The other evening, I had lovely young lady visiting who, of late, has developed a rather strong attraction to my hair - wrapping herself up in it, covering her face in it, hiding under it - being silly with my headcovering. She has been growing out her own hair long - she started long before she met me.
So the other evening, I am pretending to have an adult conversation with this young lady's father and she is playing with my hair - twisting it into one rope, then multiple ropes, wrapping it around my face, around my head, looped with my glasses - I kept having this image of Princess Leia and Padme on a bad hair day (did either ever have one???). Lots of fun! I truly enjoyed having her play with my hair. As she played with my hair, I realized just how long it is - finally, I can call it "long" (I've been able to sit on it for several months now - but to SEE it stretched out so far from my body or to have it go around my head that many times - yeah, it's long ;) )
My own son loved playing with my hair until somewhere around age 7 - at age 8, he maybe played with it a couple of times - and now, at 9, nothing. I am sad to consider those days might be over. He would take the ends of my braids and flip the ends of my hair around his finger; he would wrap up his hands and arms in my braid; he split the hanging part below the braid to make a "rainbow" as he called it. He always preferred it braided to hanging and rarely did anything involving my face (we have a largely unspoken rule that I do not like things in my face). He loved laying on the floor as a baby and toddler having the edges of my ankle-length skirts or my hair brushed over his face though!
I was thinking of all of this just now when I recalled a small number of ladies (with very short hair) tell me that they have short hair because you can't do anything with long hair. For the record I never asked them or brought up that topic - this was very clearly a defense about something they didn't feel right about - they felt the need to defend their decision to me when I wasn't attacking or even cared!
One such lady stands out. We traveled to Italy together many years ago and shared lodging throughout the trip. She couldn't STAND the fact that I would wake up 5 minutes before we are supposed to be out the door, with a 1 year old boy in tow, and I would still make it to breakfast on time. She was a single woman with no children - so she didn't understand the amount of preparedness that went into assuring those few precious minutes of sleep. As the mother of a child who is still a morning sleeper and a night owl, I had already learned how to catch a few extra winks: bathe/shower in the evening, have the next day's clothes ready and laid out for both of us; fresh diaper and travel toilet rim ready to go; all items needed for the next day in the backpack (snacks, water bottles, camera, diapers, wallet). Mission: sleep when I can; think as little as possible right after waking. Result: Get up, use toilet, have child use toilet while doing own hair, wash hands and face, do hair, get both of us dressed, gather up our things, load into car and meet everyone for breakfast. Come back up just to brush teeth. Good to go. Mission Accomplished.
Yes, waist-length hair, 1 year old boy - it can all be done in a 5 minute morning routine. (keeping in mind that breakfast and tooth-brushing is separate)
And how does this relate to hair?
I didn't have to wash it every morning to get it to stay in place - I wash my hair once or twice a week because it is actually healthier to get all the natural oils into it before washing it with harsh chemicals (I alternate between the least troublesome of the chemicals and natural methods)
I didn't have to blow-dry it - it air-dries without doing too many strange things - probably because of the weight?
I didn't have to curl it - the short sections wave themselves in a natural manner; the longer sections get braided, twisted, roped, tied, looped, banded, pony/pig-tailed - and a thousand varieties on each of those.
One morning, after this woman had been particularly cranky with me for sleeping through her hour-long process of getting herself ready, she told me that my simple braids are proof that I can do nothing with my hair - but look at all SHE can do with HER hair. I just looked at her and quietly said, "You wash it and curl it the same every morning. That is a lot of care, but that is not a lot that can be DONE. You do NOT need to defend yourself to me. It is YOUR hair and YOUR choice." I walked out of the room.
But it was my catty side of the month - and I was still a bit immature at the time. That evening I did a different hairstyle (took me 90 seconds); in the following days I did my hair twice each day - in a completely different hairstyle. Each one took me less than two full minutes - so quick that the process was almost never seen.
What CAN'T I do with long hair? In my own hair, I can't expect curling iron curls to stay for more than a few hours - but that is my hair short OR long (I have had hair as short as just under my ears before - in a boy-ish cut - so I do know what can/can't be done with short/long hair).
I definitely can't expect everyone to appreciate the fact that I choose the "traditional" feminine look because it fulfills the truest, deepest core of my nature.
I can't stay in hiding - long hair stands out in the society in which I live.
I can't think that the evil one will leave me alone - or that God will shield me from all attacks as my Faith in Him is tested.
But I don't think that is what people think of when they say, "you can't do anything with long hair".
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="300"]
On a "do-nothing" day - or perhaps I had just gotten up and was working at home for the morning - since my headcovering isn't on yet. Legoboy secretly took this photo on a spy mission of his.[/caption]
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