Straight but natural!

I had a craze for long hair, although for much of my growing up years, my hair was never beyond shoulder length. My mother always made me get a hair cut and said NO to long hair before I was old enough to manage it on my own. She also had a valid reason to not let it grow long. My hair wasn't particularly thick and lustrous and the belief is a regular trimming of the hair follicles makes it much healthier.

But, I had a normal straight hair which I absolutely loved. Both my mother and sister had very curly hair and I have never envied them for their curls. I loved straight hair.

Of course my hair wasn't the drop dead straight ironed kind of look, but who doesn't like a perfectly straight hair? These days, people go for chemical bonding which kind of permanently straightens the hair till the next growth. This wasn't done in my times, but it doesn't mean that I did not get my hair straightened.

What I did was, take care of my hair in a more natural way, feed my hair with a lot of oiling, shampooing also. I remember everyday I used to apply a small quantity of henna paste and amla and shikakai on my hair after I came back from school. Keep it on my hair for a couple of hours and then wash it before I had to step out of the house again for other activities. Every odd week, apply curd or egg and treat my hair as it was the most precious part of my body. 

The result was that by the time I was in high school, I had fairly good quality and naturally straight hair. I always had it open and disliked to tie or braid it lest it left a mark on my straight hair. Sometimes people mistook me to be a Sikh just because of the long hair that I flaunted!

Around 10 years ago, when the process of bonding or the tongs which straightened the hair wasn't available in the hair care segment, I had gone to a beauty parlour and asked them to straighten my hair like the Chinese had. The pin drop kind of straight hair which one can't get through blow drying only. So what they did was take a clothes iron and pressed my hair with it. It came out pretty well, and I started to iron (with an iron) it whenever I had to make an appearance at a function. It was all going good, but I think so much of heating and pressing made the hair quality rough and dry. 

I realised subsequently that good hair is not straight or curly, but good hair is that which is healthy inside out. What I was doing is only ironing the creases which were visible and not caring for the root of why the hair was not looking good naturally?! I have stopped this ironing or blow drying long time back. I have come to realise that the best hair can only be if it is naturally good thick and lustrous. 

Straight hair is so much in vogue nowadays, with every woman saving every money to splurge on rebonding after rebonding. Sure, it looks so organised and not a hair out of place, but somehow, I like the odd strand to peep out of nowhere and fall in light curls on my face. It looks so nice.

Recently I saw Talaash, I dont know if Rani was wearing a wig or not. But her natural look along with the natural fall of her hair was what made me gasp in wonder (and I am a woman not a man).

Here is a picture of Rani and the naturalness of her straight hair.

Sure, my experiment with straight hair is not the wackiest or craziest one but am I not grateful to stop it in time!! I rest my case!

Picture from here