I used to say that accepting your hair and not trying to change it was one way you knew you were an adult. Now I realize that it is a sign of greater awareness.

I watched a video “You can touch my hair, a short film (part 1)” the other day. You should watch it, too! When one of the women said (I’m paraphrasing), “From the time you’re very little you’re told everything about your hair is wrong and has to be changed,” I choked up. It is terribly sad that millions of women are hearing this message and perceiving, by inference, that they are wrong, too.

Genetically, I am exceptionally rare with red hair. Only one in two-million people on this planet have natural red hair. My hair is shiny, straight, and thick. A red molecule is large – larger than a yellow or brown molecule – so my hair has always appeared full. As a child, I didn’t appreciate it at all and wanted what I called “princess hair.” You know what that looks like, right? Blonde, long corkscrew curls. When I got a perm in an attempt to get that look, my hair bushed out comically, as the flat cuticle of the hair was splayed open.

It took almost forty years for me to accept my hair with appreciation and see both the gift and the nothing that it is. It is both – that is an important distinction. We need to appreciate what is without discount. Now I wear the simple straight bob cut that, when cut well, falls smoothly to my ears without any device intervention.