a Front, make sure that it really is worth it.