The Beast On My Head

I was bald until I was two.  When my hair did come in, it came in with a vengeance.

I don't know the exact term for curls like mine, although stylists and hair product makers try to categorize curls to better to make products for them.

When I was younger, my hair was nearly to my butt.  When I started brushing my own hair in middle school, I chopped it all off, a mistake I am still paying for.  It got long again for a while, but then I would get bored one day and cut it all off again.  Never too short, but just to my shoulders.

Here is the thing about curly hair:  it either needs to be really long, or really short.  Anything else is BS. It grows out, not down.  It never looks the same length twice.

My hair, personally, is very dry and frizzy.  When I see someone who's curls are perfect, every curl the same size and shape, I can't help but think:  they're fake.  Curls are not supposed to be uniform.  They're messy and wild and they do whatever they please.  Mine are, anyway.  And when I look up natural curls, I see a lot of wildness in the other pics too. 

I call my hair a beast for a reason, people.  There's no taming it, just containing it and keeping it happy (like the animals at the zoo).

At the end of March, it will be two years since I've been to a stylist to do anything with my hair.  I haven't cut it either in that time.  I got it past my shoulder blades, now, not that you can tell unless I straighten it.

When I was younger, when Mom was still brushing it every night, I kept it in a braided ponytail.  Pony tail?

Thanks to Pinterest and Google, I've begun looking up how to care for curls.  I use a wide-tooth comb, under the shower head, shampooing my hair twice a month if that, and always looking for a good hydrating conditioner, and I have a micro-fiber hair turban.  I'm supposed to use cold water to wash & rinse, but ha ha, yeah, no.  Sometimes.  Maybe come summer again.
 
I also keep it in double braids now.  I guess they're pigtails, but I don't need any fasteners to keep the braids in.  Pro for curly hair.

My hair's my only physical vanity.  As annoying as it is, I do still love it.  I wouldn't want my hair to be straight.  I get a lot of compliments on it.

Except the other day.

Regular:  Your hair's naturally curly?
Me:  Yup.
Regular:  Betcha hate it.
Me:  Well...

On the inside, I'm like, "somebody understands!"

I do love my hair sometimes.  I hate it sometimes too.  But mostly I'm settled with it.  It's crazy and untamable and unpredictable and wild.  Kind of like the weather.  I would also like to think of myself as wild and untamable and crazy.

Well, I don't think of myself as crazy.  I know I'm crazy.  But it's okay.  It's socially acceptable for a writer to be a little crazy.  To better to be creative with.

Actually, it's funny.  I got a Curly Hair Care pin board on Pinterest, and it's mostly cartoons and memes and curly hair problems.

And showcasing from that board, except I don't have red hair or blue eyes, but other than that, yes, I have hair like Merida, only it's not so long and pretty.  I wish they would have shown a good clip of how much longer her curly hair is when it's wet.  Alas.  Anyway.