Hair - The Musical

Gimme head with hair!  Long beautiful hair!
Shining, gleaming, streaming, flaxen, waxen!

Give me down to there hair!  Shoulder length or longer!
Here baby!  There mama!  Everywhere daddy, daddy!

Hair, hair, hair, hair, hair, hair, hair!
Flow it, show it!
Long as God can grow it!
My hair!

(Excerpt from the musical Hair)

My mother began relaxing my hair when I was very young, and back then all we had was sodium hydroxide or "lye" relaxers.  I cringe at the memory of what felt like hot molten lava all over my scalp (especially in my "kitchen") while waiting for the chemicals to straighten my hair.  Not to mention the scabs all over my scalp for the next two weeks!  We performed this ritual every six weeks.  What were we thinking?! Can anyone else relate?

Over the years I have done the BC more than a few times (although we didn't call it that back then), but my "natural" hair phase did not last for more than a few months.  I have been at both extremes. I have been bald (well, almost bald), and have had my relaxed hair grow halfway down my back.   I had a Jheri Curl before the Jheri Curl product was even on the market (remind me to tell you about my experiments with chemicals and perm rods while in cosmetology school in the 1970's).  My hair has been dyed, fried and laid to the side more times that I can count. It has been been blond, blue, red, and a few colors in between including green from a botched color job (tried to apply color over bleached hair and ended up with a green strawlike mess).  I have worn full wigs, falls, pieces, puffs, braids, and weave.  Whew!

Now that I am a "seasoned" sister (another way of saying that I have lived on the planet for over half a century), I have a different outlook on life.  I traded in my "high" heels for a more "sensible" shoe.  I buy clothes for comfort, not so much for looks (although I do my best to find items that are both comfortable and flattering).  I am experiencing core reactor meltdowns (hot flashes), and there are things happening with my hair color and texture that I had not anticipated. Like wiry, unmanageable grey hair, especially around the edges. Even with a relaxer, I have to flat iron my edges on a daily basis with a tiny little flat iron I purchased for just that purpose. Even after that, they still just stick straight out.  So, I have a "stick" for slicking them down, and a gel-like product that is suppose to "control" them.  But my greys are rebellious and defiant! They absolutely REFUSE to conform.   So, if certain sections of my hair are determined to express themselves naturally, who am I to stand in the way of all of my hair's natural expression.

The journey begins...