My Mom hated thin, stringy hair. Mine, especially. With the goal for me to have an all-the-rage Shirley Temple head of curls, Mom washed my hair in the bathtub, then, as she perched on the couch, I settled on the living room floor between her legs while she combed through my tangles. Next, she proceeded with the ritual of winding up my hair in tiny rubber curlers and dousing them with the magical Toni Home Permanent. The cold solution ran down my neck, sent shivers down my spine, and stung my eyes, but the outcome was three months of curls.

When I was in fifth grade, we were living in Stuttgart. As a special treat, Mom took me to a German salon. The perm did not take to Mom’s satisfaction, and she marched me back for a redo. I recall how angry the owner and hairdresser were and how they took it out on me with every rough twist.

Fast-forward to 2008 when I was 55 years old. With each successive perm I started experiencing more and more burning sensations on my reddened scalp from the treatment and my hair felt like straw. It was time to stop perming. I have a forever emotional imprint from the visit to my parents after all the curl was gone. I got caught in the rain coming into the house. As I removed my hood revealing my straight hair plastered against my head the disapproval from Mom was evident as she averted her gaze and resumed cutting out grocery coupons. Sadly, she died two years later, still disappointed with my lack of curls.

Fast-forward again to late 2020. Although I had had the shingles vaccination, I developed three swollen, painful shingle sores on the top back of my head. (So thankful I had the vaccination, or my episode could have been much worse and lasted much longer.) My hair came out in handfuls for months, most likely the culmination of my case of shingles and stress from the unprecedented spread of Covid.

Then the miracle occurred.

Early in 2023 my hair started growing back—and it grew back with curls! For the first time in my life, my hair had a natural wave! When the realization hit me, my first thought was that this had to be Mom’s present from the beyond. Knowing Mom, I realized that if she could bestow one gift on me, it would be a headful of soft flowing curls.

Thank you, Mom, I love them!