I am having yet another late night,broken one new years resolution already and i only wrote them tonight!my latest offering to you was brought on by januaryitus,a word bagged tonight from earthenwitches wonderful blog(see blogroll)apologies to her,but it may also be due to the fact i am -/+6 months pregnant and feeling huge,useless and despite having too much to do-bored??i digress,she mentioned in a post that she often toyed with the idea of having dreadlocks and it reminded me of the time(many moons ago)myself and a friend decided to try hair extensions-she cos she just fancied them and me cos i had been virtually scalped by a bad perm and a bad(fully qualified??)high street hairdresser…i say many moons ago but the experience scarred/scared me for life and the resulting’ lets make a bad thing better’hairdo was to haunt us forever,thankfully only memories and not photos remain.My friend aka betty spaghetti was delighted with hers,and spurred on by her glorious new look, i spent 9 hours,i kid you not,seated in my kitchen having the same -only it didnt come out the same-yes i had long luscious locks,only too many of them,to the point when i threw my head back to shake them out,i nearly broke my neck!!There is now an advert on tv,albeit an annoying one,where the line runs’look after your hair(or similar)there is a guy playing piano,next to a huge mop of hair doing the same and other similar scenes-thats what mine looked like…i am only 5ft 4in,at least 5ft 3 of me was now my hair,every time i turned i slapped people in the face with it,and worse when out shopping in a clothes shop,i would snag my hair as i walked through on hangers!On the night it was done,i called b.s and pleaded with her to go out and get ciggies for me as i couldn’t go out a;the enbarrassment and b;the weight of my new ‘do’was already ‘do-ing’me in.needless to say she would only come with me,thankfully by then it was dark and the town where everyone knew me was fairly empty,me and my shadow was huge,my friend on the corner collasped with ill concealed hysterics,i was suicidal by then and literally wishing my burnt badly scalp had returned!cigarettes were purchased in silence,except the stifles of my friend and those in the off licence were no better-their silence was deafening.One painful daily enbarrassed year later-yes i bravely struggled on for that long a;i stupidly thought it would get better(??)and b;the cost of them coupled with ‘losing’face,i could stand it no longer,they couldn,t be washed like normal,i had to use something akin to talcum powder to keep them clean,uuughh-i scratched in private,sometimes not and occasionally someone-usually a smirking,good looking guy would loudly call out to me and then pass me an errant strand,saying as he did so(loudly)i think you dropped your hair…IN A VERY CROWDED  BUT  QUIET STREET !i was also very sick of tying it back in a futile attempt to tame it all with a band the size of a tyre. So off  it came and what a relief,suddenly i could feel fresh air,i could sleep without risking certain death like the poor elephant man,no longer was i an unwitting  shop-lifter or scaring late night pedestrians with my monster shadows,a new woman,unfortunately the memories linger on and my curly shirley nickname still comes up,despite passing years and immigrating,however it still serves as a warning,which i will pass on-becareful what you wish for,you may regret it!!earthenwitch you have been warned-thankfully my children have only heard about their’cool’mum who once had dreadlocks..and thats how it will remain!