Wiry Abundance

Hair, Hair, Hair. My daughters and I have hair to share. My hair is thick, straight, and very wiry. People say I have enough hair for three or four people. Not only is my hair plentiful, but the strands are very thick. I am certain that if I donated my locks, they could be braided into a cable that could pull a loaded Mac truck across the United States.

Of all of my siblings (there are 7 of us), I probably have the grayest hair..and I probably have more hair per square inch than all of my siblings combined. My dad had soft wavy hair and so did my sisters Cookie and Rose. Two of my brothers are bald. And, I have a full head of gray (salt and pepperish) straight hair.

My hairdresser of over 26 years said that I am famous for being able to grow my hair fast!! For a hula recital, I grew my hair from a short boy cut to shoulder length in three months. Of course as soon as the recital was over, I chopped my hair off and was glad to see it go. My husband and my son beg me to grow my hair but I don't want to hassle with a heavy weight of hair on my head. I hate when I wash my hair, twirl it into a bun for a day's work, and when I get home and let my hair down, my hair is still wet. Yuck. Most women with long hair tame their tresses with a hair band, elastic, scrunchy, pen, chopstick, or whatever is available. If this is the case, isn't it better to have short hair and quit tugging at your roots?

When I had long hair and worked in a high school where many of the girls were hula dancers and had long hair, I would urge them to participate in a Hair Emancipation Day when we would all let our hair down, loose, and flowing free. We tried it several times and found that by the end of first period, everyone had their hair twirled and twisted into tight knots. Such short lived emanacipation campaigns.

If you have short hair, don't you hate it when your hair gets into the infamous "UGLY" stage that no matter what you try to do, it is UGLY? Dig through your box of hats, put on a kerchief, plaster on a handful of super-duper gel...doesn't matter, Your Hair is UGLY. It's like a neon sign of ugliness. I always feel like the first thing people will fixate on when they see me is my UGLY hair!! AARGH!! I mean, my hair can be doing all right and it seems overnight, it grow 2 centimeters over the line of nice hair into UGLY hair and it is torture. And the irritation seems to grow by geometric proportions.

The only remedy to this situation is to go to the hairdresser and get a haircut. Having plenty of straight, thick hair means finding a hairdresser with excellent skills and a pair of strong hair shears!! Snip, snip, snip, the hair falls to the salon floor like salt and pepper snow. Then Hallelujah!!! I am a human again.

It's those little pleasures that make life so wonderful...the miracle of transformation and I'll say, Amen, Amen, and Amen!!