Mona

Cold, twisted, short, blonde

She gets me in good trouble

Just hair, it grows back

Years ago, I made the decision to embrace my natural hair! It was an incredible journey, although I did try a relaxer once after my initial natural journey. But that was just a one-time experiment, and then I boldly did a big chop again, returning to my natural roots—and I've been loving it ever since! For many women, our hair is our crowning glory, a powerful symbol of strength. My hair is such an integral part of who I am that I've even given her a name: Mona! There's no particular reason for choosing that name, but I just feel it suits her perfectly!

Mona’s been on quite the hair rollercoaster: chopped short, big and thick, stretched out, twisted up, and dripped in every color from black to rose gold. But her true love? Blonde.

All the blondes—from the icy cold to the toasty warm—suit her well. She’s as stubborn as a mule and loves to flaunt her wisdom occasionally. Every time she does, I think, “This is it, I’m letting her gray.” But who am I kidding? While I adore gray hair on others, I haven't been ready to let her flaunt her full-on wisdom!

I’ve never had a problem with wearing Mona short except for one time when I didn’t have a choice. She was literally coming out in my hands; my sister tried to shape her up until I could get to my stylist. I made it to my stylist, and it happened again, all she did was touch Mona, and chunks were falling out. This was an unfortunate side effect of my “cancer pill.”

I was completely devastated because I wasn’t in control of how I wore my hair. The shedding also served as a reminder of that diagnosis. Did I say I was devastated?

My stylist pointed out that if the worst thing I dealt with was a bit of hair loss, then I was actually doing pretty well. She let me have a moment to feel sad about losing my hair. After that, I brushed it off, and she said, "Alright, let's cut it; what shade of blonde are we going for? I know you're not leaving here with all that gray showing!"

It didn’t take long for Mona to start growing back. I saw a jazzy cut on Pinterest and made an appointment. That hair cut lasted about two weeks. One night, in a fit of emotional rage, I took a pair of scissors and started cutting. I had to make yet another appointment. Needless to say, my stylist was not surprised. She colored Mona again and since then I have decided to wear my hair super short and blonde. I didn't color her from January to May, so I thought I would surprise myself this time and let her gray. I had a friend tell me “Nobody cares if your hair is gray.” Umm sir, I CARE!

One day on my way home from work, I decided that I was going to cut my hair and by "I'm going to cut my

hair", I meant me, myself, the unlicensed hair stylist was going to take a pair of scissors and just start cutting. By the time I finished there was hardly any blonde hair left and I had a gray bayang! The next day, I had to get my sister to "fix it". Things were shifting, my perspective was changing. It was time to take the mask off and embrace my natural hair in its natural state.

Mona recently received the coolest compliment. She had used her mousse and sponge that day.

"I don't see gray, it looks like there's still blonde with just a little gray growing out. You're so stylish, I can see you cutting your hair and leaving specks of color throughout and purposely having the bold strip in front."

Ok then, young man! Use your words to hype me up!

But that doesn't matter much now because she is back to her old ways....Blonde and Beautiful!