From Pixie Cut to Curtain Bangs

She did it. She finally did it. Today she gave herself "curtain bangs". 

My daughter's earliest sign of autonomy, in life, was to grow out her bangs and chin-length beveled haircut. Before her paper-thin toddler hair had grown any thickness, she envied her elder cousins’ longer locks, and she noticed that Disney princesses did not sport bangs. 

At first, her lengthening hair was very fly-away wispy, without enough weight to hold it in place, so it always looked unkempt. She had to use a spray-on detangling product in order to be able to pull a comb all the way through. But since she was such an active youngster, always running with the boys during recess or hanging upside down on the monkey bars after school on the playground, her hair worked best in pigtails, and later on, pony tails or braids.

As a teenager she washed her hair almost daily, and rarely cut its length, even to remove the brittle split ends caused by the straightening device used for most of two years. She mourned the fading of her childhood yellow-blond into a dishwater blond, and finally into a light brown. Boxes of hair dye, for highlights, helped to assuage her dismay. In addition she researched and sampled an array of hair care products as well as old-fashioned techniques such as an apple-cider vinegar rinse for luster, and a lemon juice scalp massage for restoring the PH level. She even taught herself to do her own French braid.

More recently she has grown into young adulthood with less obvious highlights, less oily pores, and a greater sense of style and self-assurance. She has become a knowledgeable resource to her friends, and she even attempts to coach her teen-aged brother on daily hygiene pertaining to his skin and hair. 

Somewhere along the line that long, wispy hair thickened up nicely, and now always appears ready and well cared for. But lo and behold the bangs are back! Curtain bangs: a new look for a new stage of life that beckons.