The Hair Story!

 And you thought you have bad hair days while I have had hair issues all my life! I am a girl in my early 20’s and I have had drastic change in hairstyles. From being bald to having long hair to short bob.

 

Inherited from my maternal grandmother, I was born with adorable baby curls just like my elder sister. I really don’t remember having it since my mother, the greatest barber of the world, decided to shave it all off as she had a hard time managing my sister’s. So the story starts here; I was bald throughout my childhood.  Flipping through the photo albums I always crack up into hysterical laughter. My mommy thought I looked pretty in a cute little frock with no hair. When it started growing and was the length of an inch or two, I was surely very stylish to sport a hair band with two pleated hair extensions that reached my waist while my original hair got lost on my scalp!

Since there was no availability of parlors for small girls at my time I went along with my dad to get a haircut to the famous Hajam Dai of my community. He would place me on the tallest chair and bend down to cut my hair short. I always cursed him from within and told him I would grow my hair long and pretty like Rapunzel wore it. The biggest evidence of my childhood, the photo albums jam-packed with memories show that I had pigtails when I was in my preschool. As I think about it now, I wonder how they managed to get that long.  However, after entering teenage, I tried all the hairstyles possible: from crop short to waist long. But one of the biggest mistakes I repeated time and again was as soon as I got them long; I cut them mercilessly. While entering the parlor, I am jolly and happy but while stepping out of that horrendous place, I swear on never entering again but I end up going there again.

As years passed by, my scalp showed signs of me growing feminine with wavy reddish locks that fell on my back. By the time I was in high school, there were friends who went gaga over my hair. My friends often teased me by saying I should join the TV commercials for beautiful hair!  I’m not trying to tell you that I had the most beautiful hair imaginable, but I had good hair. But, just like any other girl, I had bad hair days that made me go crazy making me want to rip it off!

This didn’t last long. One crazy day in February, I was returning from work, I saw that my locality had opened up a new parlor. It was named “Sushmita’s Parlor”. I don’t know what tempted me to but, I went crazy that very minute and without thinking, I pushed the swinging doors of the parlor and stepped in. After examining it for a brief second, I placed my bag in the table that looked like it was freshly painted and checked myself in the mirror. The lady raised an eye questioningly and asked what I wanted to do with my hair. Without pissing her off further, with a huge grin on my face, I reciprocated immediately and said I wanted to cut it short, “Short Bob”. I don’t remember what I was feeling when she was started spraying my hair but I she snapped at me telling me not to cut my hair. I snapped back telling her to do her job. I don’t know what pissed her off but she used her scissors and cut it real short! To top it all, it was winter and we all know our country is so famous with the load shedding! Yes, the lights went off when she was cutting it down and she relied on candles! By the time it was done, I was bored to death and without checking myself, I paid and walked through the swinging doors yet again. As soon as I reached home, my mother smiled and told me I looked cute just like a small girl in the mushroom cut. I fumed and told her it was the so called “Bob cut” and locked myself in my room and went to sleep.

The next day was a disaster. Trust me, a real disaster. I got up and looked for my rubber band as I always tied my hair to sleep and by morning, it got lost in my bed.  Then I realized I got a haircut. I threw the quilt and ran to the mirror. I cried. My hair was gone. I was bald again! Well not BALD but I had short hair! Very short! They were springing in all the directions and I looked like a porcupine! This was certainly the worst hair day of my life! I cried and cried wiping my tears to see my hair clearer, wiping them again to make myself look better. But no, I looked worse by the minute.  I tried every possible way to hide my hair, mufflers, caps and on certain days, I hid myself! This lasted for some time. People complimented on my hair some called me Lady Gaga of Nepal. Well, that made me smile because I worshipped her.  

Days passed and yeah, my hair grew longer. By longer, I mean an inch longer. I still had the short bob but I got used to it with time and I no longer hid myself. I went on with my life and I survived the haircut. I tie it up on rainy days and sport hair accessories on sunny days. Though I still wish it grew overnight! And about the Hajam Dai- every time I see him checking my hair out, I try avoiding him and walk as fast as I can out of the shame.