I Will Shave My Head In 3 Years

Dear Family and Friends,
In 3 years or less, depending on how fast my hair grows and how long I want it, I will shave my head. Do Not Panic. I am not doing this to rebel. My hair is not a symbol of femininity that I am loping off to signify that I have changed what gender I identify as or my sexual orientation. I am still me. Same old Chantal, except bald. I know that this might be even more difficult for my Hispanic family to understand. The last time I went to Ecuador, no matter how hard you look, its nearly impossible to find women with short hair. That was this past summer in 2016, and I had cut my hair so short that they had to shave the hairs on the back of my neck too, and when I came to Ecuador with hair at that length everyone was amazed. First of all, of the elders looked at me like I was crazy at first, but when I told them that i cut my hair in order to donate to cancer they lightened up because now they were  assured that I didn't do this because I was coming out as gay. why would they think that? Because in many Hispanic households and other cultures as well long hair is meant to be for women and short hair for men, and if you switch the two its as if to others, the roles switch as well, even though its the same person. if i came out as gay, that would've been their worst nightmare seeing as they are all extremely religious traditional people. But even with explaining my reasons they still seemed hesitant about accepting my decision as they would say subtle discouragements like only old people cut there hair that short because its easier to maintain or stuff about missing my old long beautiful luscious hair. Second of all, all of my cousins thought I was the bravest person in the world for cutting all of it off. when i spoke to them about it they told me they would, never cut all their hair off like I did. My female cousins were a mix of middle schoolers, high schoolers, and college students, and yet I know that the reason that they could not imagine cutting off their hair is because they consider it as another way to represent their femininity and use it mainly to attract guys. They spend hours getting their hair ready along with their makeup and clothes, not to satisfy themselves, but rather to catch themselves a man. If their hair is gone how are they supposed to compete with other girls to impress guys. Another thing was that my male cousins thought that now that I had cut my hair I was "cool" or a "rebel" therefore they desired to interact with me more as if I was now "one of the guys", and don't get me wrong, its not like i don't like interacting with my male cousins, its just the fact that they treated me differently because apparently cutting my hair had created a whole knew me for them. Now imagine the situation when I go bald. Once again, this time around, I'm going to shave my head in order to donate hair to cancer. That is my reasoning, but why am I really writing this letter to you all. I love you all, but please, I'd like it if you could learn not to assume things based on my physical appearance, based on my hair, and based on gender stereotypes.
Love,
Same Old Chantal 💗