Locks of Love

I started kindergarten in 1964 and the pixie haircut was in style at that time. Me, my mom and my younger sister Linda all went to get our hair cut. We went to a beauty parlor on 86th Street in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, up the block from Woolworths. Woolworths is a long gone store, but not forgotten by anyone who grew up in Bay Ridge or any of the surrounding neighborhoods.

So we all went to get our hair cut in the new pixie style. My mom and Linda both had thinner hair than me and Linda even had a nice little wave in her hair when it was shorter, but me, not only did I have super thick hair, I had calics all over. My hair just had a mind of its own. There were no hair products then to calm it down, I remember something that was called, or maybe just referred to as "greasy hair gel" or something like that but I think it was just for boys.
This is me with my pixie cut! It looks like someone put a bowl over my head and gave me a haircut. My mom was so upset and said she would never let my hair be short again.

I grew my hair, and again since it had a mind of its own I could never keep it neat. By about third grade, long enough to pull back in pony tails and braids, I remember being told by a teacher to have my mother comb my hair in the mornings.

My mother did comb my hair in the mornings!

I can remember "ouching" all over the place while she combed the knots out, no conditioner or creme rinse. My mom would brush it out, rap me on the head a few times for pulling away while she was brushing it and mostly pull it back in a pony tail. But my hair was so silky and shiny it just slipped out of head bands or my pony tails and again I looked like I never brushed my hair.

Pretty much everyone had long hair in those days, even the guys. My older brothers all had their hippie long hair and at the time I thought it was so cool and that they looked good. And again, most girls had their hair straight, parted in the middle and just hanging down. If you didn't have straight hair, you wrapped it around tin cans at night and tried to straighten it or ironed it with just a regular clothes iron. Really!! Now you can go to the salons and have that done, but then girls worked with what they had. I was blessed with super straight, super shiny dark brown hair but all I wanted to do was cut my hair off! It was always messy, in knots, took forever to dry (no blow dryers either!) But my mom remembered that pixie haircut and told me I couldn't get my hair cut, that my hair was hers, and I couldn't make any decisions about it until I was 18 or 21, I can't remember which age, but that was the deal. She told me I had beautiful hair and it would look best long.
At about 15 or so my brother was dating a girl who had hair longer than mine and I guess mine was about up to my waist by then. One night she arrived at our house with her hair cut to about her shoulders! I loved it and was so jealous! She told me her sister cut it and right away I asked if her sister would cut mine. My opportunity!!! I didn't have to ask my mom for money for a haircut, I didn't even say I was going to a salon and be lying. I was just going with my brother to his girlfriend's house.
My sister Linda came along and every snip of hair that was cut off my head, she said "mommy's going to kill you!" I had lots of hair being cut off so I was hearing her say this over and over and over! But I couldn't have been happier with every snip!
My mom obviously didn't kill me and would never ever hurt my feelings by saying she didn't like it, she said something like it looks nice and will grow back.
After that I had every haircut, dyed my hair every color imaginable. Got perms, which never took. At least at this point in time I had a blow dryer, a curling iron, but now I was a slave to these tools. I couldn't go to a pool and get out of the water and just dry my hair, I couldn't get caught in the rain or I would look just like that 5 year old picture of me with a pixie!!! My bangs never laid flat down, they kinda looked like a porch hanging over my face. And during a certain time in high school I remember being told that I held my head to the side. I got into that bad habit after one of my haircuts with my hair parted on the side, trying to make it stay there. It didn't work, my hair did its own thing and I walked around with my head tilted all the time!!!
I learned, and not for the first time in my life, that my mom was right, my hair looks nicer longer.

I have kept my hair longer than a pixie for years now. Sometimes about chin length or shoulder length and it looks nice. I constantly get compliments on how shiny my hair is and I've even been dying it for years and it still has a beautiful shine. I grew it a little longer than shoulder length once but found that it was just too much hair and I couldn't deal with it. I was back in grade school flipping out over messy hair always all over the place. Still couldn't keep it in a pony tail, it either gave me a headache or fell out and looked like I didn't comb my hair. So I cut it again.

But around my 50th birthday I heard about Locks of Love. It's a charity organization and they ask that you donate at least 10 to 12 inches of your hair and they in turn make wigs for children who have cancer and through treatments lose their hair. You can look them up on line and find out the details if you're interested.
I was going to let it grow until my birthday in January, but I've had it and cut it yesterday morning. I have enough length to keep those calics from making it stick out and have 13 inches that I will be donating!!!!

Ah the relief of all that hair gone!!!
And even better, I'm giving a total stranger a gift of love.