I have very happy hair. Regardless of the formality or seriousness of an event, my hair is perfectly content to spring forth into fluffy waves and have a party. While I regularly get it cut too short to be bothersome, it always ends up sneaking up on me, growing into a large unsightly mop seemingly overnight.
For the most part I kind of like having long hair. I only get hair cuts maybe once every five or six months, and my hair grows so slowly that it is generally long but still manageable by the time I go to get it cut. A few days ago, it was at a good length, making me look laid back without being too high school-ish, but the warming spring made having long hair more and more uncomfortable. So on Saturday I took this hair of mine over to the barber shop to be sheared down for summer.
Every time I get my hair cut, it’s always the same. I say that I want it just long enough so that it’ll lie flat, they ask me some questions about the clipper length and layering and what I want done with my sideburns, and then the cutting begins. When the barber gets to the back of my head, her face usually contorts into a frown and the pace of her clipping slows.
“Did you dye your hair?”
“Nope.”
“It’s just…you’ve got this big black patch back there, and it-”
“Yeah, it’s natural.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
Ever since I’ve had hair, I’ve had a black patch on the back of my head (the rest of my hair is brown) which has been confounding barbers ever since I started getting my hair cut.
Usually at this point, the barber will call all the other barbers around to have a look, while I flinch in my chair, annoyed and powerless to see what they’re all staring at.
“I’ve seen people with white patches before, but never black,” one of them will say.
“And you say it’s been like this your whole life?” another will ask.
“Yeah,” I reply.
“Wait,” one of them will say in a stroke of realisation, “I’ve seen something like this before. Brown hair with a black patch in the back!”
I swivel in my chair to look the guy in the face.
“Is it because you’re the one who cut my hair the last time I was here?”
His face falls.
“Yeah, I think you’re right,” he says after a moment.
Eventually I pay and leave, thinking about how strange it is to have a bodily oddity that I’ve never seen before except in mirrors and pictures. Usually the only time it gets pointed out is when I’m getting my hair cut. When my hair gets long, the brown hair usually covers it up, and when it’s short it rarely gets pointed out. Maybe people think it’s a dye job gone awry and think I’d be embarrassed if they asked.
Hmm. Interesting. You’re like a black and brown calico human, only you lack the second X chromosome necessary for calico traits.
Maybe I’ll get it someday through the miracles of genetic engineering.
I’m sorry. I just can’t stop laughing. I am really vain. I would crap if my hair did that. Not really, I can NOT stop laughing. Some people have an extra/missing digit or a birthmark and you, you have funky hair. What does your mom say about this? Does anyone else in the family have this? It’s kind of cool. Please don’t hate me. Be thankful you don’t have my mind.
I don’t know that my mom really cares. It used to be more visible because my hair was much lighter, almost blonde, when I was a kid, and the black spot was still black. As far as I know, I’m the only one in the family with such a “gift.”
Haha, thats kind of cool!
Why thank you
Coool.
I just wish I could see it myself
*tries to look at back of head*
Frank’s got a bullseye
Just don’t go shootin’ anything at it!
You’re an alien!!!!Sorry, I am still in Star Trek mode
Woah, thats pretty bizarre! Lol….I’m a bit jealous.
My hair changes color as it grows longer, from black to brown to red, for some reason. I always get asked if I dye my hair, and they always ask if I dye my beard as well……to which I say, “Hell No! Can you imagine taking all that time to dye your beard? That’s way too much effort.”
white patch of hair = you see dead peopleblack patch of hair = you see drunk people?
People with black hair patches are supposed to be supreme rulers of the universe…we are so onto you.
It’s the same with me. I have light-brown hair, and yet I seem to have blonde/red/auburn patches. Everyone asks me if I’ve highlighted/dyed it. NOT.
ahh the black patch … it never gets old does it? hahaI see you’re too cool to come back for the News Herald Track Invite, huh?!