UrbanUpdate

For a long time, I’d resigned myself to the fact that I would never have movie star-quality hair. Built like my Eastern European ancestors, with thick, frizzy follicles and the swarthy features you’d expect from a dock worker or a diner owner, I wholeheartedly believed that perfectly coiffed locks were something that’d never be in the cards for me, simply by nature of the genetic hand I was dealt. It was an unfortunate reality, but it was the one I thought I had to live. Only about a year ago did I realize that I was wrong.

It was a Friday night and I’d arrived twenty minutes late to drinks with an old friend. I apologized profusely as I sat down across from her, gesturing at my scalp and explaining how my bristly locks had refused to cooperate, holding me up. “Did you try using a blowdryer?” she asked, obviously annoyed. I shook my head sheepishly. “Well, why not?” She looked at me wide-eyed, baffled that I’d never thought to bring heat into the equation. “It’s the only way to go,” she said.

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When I questioned my barber the next time I got a haircut, he corroborated her story. “Even the nicest hair needs a little help,” he asserted. In fact, he explained, using a hairdryer was the only way to tame one’s ‘do into those red carpet styles I so desperately wanted to achieve. “You think anyone’s hair looks that good naturally?” He grinned, “Hah.”

And yet, I remained unconvinced. A longtime air-dryer, I wasn’t able to grasp the idea of needing hot air to dehumidify my hair. It seemed gratuitous, a luxury reserved only for those too lazy to lift towel to their scalp. Plus, how could adding another step to my already rushed, often-too-late-to-even-shave grooming routine really make enough of a change to be worth the hassle? There was only one way to find out. So, despite my misgivings, one day I decided to give blow-drying a shot.

As it turns out, it wasn’t much of a trouble after all. After a three-minute learning curve (give or take), my hair quickly started to look the way I’d always hoped it would—full, but not frizzy, neat, but not meticulous. Blow-drying seemed to make applying product easier too; with the hairs basically where I wanted, all my usual pomade needed to do was hold them in place. Pleasantly surprised as I was, one question still needed answering: could anyone tell the difference?

That first morning, as I made my way into the office, a filterless co-worker cocked his head upon seeing me. “Haircut?” he asked, eyeing my newly blown-dry scalp, “It looks good. Like, a lot better than usual.”

I didn’t think it necessary to correct him.

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