There is currently a revival of the musical “Hair” on Broadway and although I have not seen it, nor will likely do so, I thought it would be nice to write about my hair experiences over the past 4 months. I’m a member of a forum called Naturally Curly (NC) and, as the name indicates, it’s a place where those with curly hair can seek out advice on how to tame their mane. Through this forum, I’ve learned that hair can have a love hate relationship with salt. What does salt have to do with hair, you ask. Think back to the last time you were at the beach. Wind and sand aside, your hair may have looked its best on that day because of the salt content in the water and the air. In fact, commercially sold saltwater sprays are big sellers for those who want lovely waves and bouncy curls. Not to mention, salt is often added to products (under its aliases of magnesium sulfate and sodium chloride) to enhance wave and curl formation.
But not all hair likes salt. My hair is the number one contender for the salt-hater award of the year. Any amount of salt in a hair product will usually give my hair a dry, brittle feel and produce a head full of tangles and frizz by the end of the day. Now, in full disclosure, my hair is usually dry and frizzy and it easily gets tangled, so why would I ever want to put salt in my hair. Well, I wouldn’t. My goal in seeking information from Naturally Curly was to learn how to turn my frizzy mess into lovely ringlets. Yes, I’m a dreamer, but also one with faith!
I search the NC threads diligently looking for guidance on products to buy and techniques to try out from those who been at curly hair maintenance longer than I have. I tried everything with little success. Oh, there have been baby victories along the way, but I no longer want little triumphs. I want dramatic results. Now. The weekends are when, much to my dear husband’s dismay, I like to experiment with hair products or techniques to fix my hair. I’ve become quite obsessed with finding what hair product junkies call the “holy grail”, the one, great, never fail solution to problem hair. So I searched the NC threads last Friday, desperately looking for some new technique to try on my poufy, parched, frizzed out hair for the weekend. I came across a thread started by Del of NC entitled “R2D2” and thought could it be a description of hat head gone horribly awry. Surly this is exactly where my hair was headed, for shortly I would indeed don hats galore having found nothing to date to solve my hair problems.
But, you see, I LOVE the Star Wars saga (this is not an aside nor is my blog rambling), so I decided to find out exactly what Star Wars had to do with curly hair. What I got myself into was a thread that was 17 pages, and took nearly as long to read as to watch “Clone Wars”. Now, regardless of my opinion of “Clone Wars”, this thread, IMO, was well worth the time spent. In that thread I discovered Ion R2D2, aka Ion Conditioning Hard Hat Dryer. The sweet-looking, shiny blue and white contraption was praised for its ability to reduce frizz for even the most difficult porous hair to zero, zip, nada. I learned you could buy it at Sally’s Beauty Supply Store. I knew it was my destiny to bring R2D2 home when I recalled I had a 20% off coupon from Sally’s at home.
Definitely Brothers!
I booked home to get my Sally’s coupon all the while praying that my local Sally’s would have R2D2 in stock. Coupon in hand I drove to Sally’s and saw there were three other customers in the store. My imagination started to run wild and I had a vision of there being only one R2D2 and all three of the other ladies in the store would also want it. I then realized I would fight for it if it came down to that, and this is how desperate I had become about my frizz condition. I really needed the R2D2 to help relieve my frizz because Del said it would in the R2D2 thread. I had faith! So I had my fists (sorry, no lightsabers) ready just in case. And indeed, there was only one R2D2 in the back corner of the store beneath a pile of boxes. I tossed the other boxes aside, grabbed R2D2 and ran for the check out. Whew! No fighting necessary. So happy about that because I have girly fists and can’t fight worth a lick.
So I finally get home and of course must use R2D2 right away. I begin the spritz & condish technique I learned from Del (hair guru) to prepare my hair for washing. Oops, I then remember dear husband will be home in a few hours. But I quickly plan everything out in my head. I’ll start dinner, shower and wash my hair, spend some time with R2D2 and have perfect hair by the time my husband comes home. But of course even the best laid plans go awry, something about Murphy’s Law, blah, blah, blah. Dear husband comes home early and he’s starving because he literally hasn’t eaten all day.
I’m torn. Husband, R2D2, Husband, R2D2. I never liked eeney, meeny, miney, moe as a problem solver. It fails at best and fails at worst. So I opt for the truth. I tell my husband dinner is running late because I had to get a new toy. I beam my cutest smile and show him the shiny blue R2D2. He looks blankly at it then at my wet, newly washed hair and then says of course we (meaning me) have to try out the new toy immediately. My heart melts because I know he understands, so I decide to show a little kindness back. I fix him a snack to tide him over while I sit under my beautiful new R2D2 for 30 minutes (which coincidentally is exactly how much time dinner needs to finish ). Thirty minutes later I have lovely, bouncy, super shiny, super soft hair with 70% less frizz than normal. In my book this is a success, but the real test will occur when I check in on dear husband. I’m usually a confident person, but the hair troubles and disasters have left me with a sensitive spot. If dear husband doesn’t respond well to the hair, waterfalls of tears have been known to be shed. I ease my way to his office and tell him dinner is ready. He looks up, stares, and says my hair was worth the wait. That is love for you. Dear husband is constantly showing me that love means selflessness and sacrifice. It was a good reminder for me to also do the same. Next time I will sacrifice to show how much I love him!
Thanksgiving is approaching, and rather than just giving thanks for what we have, why not “give” the gift of love or kindness to someone else. I know you are thinking that’s what Christmas is about, and we’ll probably have another discussion about what Christmas is truly about later (sorry, that was an aside). But during this season, maybe we can think of ways to be selfless in the service of showing love and kindness to others, and in this way show that we are thankful to have love in our lives.
Just Add Salt 