~Dear Diary, ~

~I guess I would always settle for feeling below-average, like all the time. And I just thought that's how I would always feel, like always. But when the lady spun me around that chair, it was like looking at a new person. ~

~Geez, no wonder people in movies get makeovers all the time, I feel so strong and beautiful! It's amazing! I actually feel really good about myself for once, I mean, I'd felt good before, but never like this. It's totally cool. ~

~Mm, wonder what's next for me. ~ 

-Rosetta H.

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On the car ride to the hair salon, mom kept going on and on about how she loves the local salon as the radio played loud music, I nodded my head along to whatever she said while playing with the tips of my hair, this was it, this was a huge deal for me, and it needed to go as smooth as it could possibly could. 

I was excited, but with how big of a change this was, all I could think about how wrong this could go, "What if it didn't look good on me? What if I made a huge mistake? Mom, why does it take you so long to drive to a salon that's 15 minutes away!" I thought to myself, I curried up into my seat, I glanced to my right, Layla was on her phone, texting to someone as Dakota and mom were chatting about the hair salon, and the types of hairstyles they were planning to get, Cornrows for Layla and a simple, short haircut for mom. 

I closed my eyes and tried to relax, it's going to be okay, it better be because if it's not, then I'll freak out more then I'm always freaking out! 

When we FINALLY parked, we all got of the car and closed the door, I looked up at the tall salon door with the words "Curls 'N' Coils" in big, bold lights with two cartoon girls standing right to the sigh, one girl with loose curls and light skin and the other girl with dark skin and an afro. 

As we walked inside, the smell of perfume and hairspray was a bit too much to handle, the sounds of women laughing, shoes hitting the floor and blow-dryers blowing as hard as they can. 

Mom smiled and waved at the ladies, they all went "Hey, Aisha!" Mom giggled as we all sat down in comfy chairs as Mom smiled. "Ah, this is good. So, Rosetta? Did you figure out what you want? your hair to be?"

"No, but I'll just see what my options are."  I smiled, Mom nodded and got back to reading some of the magazines she was browsing, all of them were all from like the early 80s and 90s, but I shrugged and got on my phone. A thing I'd noticed is how many girls have been wearing their hair naturally, seeing all of those bright smiles and poofy hair was nice to see, it was like they were all telling me "You got this, girl, you're gonna look great!" 

After an hour or two, it was finally time for our hair to get done. I sat down in my seat as the lady put the curtain around my shoulders and smiled, her hair was cut quite short and the end of it was dyed red. "Hi baby, how you doing?" 

"I'm good," I said, "Here's the thing, I want to do something with my natural hair texture. so. How can I do that?"

"Oh, that's easy, we can start with a wash, put in some hair cream and then we can go from there. I'll get some options for you to see, be right back." She said, she went to the back as I stared at the mirror, all I could think was "Guess this is goodbye to straight hair. Somehow, I don't really that bad. Huh." 

I watched how everyone around me, how happy they looked with their new hairstyles, and how big the smiles were, I'm not sure if that's the case for me, but I could only imagine how great they feel. 

The lady came back with pictures of a bunch of different ladies with big, curly hairstyles, like puffs, poodle braids, other stuff like that. But the hairstyle that really got my attention was the one where her hair was all in a half up, half down hairstyles. It was a ponytail while the rest of it was down. I showed the one I wanted to the lady, and she nodded her head. "Alright, let's go." 

Thus, the process began. First, she moved me to the washing area where she rinsed my hair and put in her cream to soften it up, when she was done with that, she brushed out my hair, it kind of hurt but it was pretty nice at the same. 

As she was grabbing some rubber bands, I couldn't believe how big my hair could look, I think it looked nice, it does look nice, I guess I just wasn't used to how it looks, I mean, it'd has been like 3 and a half years since I saw it as curly. 

"Ah, here we go." Ms. Hairdresser said, she pulled out a huge bag of rubber bands, she got moose and some vaseline to fix up my edges and tied up half of my hair, she grabbed some scissors and cut a bit off my hair off.

After a few minutes of cutting, smoothing and the snapping of rubber bands going around my hair later, she spins the chair around and whistled. "Oh girl, you look great! What you think about it

My jaw almost dropped as I touch a curl; a smile came to my lips. "I love it..."

"Well you better, your mama didn't spend money for nothing." She laughed, I smiled and got out of the chair, I stared into the mirror for a bit longer than I intended to, it was so shocking that I could look this great, like ever! 

I was in complete awe! Like, I couldn't even believe that was the same girl, I walked over to the waiting area where Layla and Dakota were chatting to each other, with Dakota sporting her brand-new cornrows, they both their heads and gasped as I sat down next to them. 

"Damn!" They both said at the same time, Dakota chuckled. "Wow, you look good. Really good."

"Not bad, Rosetta, not bad at all." Layla nodded. "Aw, thanks...Wait, where's mom?" 

"Oh, she needed to use the bathroom really quickly." Layla responded; she shook her head quickly. "Anyway, you look really nice. I'm happy for you, Rosetta." 

"Yeah, me too," Dakota scooted closer. "Hope you're feeling great, dude." She grinned and I grinned back, Mom walked back, now her hair reached her shoulders, she was panting. "Ah, sorry girls, the line was very long and..." Mom stopped whatever she was going to say and gasp. 

"Oh, my goodness, baby, you look great!" Mom cooed "Your hair looks amazing!" 

"Aw, thanks mom," I said, "That uh, means a lot." 

We all left the hair salon, feeling the gentle breeze of the day, I couldn't help but relax and play with my hair for a moment, the curls felt nice and soft, like a cloud.  

As we all drove back home, I could get why a lot of people did this whole natural hair movement, I felt so cool all of a sudden, no wonder people do stuff like this often, maybe makeover movies had the right idea after all. 

~End~
(Author: Ladies and Gentlemen, I show you the brand-new Rosetta Hazel! Now with coily-curly hair! Do enjoy, this chapter is very personal for me. :D)