COMPLAINING (ignore as needed)
I need to whine for a while, so please forgive me. But I'm going crazy.
When I started work this summer, my hair was just getting to be long, and I was loving it! I've always wanted long hair. I was looking forward to figuring out new things to do with it (call me shallow, I don't care - ever since I was little, my hair has been the only thing I'd consider myself truly vain over). In addition, my skin was in normal good health, courtesy of a good smelling lotion from time to time.
Now we throw in the YMCA and its pool of DEATH.
At the beginning when I'd first gotten the job, I knew I'd need to take care of my hair to some extent, but wasn't overly worried. I was using the chlorine removing shampoo almost constantly, and could deal with the fact that my ends might turn platinum blond. It showed I worked hard at what I did, and getting that fixed wouldn't be very difficult later. Ah, I was so naive.
About the second week of work, my skin is so horribly irritated from the pool that I need prescription cream to keep it from burning horribly after I got out of the pool. But I got that sorted out, and they put me in the Pool of Lesser-Death more often. So things were okay.
But now I can see that all is not well. As soon as they upped my hours again, my skin became just as bad or worse than before in less than half the time. And, in my poor inner-child's mind, the worst part: I've lost at least two inches of hair to this pool. And that's not exaggerating. I look like I got a hair cut. And it's because my hair gets these horrible knots at the bottoms, and since the hair is so thin and frail from the water, it just breaks off. Not that I could have saved it... but even so, it's so depressing!
And now it's really too late. I'm not going to buy a swim cap for my last week of work - I've spent enough on this job already! Lotions, shampoo, swim suits, goggles... nope, I'm done. Most of the money I've earned is going towards helping pay for school (which is laugh - after those expenses, I'll pay for about a month and a half of room and board). I'm taking some to spend on myself - which will probably cover my hair appointment ~.~ And hopefully and little bit of dance stuff, like that top I've wanted for AGES.
Oh, and to add to the scariness of the pool, it's so far ruined... wait... at least four swim suits, one of which became so baggy that it nearly fell off of me, even when being held with a hair tie. My racing speedo is nearly completely bleached. My arm hair has been reduced to stubble - tell me that's not scary! And my skin always feels dry now. Even as I put on lotion, I can feel where the lotion penetrated, and the deeper skin still has the strange, too-tight feeling when I move. It's getting really old. I can't wait to be done - especially since that means a trip to Maui :) - and get my skin fixed up. I'll never take for it for granted again!
My hair, on the other hand... At the moment, I feel hopeless. It's like I was just starting to get it where I wanted, my mother stopped trying to convince me to cut it... Long hair for dance! I was so excited at the beginning of summer. And now it's just so short, I swear I could cry. I'm back to the fluffy curls - when they're not stiff and crunchy from the pool (yes, that's the best description). I mean seriously, it was like my job took away the two things that I liked about my body (as I am pretty neutral on the rest).
I feel better now. For now. My poor hair.
When I started work this summer, my hair was just getting to be long, and I was loving it! I've always wanted long hair. I was looking forward to figuring out new things to do with it (call me shallow, I don't care - ever since I was little, my hair has been the only thing I'd consider myself truly vain over). In addition, my skin was in normal good health, courtesy of a good smelling lotion from time to time.
Now we throw in the YMCA and its pool of DEATH.
At the beginning when I'd first gotten the job, I knew I'd need to take care of my hair to some extent, but wasn't overly worried. I was using the chlorine removing shampoo almost constantly, and could deal with the fact that my ends might turn platinum blond. It showed I worked hard at what I did, and getting that fixed wouldn't be very difficult later. Ah, I was so naive.
About the second week of work, my skin is so horribly irritated from the pool that I need prescription cream to keep it from burning horribly after I got out of the pool. But I got that sorted out, and they put me in the Pool of Lesser-Death more often. So things were okay.
But now I can see that all is not well. As soon as they upped my hours again, my skin became just as bad or worse than before in less than half the time. And, in my poor inner-child's mind, the worst part: I've lost at least two inches of hair to this pool. And that's not exaggerating. I look like I got a hair cut. And it's because my hair gets these horrible knots at the bottoms, and since the hair is so thin and frail from the water, it just breaks off. Not that I could have saved it... but even so, it's so depressing!
And now it's really too late. I'm not going to buy a swim cap for my last week of work - I've spent enough on this job already! Lotions, shampoo, swim suits, goggles... nope, I'm done. Most of the money I've earned is going towards helping pay for school (which is laugh - after those expenses, I'll pay for about a month and a half of room and board). I'm taking some to spend on myself - which will probably cover my hair appointment ~.~ And hopefully and little bit of dance stuff, like that top I've wanted for AGES.
Oh, and to add to the scariness of the pool, it's so far ruined... wait... at least four swim suits, one of which became so baggy that it nearly fell off of me, even when being held with a hair tie. My racing speedo is nearly completely bleached. My arm hair has been reduced to stubble - tell me that's not scary! And my skin always feels dry now. Even as I put on lotion, I can feel where the lotion penetrated, and the deeper skin still has the strange, too-tight feeling when I move. It's getting really old. I can't wait to be done - especially since that means a trip to Maui :) - and get my skin fixed up. I'll never take for it for granted again!
My hair, on the other hand... At the moment, I feel hopeless. It's like I was just starting to get it where I wanted, my mother stopped trying to convince me to cut it... Long hair for dance! I was so excited at the beginning of summer. And now it's just so short, I swear I could cry. I'm back to the fluffy curls - when they're not stiff and crunchy from the pool (yes, that's the best description). I mean seriously, it was like my job took away the two things that I liked about my body (as I am pretty neutral on the rest).
I feel better now. For now. My poor hair.