After 35 years of long, rebellious, unruly hair, I chopped them off for a short crop and thought that was the end of my hair problems.
“Midlife crisis”, muttered hubby.
“Oh please”, I said, running my fingers lovingly through my hair, “ You just can’t handle the fact that I look so sexy”.
And on that happy note I went to sleep, dreaming about a ‘sexy’ wardrobe overhaul to go with the new hair.
Till I woke up the next morning. Of course, the first thing I did was to rush to the mirror, to see whether all was well with the hair.
It was not.
The front had developed a mind of its own and defiantly stood out in all directions. Alarmed, I got a smaller mirror and checked out the back. It had flattened itself to the skull and looked hideous. Not at all the bouncy, chic hairstyle of yesterday.
The hubby, after clearly what had been an internal struggle between snorting with laughter and showing sympathy, decided in favor of the latter.
It will get better after you wash it, he said. You can also blow dry it to get the effect from yesterday.
I nodded doubtfully, remembering the complicated twisting and turning of the hair with various brushes coupled with the blow-dryer held at alarming angles that had achieved the look. Would I be able to do that? And to top it all I had to rush to office early.
A quick shampoo later, I studied the arsenal I had laid out. One blow dryer, one roller brush and one normal comb. OK! I could do this.
I had no clue where to begin.
Oh god, I thought brandishing the blow dryer, this was a huge mistake.
I picked up the roller brush first. Err… but were the front bangs supposed to be curled upwards or downwards. I decided to go with upwards. I curled the hair around the brush and aimed the blow dryer. I unfurled it with trepidation. Yes. Perfect. If I ever wanted a part as the cartoony sidekick in a bad Hollywood flick, I knew what I had to do.
I curled it downwards this time and aimed the blow dryer with a vengeance for a full minute.
I opened it out. Better. Except I couldn’t see. The hair curled right into my eyes. And my arms were beginning to hurt already from constantly holding up the hair and the dryer.
I would need to be scientific about this, I resolved. I just needed to get the front to one side. Which meant that I had to dry them sideways now. Which I did. And they marginally, only marginally, looked like what they had the previous evening.
The back in the meantime was drying up. In various directions. I couldn’t, just couldn’t remember what she had done. So I rolled one section in a random direction and started blowdrying it. No , no, no. I didn’t need to do that jig with a smaller mirror to check out the back. I knew it was all wrong. My upper arms were really hurting by now. And I was beginning to feel mighty annoyed with the stylist. I had specifically told her to give me an easy- to- maintain haircut. And to think I gave her a tip for this mess.
I was never ever going to cut my hair again, I thought crossly.
I was running out of time. That’s when inspiration stuck. I was just going to blow dry it without the brushes. Just blow dry it unscientifically. Without getting all tangled up in the brushes and the blow dryer wires. And I did. And people, by the time I reached office, it looked just great. And fetched me a few compliments too. I mentally apologized to my stylist. And decided to not panic the next time I did something ‘different’ with my hair. And for the past few times that I’ve gone to her– technically for a trim – I’ve allowed her to tweak the hairstyle. With the result that I come out with a new ‘look’ every time.
It took me 35 years to realize that it was ok to experiment with my hair.I have to control my hair. Not the other way round :). Oh, and I’ve managed to learn a trick or two about blowdrying my hair!!
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Written by Dipika Singh, our founder, 15 years back when she experimented with her hair the first time. Today, she is a master of changing hair cuts and hair colors with zero regrets. Check out her hair evolution on her Instagram here.
