It happened many years ago but just thinking about it still bothers me. I didn’t know it would affect me that way. In fact, I was surprised and alarmed by the emotional imbalance it created. I was angry and sad and completely “out of whack”. I’ve never really known what being “in whack” is, but I knew that this was not it.
I fussed. I fretted. I conditioned. I combed. I pulled. I cursed. And sometimes, I even cried. I wore hats. I restricted my social activities. I considered wearing a sign that read “This is really not my hair. Please excuse the mess during construction.” It wasn’t just a bad haircut. It was a bad hair day that went on and on for weeks and weeks.
My crowning glory had been reduced to fuzz. A friend referred to me as a dandelion.
It started out so innocently. A picture in a magazine. Loose curls. I asked the stylist (I use the term very generously) if we could do a perm like that. He said yes. I asked if we could do color too. He said yes. He told me he could do both color and perm at the same time. He was wrong.
I learned that sometimes in life the only way to deal with things is to cut your losses and start over. Time heals.