30. Get a tattoo

Okay, I couldn’t do it. I thought about it several times and actually I really do not want to get any tattoos and end up like @Teerath. Instead, I decided to do something else that was not permanent but similarly new to me and beyond what I was used to. Having lived in Harlem for a year now, I decided to get my hair braided! Every day on my way to school, I walk by this one hair salon. The lady in the salon is always smiling. One day, I took the courage to go inside and ask her about it. She was thrilled to tell me all about it and she wanted me to try it. Many could point fingers and scream cultural appropriation to me, but this wasn’t an attempt to offend anyone. I wanted to try something new, I wanted to learn about what beauty meant for other women, and I wanted to discover myself in a new light. I walked in the next morning, sat for about 4 to 5 hours without going to the bathroom once, and got my hair braided by the lady. Our conversation throughout the 4 hours informed me that she was an immigrant from Senegal and she had been doing this for many years. She wondered why people of other ethnicities didn’t do hair braiding. She said it’s for everyone and it is a form of expression and art. I wondered too. Not everyone thought like her though, I got many remarks from strangers that I should not be doing that to my hair or that it’s offensive. Many others were welcoming and complimented how well it turned out. I realized after a few days how tedious it was to care for my hair, and slowly started to sympathize black women for their efforts in living up to beauty standards. I eventually could not live with such a heavy head for long and took out most of my braids. Even taking each braid out was work! I went back again a few months later and got pink braids from the same lady on the bottom half of my hair. Hair braiding is such an intricate art and I hope perceptions of hair braiding change so that everyone can enjoy it. Any ideas on what color I should do next?