combing

A short story

“OW!”

My mother yanked her comb through my coils, no doubt taking some strands of my hair with her. “I told you that you should’ve sprayed it with water, but of course you didn’t listen to me, right?”

She sounded annoyed. I didn’t like upsetting her, so when she yanked again, I didn’t do more than wince. I really should have sprayed my hair, I thought to myself. Spraying it keeps the coils from tangling while I have my protective braids, but I hated the feeling of water droplets running down my neck. My 4c hair was impossible to dry with anything but air, so I would hold a towel under my hairline for at least twenty minutes to avoid the goosebump-inducing feeling.

“How far are you?” I asked for the fifth time that hour. Say one half say one half say one half…

“One third.”

Ugh, I hate my hair.

I’d never say that out loud; the last time I told my mom I wanted hair like my fair-skinned friends, she told me never to say that again and that my hair was unique to me. But it didn’t stop me from envying the way they could finger-comb their natural hair without hissing in pain or wash their hair in less than an hour. My hair and I had a love-hate relationship, with an emphasis on hate.

I am yanked out of my thoughts again when Abby Lee Miller screams something new at her dancers. I had already finished every episode and season of Dance Moms, but it was hilarious getting to see my mom’s reactions, so I watched it again. It was the background to most of our hair-related activities, besides washing. I truly hated washing my hair; there was nothing on Earth that would make me believe that bending over a sink for a minimum of thirty minutes at a time was a pleasant experience.

We ignored the clock, as usual; there was no use pretending that either of us would be asleep at a reasonable time. After yet another yank, I ask again, “How far are we?”

My mother pulls at my hair a bit, looks at how much of my head she has thoroughly tortured before saying, “A bit less than half.”

God, get me out of this chair.