What I am thinking of doing today is something that I have never, ever, done in my 39 years of having hair. I'm thinking of adding some highlights to it. I've seen other people, including my own mother, do this and it looks great. I have some hesitation however. I'm not sure I want to add chemicals to my "virgin" hair. My boyfriend thinks I should do it. My friends on Facebook have all told me, "don't worry, if you don't like it, the color washes out or you can change it to something you do like."
My hair has always been a major part of me. I have had the luxury of having thick hair as long as I can remember. I was born prematurely and weighed less than 5 pounds and as my mother said "half her birthweight was hair!" I have to wear what I call industrial barrettes to hold it back because if a smaller one lets go...WATCH OUT! Without fail, every hairdresser I have met has said, "Wow...you have really thick hair." I ride horses and have to get helmets a size bigger so my hair can tuck up under it. Over the years my hair has been many lengths....short, long, medium. When I was a little girl I wore my hair long and in pig tails or braids. I didn't like people touching my hair. My mother even wrote a story about the girl who wouldn't comb her hair and an entire forest of birds, squirrels and raccoons living in there. When I was in grade school in the 70's, I got the "Dorothy Hamill" haircut, which was cute and popular but it gave me bangs which didn't look very good. In the 80's I went more traditional, and when we moved to New Mexico which was hot, I got it cut short, very short and I kept that haircut up throughout junior high and high school. I loved that haircut, it was easy to take care of, didn't get tangles in it, and didn't take up too much shampoo or conditioner. During those years I had a great hairdresser (or do we call them "stylists" now?) named Gregory. He was tall, thin, always wore leather pants and an open shirt. He had amazing strong hands and I would love when he would massage my scalp. He would make mousse animals for me on his hand before he put it in my hair, even making the reindeer he'd do around Christmastime fly with the moving of his pinkie. He was excellent at "styling" short hair and whenever we were finished he would ring a bell and declare it a "HAIR VICTORY." When I got to college I did what all college students do, I experimented. Only I was experimenting with my hair. I came home one Christmas looking exactly like a lion because I had let my friend Tonya "crimp" my hair. Somehow I thought it looked good. Towards the end of college I was letting my hair grow long. I spent one rainy Sunday afternoon french braiding my own hair until I got it right.
After I graduated from college and started working. I cut my hair again to look more like the other women I saw downtown in their "power suits," tennis shoes with panty hose, and briefcases. After my step-father and mother died within six months of each other, I had other things to worry about other than my hair so I continued to let it grow. That was in 1998. I didn't get my hair cut again until 2005. It had gotten long, not Crystal Gayle long....but I remember being on a cruise with my father and I had braided it in a long braid down my back. We were on a shore excursion in St. Kitts or somewhere and a woman exclaimed "MY GOD! How long is it?" When I realized she was talking to me and talking about my hair... I told her that when it wasn't in a braid it went halfway down my buttocks (although I believe I used the word ass). In 2005 I moved to Florida and long hair and humidity do not mix, so I cut it off. It was also a pain to take care of. It took me longer to comb out my hair than it did to take my entire shower. After that I let it grow again until last year.
So that's my hair history up until now. Pretty much I've left my hair alone except for changing the length. I did the Dorothy Hamill haircut but never did the Farrah Fawcett or the Jennifer Anniston. I've sort of always wanted to have hair like Helen Hunt in "Twister" but my hair is too thick for that. Nowhere in that history do you find that I have colored my hair. I'm 39 years old and I'm starting to get grey hairs here and there. I've never been one that has been much for change, but I think I am going to try it. I'm going to let a "stylist" do it instead of doing it myself. I don't know where Gregory ended up but he was lousy at coloring hair anyway. Let's just hope I hear that bell one more time and can declare another "HAIR VICTORY."
Post Script--Saturday Afternoon. I've added a pic of the new hair! I think Gregory would have been happy. I know I am.
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