Ah, Spring.

The birds are sweetly chirping to one another, the flowers are blooming, releasing their aromatic scent. The sun is shining down its golden rays of warmth.

And it is at this time that I have decided to grow my hair long.

Longer than it's ever been.

When I was young, my long dark hair was down to my waist. Over the years, I cut it to remove permed parts, or because it was so very hot. In highschool I let it grow out, and it grew past my shoulders. The day after I graduated, I cut it off in a short bob, in defiance of my mother.

Ten years later, after fluctuating back and forth between chin length and shoulder length hair, I have resolved to grow back my long tresses. But this time, it will be different.

This time, there will be care taken to insure the healthy state of my hair.

Last night I bought a jar of virgin coconut oil, and a box of cassia obovata. When I returned home, I rubbed coconut oil onto my scalp and down to the ends of my hair. Then I mixed up the cassia obovata and applied it to my hair for some lovely deep conditioning and added strength. After half an hour, I rinsed out my hair and let it air dry. After I combed it, my hair was lovely, thicker and shiny.

I started considering what inspired me to grow my hair long. Rapunzel's hair sticks were definitely my inspiration. I thought about what I could do to learn how to use them, to make sure my hair would be able to hold them. I found a pair of long, wooden knitting needles from a "learn to knit" kit that I had bought a while back. I hadn't practiced knitting for some time, so I took the needles and examined them. They were long and skinny, with a dull point at one end and a round wooden ball on the other end.

"These will work for practicing,"  I thought to myself.

I went into the bathroom before the mirror, combed out my layered, shoulder-length hair and gathered it at the back of my head, being careful not to pull too tightly. Twisting it up so it began to coil on it's own, I held it in place, then stitched the needle through it. It actually held in place! I added the other needle at an angle to the first, and was pleased with the results.

Having figured out how to use a makeshift hairstick on my first attempt, my next step was to find a way to get a lovely set from Rapunzel. However, at almost sixty dollars a pair, that would be difficult. I decided to make a proposition to the man in my life.

"You want me to grow my hair out, right?" I asked him when he came home from work, leading into the conversation.

"I'm so sly," I thought to myself.

"I don't care. It's your hair. You can do what you want to it, you always do." Was the response.

Damn.

Slightly flustered, I went on. "Yes, but... You really like it when it's long, don't you?"

"Of course I do. I've always said you look much better with long hair."

"Well, what if I had an incentive to grow my hair long?"

"What are you thinking?" He responded, curious.

I told him about the hairsticks, and that if I could let my hair grow long, that once a year he would buy for me a pair of Rapunzel's hairsticks.

"I tell you what," he said. "If you go one month without cutting your hair, I'll put in five dollars for that month. If you cut your hair, I get my five dollars back."

"I need to at least trim it, though," I said.

"Yes, but if you cut it off more than half an inch, I get my five dollars back. Five dollars at twelve months is sixty dollars. That should be enough for you to get your hairsticks."

It sounded reasonable, so I agreed. Now I had something to remind me every month, or when I got a trim, not to go past the half an inch mark.

Feeling excited about my new endeavors, I oiled my hair before heading to bed.