Hair Heir Care and Solutions

.... Ironically, I will never be black.

.... I am far from that color palette in the visual context.

Interestingly enough, though, I have gone to Wal-Mart and entered the hair relaxer aisle with all the fake weaves and Lusters' Pink styling products. I was mentally wading through the products to find an anecdote to my bird's nest hair problem.

Before I would talk to those of Caucasian decent and they would say,

"Oh, your hair is dry...you need to do this to your hair!"

"Oh, you need to have it cut...why not try this product."

Years and years of trying so many different styling products and wondering what was wrong with me left me feeling self-conscious and insecure about my image. It also confused me as to my cultural identity.

See, I am of Latin descent. Most of the women I knew had straight hair. My circle of influence didn't have tight curly, frizz ball, almost dry Roseanne Roseannadanna hair problems. If they did, they didn't show it, nor did they let on that they had a dilemma.

I would look at myself in the mirror and just sigh in pity of myself. I have never seen anyone on a magazine cover with my hair. Of course, we all know these people are airbrushed! Still, my hair type was not example-worthy for the masses.

Then, I started having gradual epiphanies. I would look at my dad's hair, then my brother's hair. I did research on our ancestral roots. When I flat ironed my mom's hair and my aunt's hair, I noticed something. Not everyone flat irons the same! It's not because they use different hair care products, either! Then I became experientially aware of what people refer to as "Indian hair." It would explain why my mom and I would have fights on how to take care of my hair; because she didn't have frizz ball, knotty-mermaid-fishnet, mind-of-it's-own curly hair. She had Indian hair!

I once worked at a school where the children were not the nicest in manners. So this one girl just comes up to me and says, "Miss, you have some nappy hair!" Now, I know, some of you are probably thinking, "Girl, if she would've said that to me, she'd be in the principal's office before she could say Jheri curl!" But you know what? That! ...That was another epiphanal moment for me! It confirmed to me that I was a white chick with African hair!

Actually, my hair is mixed, but it leans toward that side. Now, when I look at someone who had a hair straightening mishap, I have an educated curiosity. There's ethnicity lurking in all of us, I say!

I'm still on my quest for the perfect budget conscious solution to my very exotic hair adventures. Yet, today, my hair is tamer, happier and more willing to comply to what I do to thanks to years of research by me and all the hair care product and tool geniuses that have gone before me. Thank you to all you who showed me time and again how to use a flat iron. Thank you to all you who invented hair oil for the kinkier in us all. Thank you to all those inventers of ethnic hair care products that knew that we could not handle ethnic hair with white shampoo. You are forever in our debt.

References

-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jheri_curl

-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roseanne_Roseannadanna

-http://www.lusterproducts.com/

-http://www.walmart.com/