Hair Story Part 1: Acceptance

I made peace with my hair by promising to veer away from color treatments and have it trimmed every other month. This pact lasted for 3.5 years and made the possibility of having virgin hair from roots to tips a reality.

I had the will to keep my promise because I had a vision of naturally wavy hair with bounce, body and shine; however, what I got was frizz (fewer frizz on better days).  I thought, maybe I expected too much on my virgin hair that I might have stressed it out. I was hoping it will be more manageable but I ended up allocating 30 – 45 minutes of my time to fix it and the worst part is I have to continuously comb my hair in front of the electric fan to allow it to dry (the occasional use of hairdryer did not help as well). These are actions that caused damage to my hair because it is most fragile when it is wet, thus, continuous combing with slight tugging tortured it. However, the “temporary” sleek appearance made me forget the long-term side effects.

The Result: Even if it is virgin, it doesn’t look and feel like it.

Hair Blunders:

1. Enjoying the bubbles on my hair, with a belief that bubbles = clean. Thus, opting to use more than enough shampoo everyday.
2. Rubbing my wet hair with a towel like crazy, causing friction between strands.
3. Rigorously combing (with slight tugging) my wet hair until it gets dry.
4. Using the hairdryer even if my hair is soaking wet.
5. Too much sun exposure.

Plan of Action:

1. Find my hair soul mate a.k.a. hair stylist and be loyal to him.
2. Have my hair assessed to know what treatments are ideal to improve texture and appearance. (If possible, I want to have it colored. Please.)
3. Use better shampoo, conditioner and treatment. (Hello sulphate-free products!)
4. Be kind and gentle to my hair.
5. Lessen sun exposure.

I accepted that unlike other women, my hair needs hard work (and moolah) to be able to keep it at its best. I am not born with naturally wavy, bouncy, shiny and frizz-free hair but I am determined to not commit the same mistakes again.

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HAIR UPDATES:

1.  I found my hair soul mate! I hope you’ll find yours too because it simply makes life so much better.

2.  I’ve been thinking of having my hair colored because I’ve always been fascinated with brown hair – but I am scared (imagine the trauma I experienced before).  It took me months to decide and just like any virgin who is about to experience her first time — I closed my eyes and said yes.

Details of my newly colored hair will be shared in my next post Hair Color Story Part 2: Color and Frizz-Free.