Goopy hair

Hello everyone,

Today, I had my first physical therapy appointment for a shoulder injury. I washed my hair just prior to the appointment and used Kinky Curly (I use this when I do a wash and go). My hair was still wet when I arrived for the appointment. No big deal, right? WRONG!!! First, I had to lay (lie?) down on a white terry cloth towel. Ugh...all I could envision was bits of white lint in my fro. AND, even more embarrassing: globs of hair product on the towel when I lifted up my head for all to see. Fortunately, neither the lint nor the globs appeared. Whew, crisis averted. Or so I thought. I had no idea what was about to unfold.

My therapist, Tom, had me sit up and then said something like, "Okay, now I'm going to do some compression. I'm going to put my hands in your hair and press down on your head and hold it"...SAY WHAT!!??? You're going to put your hands in my hair? I said out loud, "Black women and their hair!". Yes I did! I then told him that my hair was freshly washed and it had product in it. I don't think he believed me but once he finished pressing down, he immediately reached for a towel to wipe off his hands. OMG! I was mortified. All I need is for this man I just met to think that my hair is goopy, dirty, unclean. Wait, why do I care? My hair is certainly clean, he's done this before and it's no big deal. Wow, I think I assumed that he'd never touched Black hair before and I didn't want him to think that all of it was "goopy". Was I some type of standard bearer or something? That is just too much pressure. So, I told him about my blog, that I'd be blogging about the experience and kept it moving. Just another day in the life.

Image found at: http://sewcakemake.blogspot.com/2011_03_01_archive.html