Psychic Hair

My hair needs its own psychic hotline. Seriously. It has the ability to KNOW exactly what kind of hair day I want to have (straight or wavy body...because my hair can go either way depending on the alignment of the planets), and then do the exact OPPOSITE of what would make me happy on any given day. I wish I was kidding. I am the only person I know who can suffer from limp lifeless hair one day, and uncontrollable messy big hair the next. Its not a matter of the hair products...or the styling tools. I have done enough research and the process of elimination to figure that much out. So yeah, planetary alignment is the ONLY reasonable explanation I can come up with.

So, our trip to Europe in April has me panicking a bit. My hair appliances won't work on their electrical current. I know our place has a hair dryer (supposedly, anyway), and while that is all well and good, I use a curling iron, flat iron, and occasionally hot curlers depending on what the planetary alignment is for that day. And this is all just to make my hair look halfway normal. I don't know what it would take (a team of stylists maybe?) to make it actually look good. My daugher has admonished me, saying a hair dryer and round brush should be more than adequate, and really, I need to get over being so "high maintenance". Those words, high maintenance, brings to my mind women who lounge at the spa, get their nails done once a week, have an in-home personal trainer, etc. The fact that my hair appliances only achieve a bare minimum of normalcy doesn't count in my book.

But I have been trying to make my peace with whatever happens on our trip. I have done a bit of research....and I came upon this article that caught my fancy. This girl was showing me how I could make a couple of little twisty buns in my hair to leave overnight, and in the morning, like magic, I would remove the elastic bands holding the buns in place and have long, flowing wavy curls. She had amazing curls....not tight, old-lady curls, or even the long spiral ones that people with naturally curly hair have (and I have always coveted). But loose, silky, glorious waves that looked like she had just walked out of an expensive salon. So....I was determined to try it.

Last night, I washed my hair, slathered it with a finishing no frizz product that promises ultimate shine and manageability, dried it to barely damp like the article said...then I made several twisty little buns. It was easy, and it didn't bother me while I was sleeping. It might almost have been perfect. Until this morning....I removed the elastics as instructed. And what I saw was a horrible mass of huge puffiness. No amazing waves, no gentle curls....just puffy, big hair that might have been ok IF this were the 80's. Oh what a dissapointment. It looked like a 3 year old had made a homemade costume for The Lion King. I had to drag out the flat iron to tame it back into semi-submission.

So now, I don't know. I don't know if I will end up purchasing a dual voltage curling iron (for just a week???...although if we visit often it might be prudent). I don't know if I can be satisfied that a hair dryer and brush will be enough to tame the savage beast....or if I will just end up pulling it all up in a ponytail and say the hell with it. I still have some contemplation and possible experimentation to do. And the bottom line is this...no matter how prepared I try to be, there is NO telling what the humid air of Northern England will do. I might be better off shaving my head and buying a wig.

Which reminds me....I have this friend at work. One of the girls I go out with on "Girls Night Out". She's fun and spunky and I love her to pieces.
Her hair is always perfect. She is a red head, with a shorter kind of layered cut that suits her perfectly, very edgy. I envy how no matter what the weather....her hair is always exactly the same perfect way. Until she finally told me one day that it is a wig. She is a breast cancer survivor, and her hair never fully grew back in, although its been quite a few years since chemo. I try to remember that whenever I get totally disgusted with this stick straight, yet poofy mess that I deal with every day. Some people might want hair, no matter how much trouble it is. Because although the wig is perfect and I would have NEVER known if she hadn't told me....she says its hot and itchy and sometimes, in the summer, she gets fed up and takes it off and just covers her head with a baseball cap. Oh wait....I need to add "hat" to my list of possible travel solutions. :)