as with most things, it happened after a bad haircut

by Katie Goldstein

as with most things, it happened after a bad haircut

somewhere between the snip and the shear, my hair decided that I had abandoned it

suddenly, it liked what gravity gave it

the place to be wasn’t my head anymore — it was anywhere but

i’d brush it and the brush would sprout a forest of hair

that I’d throw in the toilet to avoid

showers became dangerous

i’d leave the walls covered in swirls

heck, I would touch my head and hair would jump into my hands

so much that my back became permanently itchy

i took care of it

coddled it

stopped treating it with heat

oiled it

deep conditioned it

loved on it

tied it up at night

even went to the dermatologist

who sent me to get blood tested

(and then, later, the bill)

i swallowed supplements, 8 of them, everyday

charcoal and nutrafol and iron and ashwaganda

and dutifully chugged them down

every day

for a while nothing happened

so i took long walks

and thought of how i’d be so aerodynamic bald

and how i’d be able to enjoy the wind on my scalp on boat rides

but yesterday, I saw baby hairs

just a few

poking out to say hello

as i smiled back i swear i realized a whole new meaning to

hair today, gone tomorrow