A Life's Worth Of Hair Drama

Who has the worst hair in the world? A few years ago, the answer was.....ME!

I have always had thick hair, which is a good thing. Most people aren't blessed with thick hair these days. But that's not the only quality your hair needs to have to be considered beautiful. Gone are the days when actresses had gorgeous but attainable hair. These days, Priyanka Chopra walks around in a sleek, chic bob which I'm sure requires hours of maintenance daily. Deepika, Sonam and Katrina have long, silky tresses which always look perfectly done up. The worst part is that pictures of these people are flashed across TV channels, newspaper columns, billboards and posters, and we tend to think whatever they have is the only thing that's beautiful.

My bad hair days started when I was about ten. I had spent the initial years of my childhood with really short hair, but later on, I decided I didn't want to look like a boy anymore. So, I started growing my hair. The hair wasn't so good. Here's a basic description- imagine a broom, paint it black, use it around the house a hundred times, put it in water and then dry it in the harshest sunlight. What you'll get should give you an idea of what my hair looked like. Everyday, I looked at my hair in the mirror ans said, "Wow!" but I didn't mean that in a good way. I blamed it on the hard water supply to my house, but the fact was that only I suffered from this problem, not my family or neighbors. I tied my hair in a ponytail as it was still too short to be tied in a plait. So, everyone could get a fairly good look at my hair.

Public humiliation accompanies bad hair. My friends treated my hair like a free freak-show. They touched it just to know what bad hair felt like. Once they got a good feel of it, they would say to my face, "Ewww!" People would keep giving me advice- use this oil, use that shampoo, cover your hair in a wet towel and go to sleep (the last one doesn't work). Even the teachers got involved. They had never seen hair like mine. They pitched in to improve its pitiful condition. Very soon, I lost count of how many times my teachers asked me to oil my hair thoroughly. This is exactly the kind of stuff they talk about when they speak of 'peer pressure'.

Then one day, I cut my hair. The hairdresser made the mistake of cutting it too short. When I went to school the next day, I was met with gasps of shock, mocking laughter and plain surprise. It was almost as if people couldn't accept my haircut. Everybody mentioned my hair. EVERYBODY!!! But most importantly, I didn't know what to do with it. I couldn't tie it in a ponytail anymore and the front part kept falling on my forehead. It took three pins and a lot of combing to do my hair every morning.

My short hair wasn't pretty and it didn't suit me, but after that, the Commonwealth Games were announced. You must be wondering what that has to do with my hair. Well, to improve infrastructure in preparation for the Games, the hard water supply stopped and we finally started getting good water. Shampoo days weren't nightmares anymore. The roughness slowly went away. The haircut had gotten rids of the split-ends. In short, I had brand new hair. (That's the good part of growing up- you go from ugly duckling to swan.) For the first time in my life, I could look at my reflection and say "Wow" and actually mean it in a good way.

Even today, I have hair issues, but of a different kind. My parents think I take way too much care of my hair. They say they never had to do much, so why would I need to? And then there's the whole jealousy problem. I have curly hair, but the fashion around me seems to be of sleek, straight hair. Girls who have hair like that get more compliments than me and that can be annoying sometimes.

But the important thing is that I love my hair. My friends subject their hair to straightening irons and serums. I let my curly hair grow and stay curly even on occasions. I like my hair just the way it is and I don't want to change it to look like someone out of TV. I take good care of it. Every three days, I oil it and then use Dove shampoo and conditioner. Here's my personal advice to people- oil is good for you. Maybe that's why Dove came up with the new Oil Care range. Always try to either use oil or some substitute. It will keep your hair soft and glowing. Sometimes, I use lemons to get rid of dandruff and add natural highlights. I try to stay away from chemical treatments and hairsprays. Right now, I'm trying to make my hair grow, so some vitamin and folic acid supplements help. I like the feel of my hair on shoulders and would love to have it flow down to my waist. And the best part is, I can never be unhappy with my hair because no matter how it is, it can never be as bad as it once used to be. 

(This is an entry for the blogging contest organized by  Dove.)