Most mornings when I get up, I don't even look at my hair in the mirror. I already know it's a mess, it probably resembles something like a nest to a large rodent of some kind, and it has enough tangles to tie a boat to a dock and keep it there through a hurricane.
But over the past few weeks, there have been a few occasions in which I accidentally catch a glimpse of my hair before I rush to a brush to "fix" it. And I'm starting to notice that... it doesn't need fixing.
Let me use today as an example, and I'll backtrack through time like Quentin Tarantino and show you how I realized what I did this morning.
Okay so I get up this morning to the sound of a large truck out front. Realizing someone was here, I rush into a pair of jeans and into the bathroom to grab my brush. I glance into the mirror first, and I notice that besides some light frizzing, my hair didn't seem to be messed up at all... it actually seemed to be curly. Mike was dressed at this point and went outside to greet our visitor, which gave me the time to actually examine my hair and what it was doing. It was indeed curly. Not like, a bunch of small, tightly-wrapped curls; not large, perfect Shirley-Temple curls; just light, relaxed, loosely flowing, natural curls that started a few inches from my head and got more defined as they went down. This was so intriguing, that my hair was actually curling on its own, that I decided instead of brushing it out, to simply run my fingers through it, gently breaking up tangles and calming frizz with my leave-in conditioner. The curls were less defined for a few minutes, but just moving throughout the house, getting a drink, and checking again showed that they had already reformed.
I started to think back to all those times over the past weeks that I had noticed my hair in the mirror, and I realized that it wasn't just a mess. It was starting to curl. The natural waves that my hair has always had, the annoying ones that bend and curve in odd directions, they were forming into curls. Over the past few weeks, or perhaps over the past YEARS, my hair has been trying to curl. And so far, it seems it's slowly succeeding!
So I thought back yet again. How long has it been doing this? And why now, out of nowhere, is my hair curling? What inspired this change?
Was it having the kids? Did pregnancy do this? ...no, because my hair was still mostly straight with waves after having David, as it has been ever since high school.
Ah, high school. Reminds me of when I first started dying my hair. My favorite color to dye it was that "Cherry Coke" color; it's actually a deep burgundy, but it always reminded me of Cherry Coke.
THAT'S IT!
That's when it hit me. I've been dying my hair since high school, but I stopped dying it after I had David. The last time I dyed my hair, I was 7 months pregnant with David, and I told myself I was done with it after that. Not only did I want to see what my natural hair color was (and your natural hair color is not just the color your roots come in between dye jobs; you have to let it grow out a bit to get a real idea of your natural color) but I also didn't want to have to worry about dying my hair anymore when I had a newborn to take care of.
For the first year after I stopped dying my hair, it was still weighed down with the dye, though. It took a while for it to grow back out, and it took two trips to the salon to get all the dyed parts cut off so that my hair was still at least shoulder-length. Which of course means it took a year, until I was pregnant with Levi, before my hair was completely, 100% natural.
Now, once I had my natural hair back, it still had some repairing to do. It was so used to being dyed that I assume it was much weaker than it could be. I changed hair products every few months, trying to find one that actually seemed to give me some improvement. And each change I made did make my hair better... for about a week or two, then it went right back to being "blah" and broken. Split ends, frizz, easily broken... I was going crazy. I finally stopped with TRESsemmé Split Remedy, and so far it seems to be doing much better. I've noticed a HUGE decrease in breakage, so let's hope it keeps working!
Anyways, I guess I should have noticed that my hair always seems to be the same length, even after it should have been at least an inch longer... probably because it curled up that last inch!
I wonder if it will continue to curl? Especially as the right hair care products really kick in and make it even more healthy? Hm. Can't say I'd really complain. Even after brushing out the curls, it's still a much prettier curve than the "waves" it had when it was dyed.
I know this was just a really long post that could be summed up with "My hair is starting to curl! How exciting!" But I felt like telling a story today. =)
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