My Atlantis: Hair

"We could probably find the holy grail in there. And maybe Atlantis. Is there a spot that's ever more wet than the rest?"

I laughed. I don't remember those comments hurting particularly, but I remember a time when I hated my big, poofy hair. I had no idea what to do with it except ask my mom to straighten it for me every so often. My mom talked about maybe getting it relaxed. I probably would've gone along with it if it hadn't been so expensive. As it was, my friends compared me to Hermione Granger and I embraced that my hair was better for the character than Emma Watson's. Similar comments to the ones mentioned above would be thrown around, all very entertaining really, but I still wasn't happy with my hair.

I don't know what happened, but I stopped straightening my hair and started to take care of my curly hair like a curly girl is supposed to, washing it less frequently and brushing it in the shower only, if at all. As my hair started to actually be curly instead of a poofy mess, I learned that the gift I'd been given was severely envied. And that it was really more me than hiding under a dandelion of brown.

Since then, I've read books, looked for hair products, examined styles... I even went through a "no-wash" phase. Before you get all grossed out, it's basically just the very hippie idea of not washing your hair with shampoo because the chemicals in shampoo are so bad for your hair. I mean, think about it; you put shampoo in your hair and it feels absolutely awful and then you put conditioner in and it feels good again until about two days later, or maybe the next day, and you have to do the same thing all over again. (It's like the corporations are trying to get you to spend more money by creating two expensive products that create a need for each other. Not to be preachy.) So, what I did, and what a lot of curly girls and hippie moms do, is rinsed my hair only, putting in a little conditioner, but not at the roots. After about a month n' a half, I reintroduced shampoo in very small amounts to only the roots. Never had a problem since! And, I go through shampoo half as quickly as conditioner, so I'm buying that less frequently. Perfect.

My roommate walked in the other day and reported someone's ideology on hair. She said that a girl she knew didn't straighten or colour her hair because God gave us our hair just the way it is and we should accept that that's how our hair is supposed to be. I didn't tell my roommate that I thought the same exact thing long ago, but I did agree vigorously when she decided she'd dye her hair back to its natural colour. What could be better than God's blessings?

My hair colour is something I've always really liked. It gets naturally sun bleached sometimes, other times it's a whole lot darker. All in all, I love that it changes naturally and looks good either way.

Best of all, I love it when someone I love touches my hair. Or smells my hair. Or says I have beautiful hair (even when it's dirty and gross).

So, yeah, there was an Atlantis in my hair. It was something beautiful and hidden, but when I let it happen, it was a visible beauty.