Scintillate: The Art of the Hair

Hair days are always a circus at my house.
Both Genet and Alyssa must have new hairdos every few weeks.
Said hairdos must be cute and classy.
In addition, they must require no less than 5 hours to complete.
None of these are unreasonable stipulations in the curly-hair contract. Genet usually does her own hair, anyway. While Alyssa always needs someone to invest time in her hairdo, I'm just glad i don't have to sit with a numb butt for hours on end while someone messes with my hair. I'm much more comfortable on the other end of the tangles. So, every few saturdays Alyssa monopolizes the TV and someone else hunkers down with nimble fingers ready to braid. I used to do my fair share of cornrowing, but lately Genet or Mom braid Alyssa's hair. I'm not too keen on oily hands...and I've been busy.
Last Saturday, Genet and I struck an agreement. I braided her hair, for the first time in a great while. She cleaned the bathroom for me, did doggie duty for a few days, and agreed to watch Psych (my favorite show) while the whole operation was happening. I cornrowed both halves of her head (after some disagreement midway in) and we were all relatively happy. For the next few weeks I get to look at my handiwork steadily degrade into a mass of fuzz, and she handed off the momentary displeasure of a sore back and fingers...and her head looks pretty good, if i do say so myself. ;)
I still think she would have looked pretty hip if just half of her head was braided.
Over the years, a lot of hair has been styled. Or, rather, the hair available has been styled in many different ways. I lead frequent trips down memory lane via our photo library, and I can't tell you how many times we've started laughing and hooting "Alyssa! Your HAIR!!!" We have a whole truckload of pictures cataloging every look...the good, the bad and the ugly...hahaha...mostly good. ;) It took me hours to find all the ones below, so yes, you most definitely are obliged to look through all my pictures!

Awww what a cute, crumb-faced kid. These are the common little Alyssa braids with clownish pigtail holders.

This was our first experience with extensions....at this 3 or 4 month mark, it's sort of a fro-braids combination.

The single puff-ball on the crown of the head...a classic.

First time straightening hair...this didn't happen again for a while.

Softened hair, NOT relaxed. We learned there is a great difference.

An attempt by yours truly (keep in mind this was at least three years ago) to loosely curl the straight hair.

This is definitely one of those pictures that earn a hilarious outbreak of laughter from everyone...including Alyssa herself, so don't worry about any hurt feelings.

Here we have one of many notorious Alyssa faces accompanied by haywire pigtails...her hair looked fine when we walked out of the house, but it didn't last long on top of Cadillac Mountain.