When I was a kid spirals would cascade out of my scalp in the most unruly way driving my mother crazy. Being a straight haired woman herself, she had no clue as to how to care for a daughter with this type of mane. She was convinced, despite my screaming and countless tears, that she could brush my hair and have it sit atop my head in an organized fashion. Of course this is not the case with curly haired girls as the cardinal rule of having healthy curls is, “Thou shall not brush curly hair.” When my mom grew tired of dealing with this “problem,” she simply took me to the salon and had the hair dresser cut off all of my curls. It sounds traumatic but having short hair was quite liberating.

My mom and I went to the same salon for over twenty years at least twice…