Okay so first of all let's talk about my birthday that happened on Friday. I don’t really know what to say. I turned forty-two. I love being in my 40s and I like to be treated like a queen on my birthday but this year I had the opportunity to have my birthday on a Friday which meant I spent it cooking for one-hundred people. Good reminder that it’s not all about me. The end.
On Sunday, I made a quick trip to New York to finally deal with a wig I had ordered for Menny’s Bar Mitzvah. When it came, the color was too dark and I had to send it back. But since it was the height of the war, everything was taking longer, so I didn’t end up having it in time.
Living in Montana, maintaining a wig is just so hard. Every time you really need to work on one, you have to fly in, and sometimes it takes a couple of years before you actually get a wig exactly where you want it.
A lot of women learn how to wash and set their own wigs because they can’t easily travel to get them done, and people are always telling me, “I can teach you. You can learn.” And I’m like, I’m not interested in learning. I don’t want to do that myself. I have to be self-sufficient in so many areas of my life, and I just do not want to wash my own wigs. I know I can learn. I know I’m capable. I don’t want to. So sometimes I wait months and months, and sometimes I literally fly to New York just to take care of my wigs. It’s not something I do often, but it is, apparently, part of what I’ve got to do.
Buying a wig is also such a strange mix of risk, faith and hoping for the best, because you truly have no idea if you’re going to love it until you buy it and start wearing it. I’ve had wigs that were amazing from the start, and I’ve had wigs that, no matter what you do, just never work. It can be a lot, and it can be really stressful, but I’ve learned not to get too caught up in it or expect perfection. A wig is a wig. It’s never going to be your hair. I’ve stopped trying to make it look exactly like my hair or feel exactly like my hair, because it isn’t. Sometimes it might even look like you’re wearing a wig and guess what? You are!!! Accepting that has helped me let go of a lot of the anxiety around it. Thankfully, this trip was a good one. I really like how it came out so far, and there is honestly nothing better than leaving New York with your wigs fresh and clean.
On my way to the sheitel appointment.
What the wig studio looks like.
My wig after a six month wait! The first time around, the hair was so dark we had to send it back.
Making sure it fits perfectly.
The master @salonleah at work.
Wearing it for the day to see how it feels and if I want to change anything,
I don’t have much more to report back to you guys except my interview on Human & Holy came out last week and I’m so excited about it. Tonia is amazing and I loved being in her studio in person and getting to play the role of guest on a show for once, waltzing in and just having the most delightful, deep conversation that Tonia is such a master at cultivating. Must listen. Or watch!
Yesterday’s episode on Totally Unexpected! was an absolute first for me. Sonia is the daughter of a Jewish mother and Palestinian father. She wrote a book, The Roots of the Guava Tree, about her struggle to understand her identity. It was fascinating to hear the story from her first hand on the pod. Take a listen!