Our Crowning Glory

Well, this time I am definitely going to do it...no ifs, ands, or buts about it. Before I return to work tomorrow, I plan on being minus a few inches of hair. When I was a little girl, I had  long hair, But it was never the nice, pretty long hair you see on many little girls.  My hair has always been on the thin side, and, oh so straggly. It always had the look of not being combed. Although I don't have any pictures, I remember looking at the smiling little girl in our class pictures with the bedraggled look to her hair.

Then, by the time I reached my teen-age years, those high teased hairdos were all the rage so my hair was chopped and piled high on my head; then sprayed so that it wouldn't move for a week. Heaven forbid when the rains came. Just try getting a comb through that sticky, tangled mess...but we thought we looked great.  Anyone remember the 'beehive'?  For those that don't, it literally resembled a beehive. We would tease it all up and then pile it high on top of the head, the higher the better.  Then you would take your brush and lightly begin to wrap...and spray, the more spray the better. Heck, I remember my hair being so stiff that I could sleep through the night with ne'er a hair out of place. Now, when shampoo time came around, that was another story.  It may be coming back in fashion, but in no way as drastic as the way we used to wear it.

Moving forward to my 20's, I was still teasing, but not as much. I'd also begun coloring, and it seemed that my hair texture began to improve. Coloring worked wonders on my straggles, but I still mostly kept my hair short, never managing to get past the shoulder length. My hair tends to grow very slowly, and I am sure that most of you can identify with the fact that our hair growth reaches a stage that we cannot do a thing with it, and and it seems to stop growing.  Hence, it wasn't until I hit my 50's that I finally began  growing my hair long again, a dream I had had most of my adult life. 

By then I came to terms with the fact that I wanted things easy.   The heck with the fancy styles.  I couldn't be bothered with blow drying or rollers, and  it was just so easy to just pin it up or pull it back in a ponytail. Wash and wear is the greatest.  But, I've grown tired of that. I'm tired of struggling to get the knots out in the back and the headaches when pinned up too tight.  I'm tired of looking in the mirror and seeing the same me...day after day.  It's time for something different....a new me, so to speak...losing weight, new hair do, putting a coat of polish on my nails again. A bright new outlook on life.

Our 'crowning glory' has always been an important part of our physical being; in fact, isn't it the first thing we notice when we meet someone new? And most people spend a lot of time and money on their hair. We by fancy shampoos and conditioners, sprays, gels, mousse. I'm not one of them. It seems that many of us want something other than what we have been gifted with. If our hair is straight, we wish it were curly, and vice verse. Women spend fortunes and hours of literally suffering to have their hair braided while others swear by extensions. And many of us are not happy with the color of our hair so a natural brunette becomes a blond. Now, that one is me. I've been a blond for many, many years now.

In ancient Ireland if a traveler was to happen upon a woman with red hair he must turn around and start his journey all over again because redheads were thought to be harbingers of bad luck. The superstition was said to have stemmed from the legend of the goddess, Macha,  who was said to have cursed the men of Ireland and their descendants for nine generations with horrible pangs like labor.  On the other hand, the ancient Greeks died their hair red for courage.

It was once believed that eating bread crusts would make one's hair turn curly, but diet cannot change the texture of your hair.  The old bread crust myth is believed to have originated in Europe about 300 years ago when survival was precarious and people were starving.  People were losing their hair because they were sick and didn't have enough to eat.  Curly hair was seen as symbol of health, and those who had enough to eat, and this included bread, were generally healthier so bread became associated with healthy, curly hair.

It seems that choosing a day to cut your hair or nails will bode for you in the following way:

Cut them on Monday, you cut them for health;
cut them on Tuesday, you cut them for wealth;
cut them on Wednesday, you cut them for news;
cut them on Thursday, a new pair of shoes; 

cut them on Friday, you cut them for sorrow;
cut them on Saturday, see your true love tomorrow;
cut them on Sunday, the devil will be with you all the week. 

(Will have before and after pictures)