This HAIR!

I have this hair. It is like a lion's mane only re-worked by God to have a few more human characteristics! One of the things about this hair is that it it THICK! Almost every hair stylist that I have been to, throughout my life, has given me a guilt trip when they have had to blow dry my hair. They act as if it is my fault, or like I have done this TO THEM. Their cold stares accuse me of walking in with some evil genius plan to give them the arm workout that they never wanted that day. I have always thought to myself, "I am super sorry your arm is shaking and you are breaking out in a sweat, but you do this once every couple of months and I do this EVERY DAY!". When it's shorter, it is easier to control and simpler to straighten, but when it is long (like it is now) I let it be "curly" much more often.

That leads me to another thing about this hair; it's neither curly nor straight. Mostly, it is just BIG. If I let it dry on its own, it just puffs up and is a little wavy and coarse. I know, lucky me. Some (blessed) people have bone straight hair that just hangs neatly behind them, while others have soft little curls that cradle their faces. Me? I have the ever coveted coarse, wavy puffball atop my head. Usually I will put some product of some sort in my hair when I am not committing to a full blow dry and straighten. I do that just to keep the puff at bay. I vary it up between styling gel, leave in conditioner, silicon smoothing gel, or any combination thereof. It doesn't really make things better, just less like a pile of disheveled straw. I am always self-conscious when I leave the house like this, but honestly, if I don't spend an hour on my hair in the mornings then it isn't going to look nice, and some days I just don't have an hour to spend. So, although I seldom go to work with untamed hair, it has happened a few times.

I remember the first time I went to school with wild hair this year. I left the house with my mane still a bit damp, but with gel in it to keep it from puffing. As the kids started coming to school (and my hair was getting drier and drier) they began commenting as eight and nine year old kids will do.
"Mrs. Freitas, your hair looks different today!" said the nice kids.
"Mrs. Freitas, I like your hair curly," said the SUPER nice kids.
And then, the honest kid spoke.
"You know what it looks like?" he thought out loud. "It looks like you were standing too close to an explosion."
The kid was dead serious. Not a mean, or funny bone in his body. Just matter of fact. I knew right away that the last time he saw hair like mine was in a kid's movie where explosions happen and the people standing nearby end up with crazy, smoking hair and black soot all over their face. I almost died laughing when he said it. Mostly because it was something I would have totally said to describe how my hair looks and feels on those untamed days. That's one of the things I love about teaching. The brutal honesty of kids that I get to be surrounded by at all times.

My hair? It IS thick, and coarse, and wavy, and long. It can be overwhelming and wild, and sometimes it definitely makes me look like I have been standing too close to an explosion.

But THIS HAIR absolutely ROCKS at Bon Jovi concerts, and I am grateful for every last piece. :)