I’ve always wondered about hair and its intricacies…It’s just dead cells but we want it to look good. And there’s so much to talk about.

Black hair. Blue hair. Strawberry blonde. Brunette. Grape purple. 

Straight. Wavy. Curly. Permed. 

Hime Cut. Mop Tops. Pixies. Mullets.

There’s so many different hair types. But, usually there are only a few represented in the media.

My hair type. It’s something I find confusing. It’s fluctuated throughout my life.

I decided I had type II hair. Hair that didn’t look straight or curly.

It’s hair that isn’t perfect. It’s frizzy, oily, greasy, and more. It sticks out in some places. It boings! It’s flat. 

I’ve had bad hair days and even bad hair months. 

Let me take you back to the beginning.

Ever since I was little I wanted bangs. When I was five years old, I had an American girl doll who had bangs. but she didn’t look like me at all. Her green eyes and brown hair were unlike mine, but they captivated me. I didn’t reach for the dolls with black hair at the time. There weren’t many dolls that looked like me, tan with black hair and black eyes.

But, no matter how many times I asked, I never got those bangs. Until June of 2021, when my mother finally relented. I thought I would look gorgeous. Beautiful. Amazing. 

But, it didn’t work for me.

You see, I have a small forehead. I was just someone who looked better with a forehead showing. Truthfully, I don’t regret trying the hairstyle. It didn’t work with my thick and wavy hair, and that was okay. When my bangs finally grew, they barely reached my eyes. I was overwhelmed with embarrassment when I glanced at my hairstyle, feeling the urge to erase it from my memory—so much so that I took the step of covering my picture with that hairstyle in the yearbook.

It wasn’t just the bangs that bothered me. My frustration with my hair extended to the flakes that seemed to never go away. It left me feeling defeated and wanting to curl up in a ball, trying to make sense of it all. I just couldn’t get why I had let this happen.

But deep down, I knew why.  The pandemic broke me and in the process my beautiful hair. It took so much effort to just even get out of bed some days, as silly as that may seem now. And even after it ended, I was still in a space between not sure if I was still present or not. I was just floating in time….

So creating a haircare routine catapulted me back to “reality”. And, I started the so-called research journey.

Sifting through Youtube clips, Vogue articles, and perusing through subreddits. I wasn’t really sure if I had an end goal in mind.

There was so much, and I didn’t know what to do or how to do it. Was I supposed to use heatless curls? They seemed great for some people’s hair. All it took was sleeping with them and it left shiny and bouncy curls. But it turned very messy for some. Hair oil? Growing up, my mother oiled my hair but I discontinued the habit due to people telling me that was bad for my hair too. There was just so much to cover!

So I started simple.

Wash hair two days per week. Add Head and Shoulders 2 in 1 combo to the scalp. Wash it. Put it in again. Wash it. Add strawberry conditioner to the mid-section of the hair. Wash it. Put a towel on the hair. Take the towel off. Let it air dry.

I knew my hair was still going to be frizzy. Curly in some parts. Straight in some parts. Classic Type II. But, it was healthy again.

And I had some structure again after the pandemic.

Of course not everyone has the same routine, procedure, or type. For example, I don’t have to wash my hair every day, Others do.  Each person has a unique way of taking care of their hair. 

This can be hard for an adolescent in the 2020s to understand. There are so many advertisements that say to do one thing, while others suggest the opposite… portraying a sense of hyperconsumerism. We want to keep up with the trends, but we’re not sure if they’ll work for us. And, it’s tough.  

Just like anyone else, I want to maintain a unique sense of self. Which is contradictory because if everyone wants to be unique, who is unique? But, it isn’t our fault. Societal standards throughout time just make us more tense….

We might feel inferior, and question our identities countless of times, and hair is one way we express this.

Black hair. Blue hair. Strawberry blonde. Brunette. Grape purple. 

Straight. Wavy. Curly. Permed. 

Hime Cut. Mop Tops. Pixies. Mullets.

It’s all beautiful.

Process

My piece started in July 2023. I was feeling bored and wanted to write something, so I decided to write about hair because I had recently bought a strawberry-scented conditioner. I started the piece and then fell into a slump.

I didn’t pick it back up until October of 2023 when I was working on my college applications. I was in yet another slump and didn’t know what I could write. But, I skimmed at the different collection of words I had written and saw the piece about hair, so I decided to work on it and submit it to universities.

I was satisfied, but I knew I could improve it more. Being in the College 360 Learning Journey, I thought that I could perhaps use this same piece to submit. So then, I started working with my amazing mentor, Trevor, on it. We swapped thoughts, gathered ideas, and finally came to this result. There are always improvements to be made but I am satisfied with our work!