Hair Apparent

Among many things, our 15-year-old daughter is a hula dancer. As her dad this will come across as biased, but she is a gifted dancer. She started when she was only 5, and has been dancing and entertaining ever since. One thing that certainly distinguishes her besides her dancing talent is that she has “hula” hair.

She was born with beautiful locks of curly black hair, and it has grown over the years to flow down her back. People actually stop us on the street to admire her locks. I’m sure that it requires great care and had it not been for her mother, those tresses would have been shorn to at least shoulder length.

I feel for our daughter, as caring for hair like that requires much commitment. It needs to be constantly washed, conditioned and brushed in order to keep it from getting damaged and tangled. Believe it or not, it also requires patient participation from other members in the family, as well – namely me.

There is hair literally all over the house. I can’t seem to walk five feet without a strand of hair or two getting on my feet. We vacuum frequently, but even my trusty Dyson will have its brushes entangled and jammed by all this loose hair. It’s a price I have to pay, but when I see her dance all is forgotten.

The other thing is I have to buy shampoo and conditioner by the barrels. Well, the industrial size, anyway. Even that supply gets used up, and that’s when it becomes my problem. That’s because my daughter will then use up all of my shampoo. I buy the cheap stuff, which is whatever is on sale for less than three bucks. Regardless, she will still use it.

The other night I was taking a shower and reached for my shampoo to wash my hair. Every shampoo container, and there are several, was empty. My last resort was to use our dog Buddy’s shampoo. It worked just fine, and actually my hair felt pretty nice when I later dried it. The thing is, I had a strange craving for a strip of beef jerky or some kind of biscuit.