Disclaimer
Parents: To avoid indefinite visits to the Salon, parental guidance is advised for your kids when reading the following post.
Kids: Go ahead, keep Fevicol and Gum ready and be naughty :)
Unless you belong to a Punjabi clan, it’s hard to have long
lustrous hair as a kid. You know, mums get the pretty tresses trimmed because of
various reasons:
- Less hair, less lice, less trauma
- Short hair, quick fixes, late riser
- Shorter hair, lesser hair pulling between
siblings
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Image 1 - Ah, the ordeal mothers have to go through. No gain, without pain?
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For these reasons and more, my adorable mother took me to
the Salon every 3 months and kept my hair swinging only till my shoulders - Blunt cut – as they proudly called it! The
Salon girls giggled and gossiped. They spoke about the neighborhood damsels and
their boyfriends at length. There was something funny about the
whole beauty parlour experience and the camaraderie. My tiny brains couldn’t
understand anything and so I just concentrated on the wigs that lay around.
I had read Rapunzel; I had seen how Cinderella was prettier
because of her hair; I was sure Little Red Riding Hood had oodles of noodles
beneath her little red cap. Then there was ‘I dream of Genie’ - I hadn’t seen
anyone more adorable than the lady with a braid around her ponytail!
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| Image 2 - Rapunzel was so fascinating! |
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| Image 3 - My all-time favorite braid :) |
At school, Manpreet and Jassi spoke endlessly about their long locks. I felt jealous to hear them tell about the pampering they got from their grand mothers. Jassi's granny gave her a head massage followed by an egg pack. She then shampooed her hair with
imported shampoo. Now I didn't had the patience to sit through all that, but
I still felt envious! My 2-minute self-shampoo routine seemed like a sad affair.
The fascination with long hair didn’t end there. Mum use to
knit sweaters during the winter season. The ladies would sit on the terrace and
knit. I loved the chatter and the excess of Vitamin D never bothered us.
Tanning was never an issue and we had no clue about the Ultra Violet rays.
Ah, simpler times! Anyway, I use to
gather left over wool and craft my own braid.
I had seen enough shows on DoorDarshan to know how to use the
chipkana waala padarth effectively!
One day I was busy making a very thick braid with wool.
Suddenly I concocted an incredible idea.
I stuck the braid to my own mane with glue. It was hard,
but I knew Fevicol will not give up easily. Finally, I thought, I looked
prettier than the Manpreets and Jassis of the world! I twisted and turned and
looked at myself in the mirror a million times. I planned to get my Barbie and
Ken married the next week so that I can
flaunt my invention in the grand
Baraat.
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| Image 5: How can you resist braiding these? |
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| Image 6: And that's how it's done... |
What followed next would have landed me in the ICU if I had a
Hitler for a mom. In my attempt to pull out the wool, I tangled my hair
further. When I could not release my hair or bury myself in the earth, I went
crying to mom. She took me to the Salon and then, and then, I met Bob cut. The ends were awesome, but it was bob, BOB cut!
I hated Blunt and Bob, I desperately wanted a long Braid. After a
few months when the whole world forgot about my tryst with the glue, I asked an
aunty who lived next-door to lend me a braid with a Parandi. She was a darling
who loved kids. She thought I would play with it and return it like it was.
Some aunties are so naive, I tell you.
I had a brilliant idea of replacing fevicol with chewing gum.
If I can stick gum behind the sofa and pluck it out when no one's watching, it could leave my hair scott free as well.
I
chewed five Chiclets, the ones that came in a yellow pack, and stuck them diligently on
my hair. The braid with the
parandi fitted like a charm and I was on seventh heaven.
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| Image 7: Have short hair and miss using these? |
This time, my ordeal introduced me to Mushroom cut! My mom wasn't in the favour of me having long hair, but she sure was experimental with shorter versions of it.
But this
time she told me that if I didn’t stick anything to my perfect ends, she will let me
grow my hair.
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| This was the last time I had short hair. After this, there was no looking back :) |
And voila, after a year,
my hair started growing beyond my
shoulders. It was not insanely long like Manpreet, but it was long enough to braid it the way I liked.It was a slow and steady victory, but I had learnt my lesson well:
if you want something badly, the whole universe conspires you to have it.
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| This is Manpreet's braid probably, mine was a tad shorter but had equally sharp ends :) |
Since I was so passionate about my hair,
I took special care
and it went on to become lustrous. It also got the pampering it deserved from both my mother and grandmother. My braids were strong and had
beautiful ends.
When I was in college and needed no one’s approval to change my
hairstyle, I was introduced to Layers.
Long tresses gave me the advantage of
giving it any shape without any difficulty.
Bob and blunt were fine, but braiding gave my hair the strength they
needed. And with products like the new
Dove rescue system, the ends are always perfect. I’m
glad I fought for the future of my hair. Now, I keep changing their length; without
the glue, mind you!
And guess what - my Mother loves my hair more than me :)
They will pull them, tangle them, cut them,
Your girls will stick their locks together without a clue.
But dear Mother, don’t bother,
It’s part of growing up. Someday, you’ll love the memories
too.
Use bobby pins, floral bands and satin ribbons,
Hats, scarfs, and your chiffon dupatta too.
Adorn their Braids, be their aid,
These girls want to grow up just like you!
Beautiful ends is a blessing, so let them nurture their
hair,
Put egg packs, give them oil massage, pamper their mane
with shampoo too.
The pretty lasses adore their tresses,
The Dove Split End Rescue System has ¼ moisturising milk that nourishes your hair and its breakthrough split-end technology corrects hair damage to give you up to 4x less split-ends.For useful tips on hair care, Dove has compiled the following pages:
Image credits: 1,2, 5, 6, 7
