Embracing My Roots

Somehow in my family I was the only one born with curly hair, even in my extended family (with the exception of my cousin Ted who became curly at puberty). We don't know where it came from, both sides of my family show no signs of this trait. When I was young I had these little blond ringlets and my dad used to call me Dolly.

As I grew older and my hair grew longer we didn't know how to maintain it anymore. My parents blame it on me but what does a 4 year old know about hair care? So as my hair grew longer the curls faded and were brushed out. I always had a slight wave to it but there was so much hair that it would get tangled very easily and my mom would have to spend time at night brushing it out... many times with me fighting through it. It was also kept in a permi-ponytail...I guess I was scared of change.

In high school I discovered the world of hair straighteners and then spent every morning after that trying to make my hair look like everyone else's. I assumed that I would never have hair like my baby pictures again so I fixed it in the only way I knew how. About a year after I graduated I got rid of the ponytail and when I chopped it off too short for any rubber band. I loved my hair and got such a good response from my friends and family that I kept this look up for quite a while.





Then when I went to Hawaii this past summer for six weeks I realized that it was too hard to try and keep it straight. The humidity was so strong and we were always playing in the ocean that it wasn't worth trying to straighten every day. Here is when I learned that my curly hair wasn't just a phase from my child hood. Having short curly hair was such perfect beach hair. It was easy to do and maintain and didn't ever have to worry about it. My new friends that I made there didn't know that was a new style for me. No one knew me beforehand so I wasn't afraid to change my look. For them it was different on the few Sunday's when I did straighten my hair.

When I came home, half the time I would style it curly, and the other half I would straighten it. Now, I don't know if I'm lazy, or the fact that I really like it, but most days you'll see me with curly hair.I literally only wash it every three or four days. In the mornings I either just get up and go without really having to touch it, or if I have some serious bed head then I just have to spray it with a little water and scrunch a little gel into it.

So there it is, the life story of my hair.