So Glad I Did

The other day I visited a friend at the library. 

Every time I go to the library I wonder why I don't spend more time there. But it's not like I actually read stuff. I just find books with cool pictures and look at them. 

Like, for example, I just checked out thirteen books with pictures of hairstyles from different decades and time periods to look at and helpe with a project for school. Also cultural body painting. 

It's a stage. I'll get back to reading stories someday.

Just like I'll get back to legit making art someday. 

For now, school. 

And with school, comes the self-bestowed privilege of being allowed to approach strangers and ask them about their hair. 

At the library, I spotted a black woman with luxurious long curly hair. Curly hair is my favorite and I wanted to know her secret. Especially since i am immersed in a Paul Mitchell product environment, I want to know what other hair products work for women blessed (they might say cursed) with curls. So I gathered my courage and approached her. 

"I noticed your hair from across the room and it's just so beautiful - I'm a cosmetology student and I'm trying to learn as much as I can. What do you use in your hair?"

She looks at me and laughs and says "it's a WIG!"

This is fairly normal for black women so for a split second I think nothing of it. 

She continues,

"I have alopecia and I'm always so depressed that I don't have any hair!  I'm so self-conscious all the time - like today coming up the stairs into the library it was windy and so scary, which is just depressing!  And to hear that my wig looks natural and beautiful from a COSMETOLOGY student is just so encouraging."

And she gave me a hug, and we talked some more, and she told me about how she washes it and the products she uses, and I was so happy I talked to her because I had been considering not talking to her simply for my own personal comfort.  

And she told me she has a supportive husband but she thinks he just says nice things because he loves her. Which is really sweet. 

But I was floating when I walked out of the library, and I hope she was, too. 

I think my car may have been floating as well because I returned most of the thirteen books I had checked out from a different branch of the same system.