A Day in Hair History

When I hit puberty, my hair was suddenly possessed by demons. My long, soft curls looked, as my brother Michael so kindly put it, "like an explosion in a steel wool factory." I tried relaxers, straight perms, everything that was available to tame curly hair. Yet time after time, hair stylists would shake their heads and say "I've just never seen such thick, coarse, spiral curly hair. I don't know what else to do." When I was 14, I heard that there was a "Japanese straight perm" new on the market that could tame the craziest hair. I didn't really believe it could be true, and plus it cost about $1200 to get it done in California. When I went to visit my grandma for the summer, I left CA with crazy curly hair. Her hair stylist did the Japanese straightening treatment for $300. I decided to give it a go. I could not believe how straight, silky, and shiny my hair was when I left the salon that day. My mom and grandma saw me in front of the mirror later at home, eyes big--just running my hands through my hair, saying, "It's a miracle...."

For the past 8 years, I have successfully squelched every curl on my head. In fact, if you didn't know me before I was 14, you'd have no idea that my hair is, indeed, a story of epic proportions. There is enough money invested in my hair to put a down payment on a very nice house.

But today, I decided to be human. I have grown weary of the 2 hours it takes me to blow out and straighten my hair to polished perfection. I'm just running errands today. So, I gave my hair permission to show its true colors for the first time in 8 years. I've actually straightened it so much, that I've broken the curl. Now it's just a wavy-ness. I scrunched it with Jonathon Silky Dirt (my favorite EVER hair product) and actually put in a few curls with a curling iron. Then I played around with my new camera (which I still haven't figured out how to use fully) to create photographs for the archives of the epically unbelievable. I am leaving my house with curly hair today :)

I know, it's rather shocking. For me, too.

Almost smiling. :)

I think you get the full effect this way. I took this pic from the mirror. :)