All this talk lately about black women’s hair and nappy vs natural and so on (which talk both BA and Sylvia have dealt with wonderfully) finally gave me the impetus to try to do something, anything, with mine.

I had to go out almost immediately I was done and I seriously had to restrain myself from stopping every black woman I came across to ask them if I looked as silly as I felt. (I finally gave in and asked one and she said it looked very nice, but I know she was lying.)

It all sounded so easy – just wash your hair, separate it into pieces and twist each piece, adding some sort of hair cream or something and voila! you have twists. And that’s just how it worked, except… well. Ew? It doesn’t look at all like other people’s I’ve seen. Not to mention that my hair – which used to be so thick that beauty parlors, even black ones, would charge me double to straighten it (quite illegally, it seems) – has thinned a lot, so slowly that I’ve just not noticed, I guess. So the twists aren’t bushy and sticking out or up – they just sort of flop down against my head like little worn out snakes. Even my hair is going through a mid-life crisis.

Well, I thought, the ends could use a trim. Try that and see what happens. Marginally better, but still.

Okay, so maybe the problem is that I’m just used to seeing hair that has been  chemically processed or beauty filtered through a white lens and it doesn’t really look as bad as I thought! That could be it, no?

I gave up on that one. It’s still dreadful, no matter whose lens I’m looking through. It doesn’t help that my mom keeps sneaking looks at me and then breaking out into giggles.

Sigh.

Still! It’s my first try and perhaps once I figure out what I am doing and try a few different sizes of twists or styles or something, it’ll look a lot better. Hopefully.

twists - this is not my hair - via nappturology 101

If not, there is always the next style to try. Bald is looking pretty good about now.