Over the years, I’ve had bangs, perms, and layers. Right now I have long naturally curly hair that if straightened, it would probably come to my waist. Instead, my curls kink up to just below my shoulder blades. I love my long hair, but if you look at me now and look at me 13-15 years ago, you’d swear I hadn’t changed one bit. Except I have. I now have grey hairs peeking through where I part my hair, and my three wonderful nieces never let me forget that they’re showing! When they get their first grey hair, I’ll be there to point it out!
I color my hair, when I think about or when those pesky grey hairs begin to bother me. I’ve colored it strawberry blonde… it looked good. But it’s hard to maintain a great red hair color since you have to color it so often or it will look odd after a few weeks. I’ve colored it blonde… it came out brown. I’ve colored it a dark chocolate brown… it came out almost black and I looked like Edward Cullen had sucked the blood right out of my body! So now I’m back to basic brown. I use a light medium blonde to achieve a natural looking brown, which covers 75% of the greys. I’ve only had it professionally colored a handful of times. The majority of the time, I do it myself. It’s time-consuming, but as Loreal says, “I’m worth it!”
I was in third grade when I cut my hair off the first time. It was down past my waist and my mom would braid it into two ponytails on either side of my head. I wore homemade crocheted ribbons attached to said braids, but I cut it all off in a Dorothy Hamill (circa 1976) hairstyle. Up until that point, my hair was basically straight. I had a bit of wave, but it wasn’t until that haircut that my hair decided, “hey, let’s go crazy curly!”
The years following that fateful haircut, I fought with all my strength to tame my monstrous head of cowlicks! I got perms and I used straighteners. I even used “Dark & Lovely Difficult to Straighten” hair relaxer – twice! Nothing worked.
I cut my hair again in seventh grade. This time I opted for a jaw-length bob (with bangs, of course), and a rat-tail. YES – I HAD A RAT-TAIL! So did my brother! I don’t know what made me get a rat-tail, but eventually my hair grew out and my rat-tail became less noticeable.
After that, I just let it grow. I stopped getting perms and stopped straightening it. Instead I used curling irons and rollers to try to tame my curls. Eventually I stopped that too. My tools became a hair dryer and a diffuser.
My freshman year in college, everyone had big bangs. Except me, of course. But then I let my friend, Andrea, cut me some bangs and show me how to style them. Needless to say, I had to go out and buy a curling iron.
Then along came Dick* (the name has been changed). We dated in college. I had long, thick curly hair back then. He wanted to see what it looked like all one length. So that summer, I went to the Hair Castle at the local mall and got it cut. Actually I shouldn’t say I got it cut. I should say I got half of it cut! She spritzed it with water and cut, spritzed it with some more water and cut again. Forty-five minutes later, it looked like she did a decent job. I ‘d never had my hair dry-cut before, so I figured that was how it was supposed to look.
It was only later, after I went to my brother and sister-in-law’s townhouse and took a shower, that I realize the girl only cut half of my hair! I panicked and started cutting the left side of my hair myself. I only made it worse. I heard their next door neighbor’s car pull up outside and I ran down the stairs (yes, with a pair of scissors), out the door, and asked the neighbor-lady to “please cut my hair even.” I know I must have looked like a deranged psycho running towards her with scissors in hand, looking like Edward Scissorhands had butchered my hair, but I needed help and I needed it then!
Luckily, my sister-in-law pulled up a few minutes later and sweetly talked me off the ledge, took me inside and trimmed my hair until it was as even as she could get it. From that point forward, lucky was the hairdresser/stylist who had been selected to cut my hair.
That next Spring semester, Dick wanted me to get bangs. He even went to the salon with me to tell them exactly how he wanted my hair cut. I know what you’re thinking. “Girl, you are a FOOL!” Yes, I agree! And when we broke up on April 6th of that year, I realized that our entire relationship was one big joke because he had asked me to be his girlfriend on April 1st of the previous year. I really was an “April Fool!”
About two months after we broke up, I walked into a salon and flipped through a hairstyle book while I waited for the hair stylist to call me back. When he called me back to his chair, he said, “What are we going to do today?”
I flipped open the book and pointed to the picture.
“Are you sure? That’s going to be a big change.”
“For the past year, I’ve been getting my hair cut for a guy. I’m ready to start over, for me. I’m ready to wash that man right out of my hair!”
An hour later, I walked out of the salon. My hair was short… really short. I had an inverted bob before Posh made it popular. It was practically shaved in the back and the longest part of my hair hit just below my ears. It was then that I started growing my hair out for me!
I’ve had my hair cut dozens and dozens of times since that fateful haircut. It was a game-changer. Yes, I get my hair trimmed every now and again, but I haven’t gone short again, and probably never will! And thanks to Ouidad, I’ve discovered the “rake and shake method” and I’ve fully embraced my curly locks (grey hairs included)!
In the July 1985 issue of Vogue, Hubert de Givenchy said it best: “Hair style is the final tip-off whether or not a woman really knows herself.”‘
Does any woman really know herself? Some women change hairstyles and hair colors more often than they change their clothes! As for me, I know myself. I’m a strong, independent woman with a loving husband who fell in love with me because of my wild and crazy curls! So be gone from my bonnet, you buzzing little bee, ’cause these long curls are here to stay!