And it goes a little something like this – braids. I love them. And everyday I wish I could wake-up, work some quick finger action through my hair and walk out the door with a smooth, sleek braid slinking its way down my back, ready to conquer the world. Needless to say, it remains a dream.
The problem is this. I simply can’t braid no matter how hard I try. Sure I can plait, even my four-year-old cousin can do that, but braiding is a whole other kettle of fish. A must are nimble fingers to pull, twist and wind the hair. And some hairdressers think long nails can help too but no matter what I do, it’s all too easy to let that one little bit of hair slip through your fingers – and the whole lot unravels.
But even if you get the nimble finger thing down pat, you’ve still got the problem of not being able to see what it actually looks like. Oh sure I’ve had a go, twisting and winding, convinced my hair is perfectly pulled in all the right places, only to take a look in the mirror when I’ve finished and see that the braid is skewed to the right and tighter at the top than the bottom. Pah!
And to top it off, braiding hurts! If you’re not pulling your hair tight enough to give yourself a headache, then holding your arms up in the air for hours is agony – especially when you’ve had to rework it again and again and again to get it right!
But I keep trying. And yes, my braids do look dodgy and yes I’ve learnt to smile through the arm ache – but they say practice makes perfect, so in my case, I should have mastered precision-perfect braids any day now!
What hair style are you on a mission to master?
