paint splattered fingers

The other day my mom asked me if I had painted anything lately. I was sad to say no. It's been awhile since I've stared at a blank canvas and created something from the blankness. I miss holding a brush in my paint spattered hand.

        

When we went to Boston Museum of Fine Arts we walked around for hours and only saw a third of what they had to offer. The Alex Katz and the French masters exhibits were my personal favorites, although I also found myself surprisingly drawn to the contemporary art room.

Clean lines, smooth flowing colors, bright, jarring ones too. My soul is stirred by beauty. It wakes up, stretches the bounds of my bones, muscles and sinews. It creeps to the edge of my stomach and pushes me closer to the beautiful, the inspiring, the evocative. 

hair

You may have noticed a recent change. Then again you may not have, so these pictures are my evidence.

These are before and after photos of my hair. I got a Brazilian Blowout. I don't really like calling them before and after pictures though, because usually before and afters are to show a change for the  better in the after and while I like my new (but temporary) hair, I also love my curls. My curls are bouncy and fun and pretty simple to style but hard to comb through, even with conditioner and detangler. Right now I actually have slightly wavy hair in the front and some curls in the back but all of it is really easy to manage; it takes less than half the amount of time that I used to have to put into my hair. But this post isn't about Brazilian Blowouts. (If you want to read about why to get one go here and for why not to just google Brazilian Blowouts.) 

There's an idea that certain hair is preferable. Usually people think of black/  curly/ wavy/ textured/ frizzy/ hard to manage hair as less desirable, although I have people telling me all the time that they love my curls and that I should never change it too. But in general, I think that straighter hair is preferred. My younger sisters are my half sisters and they happen to have very different hair than I do. They've complained to me about how they wish their hair was straighter like mine. It makes me sad that they don't see that there is nothing better or worse about our hair. Just different. 

But even something as simple as hair can be a powerful thing. Historically it has been seen as a sign of a woman's beauty. The cutting of hair has been used as an act of punishment, defiance, or humility (consider Jews and collaborators in Europe, rebellious teens, Mulan, Samson, monks and worshippers) and sometimes it is even a pricey commodity.

So to sum up, I'm cutting off all of my hair to be burnt both as an act of rebellion against traditional ideas of beauty and so that I can be more humble. Actually not really, that was just to give Nick a heart attack. I guess I just want to work with what you have instead of wishing for something else and really--Work. It.
Do you like your hair? Why or why not?