Tuesday, October 21, 2014

The Hair Repair

I've got a new (and strange) obsession.   I've been trying to fix my hair.   It wasn't broken initially but then I did something silly and caused it to be damaged and now I'm trying to correct the situation.

I've been growing my hair out and as it's gotten longer I've needed to do something to it to make it look a little better, a little less ragged, a little more tidy.   So I got a curling iron and a flat iron and from time to time I'd make it look a little better with those tools.

One day (or maybe on more than one day) I decided to roll bits of my hair up with the curling iron and hold the heat there for longer so more curl would set in.   Now mind you, I'm an inexperienced hair curler or straightener and what I know now is that that very hot heat is really only "curling" the lower part of your hair that's in direct contact with the big barrel of the iron.   Holding the heat on it for longer is a fine thing to do...if your goal is to fry and frazzle your hair.

I've learned several things since that time a few months ago.   Now I always use a heat protecting product on your hair if you plan on curling or straightening.  I don't use the hottest setting and I don't hold the heat on any area of the hair for very long.   I got a new hair dryer that helps seal the cuticle of the hair and, oh yeah, this was the neatest one: I learned how to curl my hair with a flat iron.

But not of that fixed the damage I'd done to several spots in my hair.   The damage went fairly high up and even with careful flat ironing, it looked bad.   The ends were split, broken and torn and there wasn't much to do about it until the hair grew out and I had months and months to go on that front.    Or did I?

I didn't want to cut six inches off my hair, but could I cut only those individual hairs that were damaged and cut them clean just above the damaged spot?   Yes I could, but it would involve a lot of investment in time.    We have about ten-thousand hairs on our head I read one time.   Not all of mine are damaged, but I was going to have to do a lot of looking to find the ones that were.  

Each night now I sit on the counter in my bathroom with my 3X magnification glasses on and a pair of very sharp scissors.   I put on an audio book I'm listening to—it has twenty-six hours of audio so I've got time—and I meticulously cut strands of hair just above the damaged area.  

It's strange, but it's rather soothing to do.   I don't remove much overall hair, but what remains is nice and neat and lays flat and brushes like a dream.  I feel like I'm tidying up a big mess and every day that mess gets a little smaller.    If only my back will hold out until I'm finished...

The Big Boy Update:  Lost his lunch.   We went to a restaurant for lunch today that served pancakes.  My son was thrilled to get a "Pancake Bear" lunch (pancakes in the shape of a bear).   He ate for a while but got frustrated when we told him he had to use a fork to eat and then angry with me when I helped cut up the larger of the pancakes.   He decided he wanted to play under the table and bother his sister on the other side of the booth.   My husband took him outside to discuss his behavior, saying that he must be done eating since he wasn't at his place anymore.   I had the waitress take his food away.   He was basically full, but the behavior was unacceptable.   When my husband brought him back my son was outraged that his food had been taken away.  I told him I was sure he'd finish eating next time before playing around at the table.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  Staple remover.  My daughter had her two staples removed today.  I have to thank my good running buddy and neighbor for doing it for us.   She is so nice that she got a staple remover from her office and came by to do the removal.   It was quick and my daughter didn't cry too much.   And I kept the staple remover.   We live in such a disposable society.  It was a metal tool in a sealed package that would be good for untold uses, but it's marked as disposable.   If we have a need in the future, I'm set.

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