Curly top

I got a perm today! I love having curly hair. I don't exactly love paying $150 to get it but if that's the price of younger-looking, easy to care for hair, then that's what I'm willing to pay right now.

There's a classic "the grass is always greener" thing going on here. I have friends with curly hair that would love to have my stick straight hair and all I want is their curls. Why is that? Why aren't we ever satisfied with how we naturally look?

It's not like there's something inherently great about having curly hair. I just happen to like it. I'm sick of blow-drying my hair every morning and despite the fact that we have air conditioning, I hate using a blow dryer in the summer. I can't for the life of me figure out what curly-haired people find so compelling about straight hair. Of course, they like the kind of straight hair you see on the Pantene commercials, all shiny and full with just the right amount of curve and in just the right way. My hair is s.t.i.c.k. straight with curves in the wrong way and in the wrong places. When I keep it shorter, it has some bounce to it and looks ok but once it grows a little it's flat and boring and old. Oh, and getting gray. Not the good kind of gray, either. Not the silver kind that looks dazzling on fashionable women of a certain age. The mousey wiry gray of an evil queen turned witch. Not good. I've been highlighting my hair for a couple years now - something I swore I would never, ever do (why? because I'm a "natural"girl, of course). But now that I'm creeping closer and closer to that certain age myself, I'm realizing the benefits of highlighting.

So, for now at least, I have curly hair. Not only do I look a few years younger, I feel younger. And that's worth the price!