Friday, June 28, 2013

Hidemi’s Rambling No.474

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In my childhood, I was instructed by my mother that hair wasn’t a thing to wash everyday. She told me that once a week was more than enough. I had believed it was common knowledge all through my elementary school life. Soon after I started my junior high life at the privileged school, I realized that my mother’s instruction was utterly wrong. A girl in the same class asked me if I washed my hair everyday. It wasn’t a question really, but a criticism of my dirty hair. “Not everyday, but I wash it every other day,” I lied, as I sensed ‘once a week’ seemed unacceptable to her. But my false answer upset her so much enough. She nearly screamed, “Every other day? You don’t wash it everyday? Gross!” She looked at me as if I were some kind of disgusting creature. For the first time in my life, I found that hair should be washed everyday. I also noticed other girls’ hair was decisively different from mine other than cleanliness. Our school rules regulated strictly the length of our bangs. They shouldn’t reach down to our eyebrows. Back then, I had had my hair cut at a barbershop with my father. Because my father was a regular customer there, the barber wouldn’t charge us when I only needed to have my bangs cut. My bangs were cut straight well above my eyebrows like a line while other girls’ bangs were somehow fancy. I learned that they went to beauty salons and hairdressers cut their bangs. Since that day, I wash my hair every single day to this day. My mother once told me that I would get cancer for this. Needless to say, I stopped going to the barbershop. My mother groaned over extra expense for that. Near the school, there was a small bakery. The storekeeper was an old lady who was always holding a small dog. The dog had the ugliest face I had ever seen. It became famous for its ugliness among the students. One day, another girl in my class casually said that dog looked like me. Other girls unanimously agreed and laughed. Having a face like such an ugly dog, I felt washing my hair everyday was quite pointless…

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