A Short Hair Story

I can qualify as a model for a commercial on dull and lifeless hair. Trust me, I can offer a lot of variety in hair woes – dry, weak, frizzy, limp etcetera etcetera. The only thing which comes next to glowing skin on my secret wish list is shiny black hair and the overwhelming response to my post on glowing skin proves that we all girls share the same wish list, well, more or less, don’t me? Its comforting to know that someone out there empathizes with me as I embark upon the forlorn hope of shiny black hair.

I have been a tom boy for nearly half the time I‘ve spent on the earth. A tomboy with long hair is so uncool so I sported short hair during my tomboy hey days. The adulation for my mushroom hair cut combined with zero maintenance was reason good enough for keep short hair for 15 good years. When the sweet sixteen bug bit me, I decided to break the monotony and grow my hair long. And then came along the frenzy of hair care regime which, I thought, would to make up for the lost time.

I wasn’t genetically wired to have very long hair so the collective wisdom of mummies, aunties and didis came to my rescue. The ubiquitous items on their list found their way to mine – amla, reetha, shikakai et al. Ignorant of the proportions in which each of these have to be mixed before application, I applied a generous amount of only amla on my head and my hair ended up looking a shade of crow! That was the first and last time of my tryst with traditional hair care. Sooner, mehendi became a hair conditioning staple. I would pull all the ladies in the household for the mehendi regime and Sundays would turn out to be a day of green domes where heads belong. Full marks to this one though. It turned out to be quite effective and I would rejoice at the sight of an extra mm of length.

This bliss wasn’t meant to last long. I got carried away and went it for a perming treatment. My long-ish straight-ish (neither long nor straight) tresses which I had laboriously grown reduced to half its length. My curls evoked mixed reactions – some liked it, others were polite in saying straight were better. But when my bratty nephew described me with curls as a maverick scientist, my heart broke. I couldn’t wait for my straight hair to grow. Salon visits for a trim became as regular as groceries shopping. I ended up cutting off every bit of my curled locks and that brought me back to square one. I was left with bobbed hair, roughly the same amount I had years ago.

I put my hair through a more rigorous grind this time around. My hair would let out my eating preferences and I would end up covering it up with an explanation – vinegar – chinese? Yes, I love chinese food .So what, if I occasionally apply on my head too?!! ; egg – ofcourse, I am non-vegetarian ; beer – sorry, I don’t booze , its adds bounce to hair I’ve heard, so m just trying. Persistence did pay in terms of length but the shine was elusive.

Along came the streaking and coloring trend. Before I decided to take a plunge, my friend who went for a burgundy look started turning red with every wash and I just thanked my stars for not being too hasty. My long-ish and straight-ish hair needed a change and rebonding was an ‘it’ thing. After the perming fiasco, I was wary of any chemical treatment so bought myself a hair iron. It came handy in giving my hair a rebounded look but I had no respite from chemicals as I had to rub in a copious amount of hair mousse every time. In hindsight, it added a new attribute to my hair – brown-ish! :D

Whenever I enter a shop for buying skin care products, the sales assistant invariably tells me, “Ma’am, can I show something for your hair, too?”!! It leaves me confused whether she’s trying to hard sell or suggesting me to do something about my hair. “No, thank you. I’m just looking for something for my skin”, I retort.

I have grown comfortable with my brownish hair. Infact, I like it bcoz it look somewhat naturally colored. But I hit the panic button when my niece’s sketchy description – my hair is a color of branch. BRANCH??? Can u beat it? I headed straight to the Body Shop and this time when the sales assistant offered me to show some hair products, I told her to bring it on! I bought Grapeseed Glossing Serum and Rainforest Moisture Hair Butter.

The Body Shop's Hair Serum for dull and frizzy hair  ;)
Picture Courtesy : Inky Pinky

I’m sacrificing 10 extra minutes of my morning sleep to follow this new hair care regime. If I notice any visible changes in my hair texture in a couple of weeks with application of this serum and butter, I’ll definitely post a detailed review. Until then, I’ll keep my fingers crossed for the betterment of my long-ish, straight-ish, brown-ish hair…

P.S. What’s your hair story? Any tips for me?