Hair – Boxed Braids

Since I had my first haircut and perm, I have been open to trying just about anything with my hair – the only exception being shaving it as I’m not sure on that one just yet.

My philosophy is that hair grows back and so there is no need to worry so much about experimenting with styles. I have colored it purple, shades of blond and browns. I have cut it short, grown it long. I have permed it, straightened it.

Most of the time, I am content with how my hair looks knowing that it grows and can be changed.

Also, I maintained a philosophy that having my hair long in the summer was better than in winter because the heat makes my head hot and I want to be able to put it up and out of my face. In the winter, I keep it down to give me warmth. However, this year, I got tired of my COVID length hair that had grown long.

I decided to cut and bleach it with a sort of ombre style, but also as I wanted to grow my natural hair color out. However, it wasn’t quite the look I wanted so I decided to see about getting a perm. I’ve always preferred my hair curly since the fineness of my hair makes it look flat when straight and short. Getting a perm outside of Japan with coloring is a very hard task. Who knew?

So, while I was in the US, I decided to try it under a misguided belief that it could be done at a beauty school. Of course, it was proven that I could not perm my hair without massive destruction to it. Instead, I got a haircut that went absolutely wrong…. You get what you pay for when it comes to women’s hair!

For the first time in many years, I hated my hair. Even with my mantra that it grows back, every day I hated my hair.

One of my biggest goals with my looks is to avoid looking middle-aged and more importantly like a middle-aged Asian lady. In Asia, there is a certain look that one takes on for each stage/age of life thanks to the group culture. So, having short hair styled a certain way is what makes it clear you are part of the age group. For me, that’s a no-bueno situation. I dislike being put into a box anyway, and who wants to embrace middle-age if it is an expectation?

While we were in London, we happened to walk behind a woman who had beautiful long braid extensions. She was dressed stylishly and her hair looked gorgeous. I somewhat casually said, “I want to have hair like that.”

Well, the idea stayed with me and so I began to look for examples online of Asians with braids and research what it would take. After seeing a few examples and watching a few videos, I decided to try to find a place to do it. Knowing we were going to be in Rome, which had a higher chance of having a decent place to go to, I made a semi-spontaneous decision to reach out to a place with good reviews.

Upon conversing with the shop, discussing with M, we did our doctor’s appointments, had a nice lunch and then M left me to it.

Despite promises that it would cost less than it did and be done sooner than it was, I am very pleased with the results. Although they claim it will last a couple of months, I feel it will be lucky to last one month since my hair is so fine – even after one wash and care of the hair/braids today, the little hairs are sticking out. Still, I don’t mind.

There’s a bit of itchiness and quite a bit of maintenance it seems, but as an experiment of something new for my hair, I love it!

~T 🔥🐉♋️