Hair!

Always pisses me off. Every girl's blog will have a post dedicated to this penned out of sheer irritation.

Schoolgirl - When in Chennai, my grandma never took me anywhere near a parlour for even a 2mm trim. I had waist-length hair (I think) when I was 2nd Std !! It wasn't uncommon there actually. Shift to Bangalore. You guessed right. My mom got all of Rapunzel's tresses cut short. I literally felt light weight ! I had shoulder length hair for most of my schooling years. Trotted to school with 2 ponies, a single pony or 2 braids. It was sometime during these formative years that my hair transformed from straight and manageable to a curly and bushy a la squirrels` nest look-alike. My mom blames me for it conveniently. In her own words - ' From the time you've started taking care of your hair, it looks more and more tangled and messy '. As if! Just so you know, finally the blame passed on to dad. He has slightly curly hair.

Collegegirl - Shoulder length hair was here to stay. But a lot of experiments were carried out on my poor tresses. From U-cut, V-cut, straight cut, Layers - You name it. I looked gorgeous the day the beautician styled my hair. One wash and I would look as if nothing had ever happened. I experimented so much that my hair refused to grow even an inch longer. So the next experiment started - Shampoo trials !! My entire family , for generations used to have the habitual oil-shikakhai bath every sunday. It must have worked because even today my mom has lovely hair, albeit a lot thinner! (I'm green with Envy) How I wish I inherited those genes from her. It scares me to even imagine the state of my hair when I'm 45.. What if my husband has more hair than me :-( YIEEEKSSSS!!! Ok I shall quit ranting right now and wear a trendy wig :-)

I must have been every shampoo advertiser's nightmare come true. Had I been more aware of the ways of the world then, I would have sued all the Shampoo brands and made a million bucks by now !! If one shampoo made my hair dry, another wouldn't cleanse properly and a third would make my hair fall. Yet another one would make my hair silky and smooth but only for THAT day. My hair had a mind of its own and I never gave up the fight!

Past few years - My hair's obstinate nature (and my experimental one) started to mellow and I started spending lesser energy (and money) on it. The only wise decision I ever made in my life was 2 years ago when I decided to quit messing around and let my hair grow long. Surprisingly it started to look more like HAIR and less like the end of a Broom !! Quite happy after a complete year of zero trials, I decided to get my hair trimmed for a new year party. Costly mistake. Not only did I pay for this haircut with an arm and leg but also ended up with hair 6 inches shorter !!! Booo Hooooo !! Indian women (Read - Afreen's in CMH Road) do not know how to cut hair. The Nepali ladies (in Lakme or any Chinese parlour) are unbeatable. They worship your hair and speak to it whilst styling it perfectly.

After this debacle, I continued the painful process of growing my hair long yet again. It was during this time that I learnt swimming. Need I say more? Chlorine water + shampoo wash daily made my hair lifeless. This time I took no risks and placed myself in the hands of the Lakme experts. Couple of deep conditioning treatments and my hair was healthy again. Not to mention long :-) and growing..

I'm having a decent hair day today so look out for my 'hairy' tales when I get it styled next perhaps ;-)

Until then, worry about yours :P