Head of Hair

The 23rd prompt is to write about hair, mine, or my characters. For all the Rise and Write prompts and to read other sketches, link HERE.

As a very young child, my hair was very blond.  It gradually darkened to what was commonly referred to as dishwater blond.  I couldn't imagine  a less attractive word to describe a hair color.  My son and second daughter followed my pattern, but daughter number one got her fathers rich dark brown coloring, though with a tiny touch of auburn.  It is of a color that hairstylists have been trying to master since hair dying became popular.

What my hair lacked in color appeal was made up for with strength and fast growth.  As a teen, I never worried too much about a bad hair cut as it would grow out in short order.  In each of my pregnancies, with addition of prenatal vitamins and hormonal changes, my hair grew even faster.  I never grew my hair out long until after my first daughter was born.  then I grew it so long that when I had it cut in nice little cropped bob, I donated 15 inches of hair to Locks of Love, to be used for making wigs for cancer patients. I have done that extreme growth three times in all, for donation.  It seemed there should be some purpose in growing long hair beyond my own vanity.

My hair still grows fast, but last year, a month before my 30th high school class reunion, I started noticing the gray I was starting to sport no longer just looked like a blond highlight.  My hair was not graying elegantly, but rather coarse and unmanageably. I began to color my hair.  I thought I was selecting a color that was very natural, back to my original hair color.  I did though go just a smidge lighter, and between that smidge, and having my entire head one color, called champagne, my hair had a shine and prettiness to it that I couldn't remember since childhood. Locks of Love needs pure hair-no dies or chemicals, so my donating days are done.

My friend, who's hair started graying in her 30"s, has lovely long gray locks.  She twirls them around her head, throws them back in a rugged pony tail, and sometimes just throws a head band on and lets them hang long.  She and her hair are beautiful.  She has had more to face than most people I know, having lived most of her married life with a cloud of stress from her husband, living with a brain tumor, and nearly two decades of surgeries, and waiting, until last fall, the waiting was done.  As a mom now raising the teen daughter still at home alone, she has always had more to think about than the right shade of hair color or right style, and let her head select on its own behalf.

I want women, and men for that matter, to feel confident and happy with themselves.  I appreciate that some want and can pull off natural.  I just wasn't feeling it myself.  I didn't feel like me as I was going gray.  I may feel differently in a year or five or ten, but for now, the champagne bottle will be used 1/2 dozen times a year.