On Friday, I did something I haven’t done in over two years:  I wore a pony tail.

After shaving my head, I wasn’t sure I would ever get back to the pony tail option.  I loved my short hair, and felt very sassy with it, but I love having choices, mostly about whether or not I feel like spending the time taming this beast or just grabbing a rubber band and strapping it in for the day.  Even more exciting than being able to pull my hair up, a style I wore for about 45 years, is what happened a couple of days later.

Yesterday I did something I haven’t done since I was around three years old:  I left the house with nothing in my longish hair.

I did not wear a hairband, a scrunchie, bobby pins…nada!  Okay, I DID have some product in there, because Bob Ross is the only white person I’m aware of who can pull off the “I’m a happy tree” look, but other than some curl milk for thick, curly hair, I was sans hair accessory.

I’m sure that seems like no big deal to most, but for 9/10 of my life I’ve had zero options in the hairstyle arena.  Covering my bald spot was the only goal for any arrangement of my hair.  Over the past few days, however, I could style my hair based simply on how I wanted to look.   I now have no other reason to fuss with my hair than to simply try to make thick, naturally curly hair bend to my will, and that, my friends, is an incredible victory of epic proportions.

I truly thought I would never EVER get to this point, but it has been almost three years since I’ve pulled any hair out of my head…my face is another story, but middle-aged follicle follies is an entirely different blog post.

I’m here to tell you: That thing you have decided is just part of your life and you will never overcome it, IT DOES NOT OWN YOU!  You can overcome.  It is hard, and it takes time, and you must focus and work, but you can Can CAN do it.

You can!