A
fine head of hair adds beauty to a good face, and terror to an ugly one. ~Lycurgus
It was early 2008; it had been just a few
months that I had started working. I was in a new city, Bangalore. I had just
begun my solo journey in the big bad world. How bad really? Well I was about to
discover on a sunny afternoon outside an ATM Vending Machine. As I stood in the
long queue of people to withdraw some cash suddenly the lady behind called out
to me saying ‘Excuse me Miss. Hope you don’t mind but you know you have really
awful hair. I pity you’. Yes she said just that. For a moment I tried to figure
out if I knew the lady at all but I didn’t. I felt insulted, puzzled and
angered at the thought of being commented by a person I didn’t even know. Ofcourse,
I fell short of words and just turned away from her, withdrew money and headed
home with a head full of despicable hair.
Every girl dreams of hair that has the
quality and texture to even put Rapunzel to shame. Yes; I too was and still am
no different. There are girls who are born with beautiful, silky, lustrous hair
and then there is me. Yes I really do not know how to describe my hair. I was
born with curly hair which would look plain and ordinary when wet and would
stand up defying gravity when dry. Yes perhaps funny for onlookers but certainly
a bane for me.
I shared my childhood with a younger sister
and a best friend; both of whom were blessed with amazing hair; hair that one
would die for and there I was with hair like the strands of a witch’s broomstick.
I had the worst possible type of hair in the entire neighborhood; or as I felt,
the entire world.
I would see my friends flaunting their tresses,
trying out trendy and different hair styles and there I was holding my plaits
sobbing on the sorry state of my locks. Remember the kid from the ‘pehla-nasha’
remix; the boy with curly red hair? Yes I being a girl looked like him and far
worse. Interestingly this was only the tip of the iceberg of my hair woes.
I spent most of my teenage years with
curly, unmanageable hair that I detested from the very core of my heart. I eventually
swore to myself that the first chance I had to turn my sob story into one of a
dazzling beauty with glossy straight hair, I would grab with both hands.
There came a day when I watched a movie
’The Princess Diaries’; I saw a young girl with curly hair and braces be
transformed to a princess. She has straight hair; one that I had always dreamt
of obviously I fantasized of the princess part too but that was another story
altogether. After watching Mia Thermopolis’s transformation in the movie I realized
I could be her minus the princess tag ofcourse. Yes I could get the straight
hair; all I needed to do was stroll into the nearest beauty salon and I would
be sorted.
The very next day I walked into a parlour
and got my hair straightened. As I looked into the mirror, I saw a different
me. I felt more confident; now I too could run my hand through my hair while
talking to others, I too looked pretty, most of all I could keep my hair open
without looking like a mannequin with a birds nest on her head.
As I walked out that day like a princess, I
felt that was the end to my hair problems but little did I know that it was
just the onset. Once the honeymoon period was over and my hair grew, the top
half portion of my hair became curly while the bottom was plain straight! Yes
each hair strand of mine was like a wavy question mark! What would I do then?
That wasn’t all; the straightening had made my hair drier than ever before.
They had become brittle and I again sank back to the same old slump.
I tried every possible product in the market;
shampoos and conditioners of every possible variety and combination; serums
too. I used every possible home remedy- amla, reetha, shikakai, meethi and what
not! But still nothing gave me the hair I wanted. So I went ahead and
straightened my hair all over again.
Be it Shillong, Bangalore, Guwahati or
Sydney; no matter where I straightened my hair; the effect or shall I say the
charm lasted only a few months and after that it was the same story yet again.
I was moving around in circles; always ending up one step behind the starting
point.
All I could manage with my hair was a pony
tail with lots of clips to bring the curly part down. Hair is a sensitive issue
for any girl, I felt dejected when I looked around and saw girls looking
stunning in different hair styles without the perennial parlour visits while I
had no option available except straighten my hair constantly if I wanted my
hair fairy tale to suffice. But that was no longer an option; I had enough of
the temporary resolution. I wanted a permanent solution but what could that be?
Martin Luther said the hair is the richest ornament of women. If I went by that; I was
the poorest of poor in my world which gave me a sick feeling in the stomach. I
had to do something, or I would end up an old lady still harboring the dreams
of being Rapunzel one day. I couldn’t
let that happen, I couldn’t let this desire of mine remain unfulfilled.
Days passed by and my hair became more and
more like the queen of wavy question marks! It was safe to say that in a
contest of the woman with worst hair; I would win hands down. But I stood my
ground with hopes in my eyes after all how cruel could life be. Something was
bound to work on my hair; something was bound to make my hair makeover a
reality.
Those
curious locks so aptly twin'd, whose every hair a soul doth bind. ~Thomas Carew
One day on my usual treasure hunts of
spotting different or magical hair products; I walked into a health and beauty
retail store. As I paced through the isle of hair products; mentally I checked
every product that I had used or wanted to use in future when suddenly my eyes
stopped on Dove’s new range. Well I had tried Dove earlier during college but
at that time I had just straightened my hair, so I wasn’t sure if it would work
well on my hair now. But still I wanted to try it out for a few days; perhaps
my hair would become softer, less frizzy and more presentable; though only time
would tell. So I took the leap of faith with Dove with eyes full of hope and a
head full of horrible hair. Time stopped as I picked it up and that was the end
of my hair problems!
Several months on; I must say my bathroom
no longer gets clogged by my hair and the frizz has reduced considerably too.
Yes my hair still is a mixture of curls on the top which end up straight at the
bottom; but now they are soft to touch. I no longer need to hide behind a hoard
of clips to look decent. The growth is good and once my hair is long enough I
can always get rid of the bottom straight half. Things are looking good now. I feel my dream of having that perfect hair is
gradually being realized. It may take time but hey I waited years and how hard
could a few more months be?
So as I continue on my expedition of discovering
gorgeous hair with Dove; as I type this post I realize that inspite of having
the not so perfect hair or shall I say ‘awful
hair’; I have never been held back at anything in life. So girls if you are
reading this, do anything you can to get your dream hair, but do remember;
“Sometimes
people are beautiful.
Not
in looks.
Not
in what they say.
Just
in what they are.”