Arrived about one month ago to Bali, give or take a few days. And I have learned a few more not too important things along the way. One big one which may seem minor to most, is how to deal with my hair. Now I knew I would become very akin to a poodle here, with the humidity and I wasn't afraid. What I didn't know was that not only would my hair volume increase in size (which is scary with my thick head already) but that the humidity would create this sticky, dry, really thick mass of mop, like horse hair. Not a pretty sight by any means. So after a few weeks, of many headbands and lots of braids, I opted for a haircut. Sure, why not trim a few inches off? It couldn't hurt right? I would just have less to deal with, was my line of thinking.
Well, I jumped on my neighbor's ride down to a salon last week about 40 minutes away, while her kids had music lessons next door. No problem. I walked in and instantly knew there might be a language issue that I hadn't thought of. So after explaining I just wanted a little trim, and the reply was, 'like Brittany Spears?", while he is holding up a magazine with Brittany on the cover. I said to myself, what does she look like these days? The picture looked okay, so I said, "yes, please." Ha! So I had four inches trimmed off, which I tried to measure with my hands while he is cutting away and many layers. Now I look like a poodle for real. But there was this moment in the salon where he had blown it dry and straightened it. And it looked good. Then after waving goodbye, I walked outside and of course it morphed in minutes. The humidity took it away to new lengths. OMG. Lesson #1: don't cut your hair too short in the tropics just for a quick easy remedy. It doesn't work that way.
After battling a few more days at school and realizing that I only brought a few headbands to tuck in my now Brittany short mop, I searched for more help. I wasn't the only one dealing by the way. A few other newbies were in agreement that this was a bad look for us all. Then a few of us made it last Sunday to Ace Hardware, which has it all, surprise surprise. And I saw the little blowdryer and straightener on the shelf. Yes!
Now, happily thinking I had the tools to deal with the horse/poodle look, I was excited. And to make a very funny, long story short, on the way home while on the highway of sorts, our backdoor of the car opened and things just spilled out into oncoming traffic. Crazy Bali traffic. With one person running into traffic gathering things, street merchants stopping traffic and scooping them up, horns honking and the rest of us holding what is left inside from falling out, it was comical and slightly dangerous. We managed to grab most everything but alas, my hair tools didn't make it home. Now, I am not convinced they are on the street actually. This wouldn't be the first thing I have bought things that never made it home. I don't know how it happens, but if you aren't really careful, you leave things behind or they never make it to your cart/car. This can be quite discouraging since the big stores are a pain to get to and grocery shopping is a journey far away in itself. But that is Lesson #2: don't get all fussed up about things not working out. (That's my Aussie speak coming through) They eventually do work out, just on Bali time.
Back to the hair. After taking a nice walk through the rice paddies the next day and stopping at a little rice paddy spa to have a look, I saw a bottle of hair oil. Interesting. I was worried because it said coconut oil, shea butter and a few other oily things. But I thought to myself, I look bad as it is, now what is a little oil going to do? So after a friend offered her Australian oil remedy and it seemed to do something yesterday, I bravely put on the coconut oil this morning and there is less frizz on the other side. It must be two negatives equal a positive or something like that because adding coconut oil to my frizzy mop, has changed my world. Which of course leads to Lesson #3: Coconuts are amazing!!
I have become slightly excited about drinking green coconut water. Just order a green coconut, it gets sliced open a few strategic ways and handed back to you with a straw, not plastic of course. And it is delicious, fun to drink out of and replaces your electrolytes stripped away while doing anything in the sun. What a few of us are wondering is, does vodka or rum work better with fresh green coconut? Hmmm.
Alright enough lessons for now. Don't worry if you come visit and your hair is a wreck. I got this one now. I think.
No comments:
Post a Comment