Shining, gleaming, streaming, flaxen, waxen.
Give me down to there hair, shoulder length or longer hair
Here baby, there momma, ev'rywhere daddy, daddy..."
from the muscial, Hair
I have always had long hair. Shoulder length or longer. My aunt was a beautician/hair stylist. My mom explained to my aunt that I was going to have a swimming class as a seventh grader that fall, and suggested that I get my hair cut short. "It would be so much easier to take care of her hair; and she wouldn't be late for her next class." I really don't remember being a part of this conversation, but I do remember crying when she was done cutting my hair.
"I look like a boy!" I cried. She had even used a shaver for the back of my hair. I have never worried about my hair until this incident. I have always been able to cover my ears with my long hair. I remember a boy in my sixth grade elementary school that wore hearing aids. "He doesn't have a choice to cover his ears," I remember thinking. "Everyone knows that he is hard of hearing."
A few years ago, I asked my husband if I should cut my hair short.
"No, I like it long," he told me.
"I have to wash it, blow it dry, curl it, and you end up sleeping on it!"
"Well, I have to look at it."
Sigh.
I like having my hair out of my face, so I will usually pull it up into a ponytail.
But I never wear a ponytail in public.
Until now. I went to Costco, looking like this:
I tell you, it's total freedom!
