Too Many Strands

I took my hair down from the corn rows I’ve had it in for fifteen days through the sailing trip.   It was a breeze once I got used to it.  I didn’t have to wash it other than to rinse it off in the shower.   It didn’t frizz up, it was never in my face or food and was about as zero maintenance as twenty-inch hair can be.  

But it was time.  Yesterday evening after coming in from the boat and before dinner I got in the shower with a large bottle of conditioner and started the process of undoing the braids.  It was slow going but I’d learned some tricks for speed and success after removing my daughter’s braids in January from our family holiday trip.

I would run the water, slather on some conditioner, turn the water off, work on the braids with my fingers and a brush.   Repeat.  Repeat.   By the time I had all the braids out my dinner was cold and everyone else plates had been cleaned up.

The thing that was shocking, saddening, heartbreaking was the amount of hair that came out in the process.  Even factoring in ten strands of hair per day of natural fallout due to the cycle of hair growth humans have, it was far too much.   Possibly the tightness of the braids that had been done played into the amount of attrition.   Still, it was too much.

I have slow-growing hair.  I’ve been “growing my hair out” for at least five years now and I can barely keep up with the minor trims reluctantly agree to have every three months.  Sue, my stylist, laughs at me when I bemoan an inch of hair being cut off.   It has to happen though as the hair at the bottom is over three-years-old and even with the care I take to protect it and treat it well, I can’t go without an occasional trim.

So the mass of hair I have now in a ziplock bag (yes, I saved it, it was that sad) is hair that all has to start at my scalp and grow out for another three years to get back to length.  Maybe it’s what I would have naturally lost during that timeframe, but I don’t think I’ll have my hair braided like that again.   On the up side, I don’t have any future plans to need to have it braided.   That, and at some point I’m going to a short hair style.   Well, shorter, for me.   I’m not sure when I’ll have the nerve to make the change, but it’s going to happen someday.

The Big Boy Update:  My son has been in the land of screens for a huge portion of our trip to New Jersey.   He doesn’t have anyone his age to play with, and when we do family things he gladly takes a break.   He’s going to need a serious detox when we get home though.   Today during one of his breaks he was talking to Kyle in the living room as we discussed what meal plans were for the day.   He told the group, “Kyle needs to work out more, he’s getting thick.”   Fortunately, Kyle wasn’t offended.   He laughed along with everyone else.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter has become very interested in learning some origami models.   I taught her how to make a cube out of six squares of paper.  She folds the sheets and I connect the cube.   She’s working on accuracy and is increasing in skill rapidly.   She also memorizes the models quickly, which helps.