The end of April when I picked Curly up from basketball practice she told me about a story they were reading in school about a girl whose mother goes in the hospital and she's so sad, partly because her dad has to do her hair. He's terrible at it and her hair always looks terrible.
Curly: I know how this girl feels, because I hate my hair. Every.single.day.
Like HATES.
I was taken aback. WHAT? EVERYONE LOVES YOUR HAIR.
I felt so incredibly bad, recognizing that if she hated her hair it really didn't matter what anyone else thought. She's 13. Hating your hair sucks. I've been there.
In case you haven't heard me whine about my childhood hair . . . we were on a budget. Mom took me to a real, live beautician. I was in kindergarten. Got me the popular Dorothy Hamel. I loved it.
For the next 10 years or so, Mom cut my hair herself. She was an untrained stylist, but a disciple of how-to-save-a-buck. Using a flat edged razor blade she 'feathered' my hair, leaving me looking exactly like my brothers. My mom refused to let me grow my hair out - even in high school. Talk about controlling. I feel pretty strongly that this was a mistake. My self esteem took a big hit.
I was not gonna have Curly feel icky about her hair.
Shortly after the horrible haircut mistake that I performed on my own child's very forgiving curly mop over 2 years ago, I heard women at a graduation party talking about haircuts. I'd promised Mini that I'd never cut Curly's hair again. I leaned in close during this conversation. One woman gave me the number of a beautician she uses who is trained in the Curly Girl Method.
I hadn't contacted the stylist because Curly wasn't ready for a cut. Now as I scrambled for a solution to the hair hatred issue, I thought maybe this woman could give advice. I texted her and explained our predicament. I sent a photo of Curly and described how as the day goes on her hair just
GETS BIGGER AND WIDER.
I'd tried a number of products and we weren't looking for a cut, but hoping for suggestions.
Stylist: I can do a consultation.
I was worried it was going to be: HERE'S HOW TO BLOW YOUR HAIR OUT AND STRAIGHTEN IT, because what could she suggest that we hadn't already tried? (insert laughter at my silly self). I scheduled us for a consultation and we began counting the days.
*The stylist texted me back BTW after I sent the picture: NOT TRYING TO BE WEIRD BUT DO YOU GO TO OUR LADY FOR CHURCH? (me: yes) YOUR DAUGHTER SERVES MASS THERE AND I'VE ALWAYS WANTED TO STYLE HER HAIR.
Funny. I didn't feel stalked, but was thrilled to find this woman who's so passionate and informed on curly hair. To think, I had her number for 2 years, not realizing that I needed her to look at me and tell me:
YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG.
Mid-May we had the appointment. Life changing. Curly now has more products and instructions sent in an email than I ever could've imagined. She is loving her hair and she looks amazing. One of her products has to be stored in the fridge. I will keep you posted on whether or not her brothers ever try to eat it. It's called Banana Cream something. I wouldn't put it past them.