Day 57 - A Hairy Situation

I was bald as a billiard until I was two years old; my mother was on the verge of buying me a baby wig when I finally – mercifully - sprouted a few strands of hair. From there, things progressed in the usual fashion until The Horrible Awkward Angst-Filled Ugly Years (otherwise known as puberty). I went to bed one night with reasonably straight and well behaved hair, and woke up with corkscrew curls zigzagging out of my head. Wasn’t it bad enough that I had pimples, braces, and a perpetual snarl on my face? Did I really deserve to be cursed with a ‘fro too?! Not knowing what to do with my new mop, I tried brushing it and soon looked like I had stuck my finger in an electrical socket, a la Bride of Frankenstein. People, it took me years to figure out how to work with my ringlets, years that left me psychologically scarred (I cower in a corner every time I see a bottle of Rave) and with many, many awesome pictures that now haunt me on Facebook. Curly girls, you know what I’m talking about!

I would love to tell you that I am over it and have totally made peace with my hair, but I would be lying. I recently spent an hour getting it professionally blown out, only to have it revert back to its wavy rebellion within the day. I’ve dyed it, highlighted it, permed it (yes, really – in the 80’s, they theorized it would give “direction” to my curls… it gave them direction alright, about 5 inches from my head in a spectacular, frizzy halo), straightened it, cut it, grown it, teased it, twirled it, and contemplated shaving it. What’s a girl to do? Simplify it, baby!

I recently read that you will always look best with your hair close to its natural state, and I think that’s probably true, with the exception of color. I always laugh when people see a picture of my mom and say, “oh – I see where you get your red hair from” – yeah, we use the same bottle. I love being a redhead, so I think I’m going to stick with my Nice n’ Easy #110 (buh bye highlights – toooooooooooooo much maintenance!). But the rest has got to go! This leaves us with:

-      A shoulder length cut (too long or too short = too much futzing)

-      Color at home once a month

-      Air dry and wear it curly, scrunch and go (style only for special occasions)

And there we go! Ellen St James, a simplicity writer, suggests that everyone has a wash and go cut that will look great on them, so it’s something to consider if you don’t want to spend a lot of time arranging the dead cells on your head. If this fails, I may just grow dreadlocks.  I could be Cool Dreadlock Mom, or I could be Mom with Dreads Who Is Trying Too Hard. It’s a fine line.