What I Learned From My Hair

 

 

Early in May I dropped a Facebook update where I complained about my hair:

My hair can't decide whether it wants to impersonate the hair of Donald Trump or Justin Bieber. Sadly, I do not approve of either. Sigh.

FB friends made delightfully fun comments to my hair-whine. One friend suggested that if it wasn't a Phyllis Diller hair day - it was a GOOD hair day! Another shared a picture of an animal with wild-crazy hair - the poor thing looked like it was wearing a lion's mane that'd been struck by lightening.

Amazingly (my FB friends must all be very kind), no one mentioned that I have this whine (although I mix it up - comparing my hair to different people/animal's noggins) pretty often...

actually, my hair seems to annoy me (mysteriously) on some kind of schedule - like every 6 - 8 weeks; interesting, yes?

The Donald Trump/Justin Bieber whine was after my hair (besides being long overdue for a cut - and hanging kind of sheepdoggish) decided it wanted to go the other way.

It's almost always parted on the right, but for a few days before my public whine it insisted on parting itself on the left. Why (and WTF)? Who knows. I kept pushing it the way it was supposed to go. I kept trying to force it. Until I didn't.

One day I brushed it the way it wanted to go - and voila, I almost looked human (ok, still a little sheepdoggish)! I still needed a haircut (badly), but my hair and I weren't fighting - and I wasn't whining about it (much).

So, what did I learn from my hair?

To allow, to trust our Square-Peg leanings, our Square-Peg Selves (even when it's just our Square-Peg hair) - even (and maybe especially) when we lean away from the status quo. Jeez, kind of odd that this is my "thing", my message (self-acceptance/self-love/self-trust) - and my hair needed to remind me of it!

I also learned to get the damn thing cut, maybe on some kind of schedule (schedule, what's that?).

Postscript: I (finally) got my hair cut the other day and I'm loving it. All I do is wash - finger fluff (that sounds odd, doesn't it?) and go. No curling iron, no swearing - (ok, there's still plenty of swearing - it's my nature).

But I passed a mirror last night and wondered (aloud, of course) if my hair didn't look just a little bit (and I'm not whining here, just noticing) like the dutch boy (paint can kid) or even Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music.

I'm not quite sure why I have to find somebody in my hair - why can't it just be hair? Why does it have to be Phyllis Diller, Justin Bieber or...? Bizarre Square-Peg trait, maybe.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Pssst! There are loads of lessons to be learned from our bodies - maybe you have one you'd like to share (pretty please)?

I've shared a few more of mine here on the blog (the Body Image/Body Love category - especially in our Body-Part Wednesday posts - has a number of them), including:

what I've learned from my feet, in Fun Feet,

my shoulders, in Body-Part Wednesday V,

and some wisdom from my friend Maripat (Luna) Oberg in My Left Breast, where she shares (well, obviously) what she learned from her left breast.

And Square-Peg People's Choosing Me! mp3, which is all about body-love NOW, is another place to learn from your body. Just sayin'

Comments

[Gin]

Oh, I love this... "To allow, to trust our Square-Peg leanings, our Square-Peg Selves (even when it's just our Square-Peg hair) - even (and maybe especially) when we lean away from the status quo."

A long, long, long time ago I learned that my hair is gonna do what my hair is gonna do. No matter what *I* do. I can do the exact same thing to it or with it for 5 straight days in a row... and it can look completely different on each of those 5 days.

Trust my leanings... I love this, and I need to do it more often.

[Square-Peg Karen]

Thanks, Gin! I need to trust my leaning more, too!!

Sounds like we both have hair with a mind of its own (hmmm..having trouble with the plural there - lol). Honestly, I've often looked with envy at women with controllable hair (well, there's another lesson from my hair: love what I've got!).

[Shirley]

I have a name for your hair annoying you every 6 -8 weeks (mine does the same thing) . Call it PHS, persnickety hair syndrome! Last time I got my haircut, the girl looked at it and said to me ' did you know you have a mullet? (What?!), ' the girl that cut it before, was just out of school, nothing against her, she needs to learn on someone. I got it evened out, got a couple of inches off the back and am loving it until PHS hits again LOL

[Square-Peg Karen]

Ha! That's great Shirley, persnickety hair syndrome - - I'll remember PHS!! (giggling about the mullet))

[Charlotte Dixon]

Well, if it's any consolation, I've always loved Julie Andrews in the Sound of Music and that cut was quite the do for that time. Perhaps you could start a new trend? Seriously, this is a great post, reminding me that loving what is (as the great Byron Katie puts it) is the path to peace.