i got back from the dentist's office on the 26th and took a long shower. hair was fine - smelled nice, even. i skipped friday, and intended to shower saturday morning before i went to amherstburg, but i was running a little late. i was going to bike most of the way with a ski mask on anyways - it was nearly freezing.
this ended up being a two+ hour slog in heavy winds, which exhausted me to the point that i required drugs to make it home safely. and, i fell over when i got in.
when i woke up on sunday morning, i noticed my hair was a horrible mess, but i didn't think much of it - anybody with long hair knows that it happens, sometimes. you run a little too hard, you sit in too dry a space, etc. it's generally fixable, except in the most extreme scenarios. i was going to be out in yucky weather all day anyways, so i decided i'd wait.
and, then i waited one more day, because i had to finish the shopping on monday afternoon, in the snowstorm. and, i think this is what produced the actual crisis.
when i was on the way back from the metro to get soy milk on monday afternoon, i got sprayed by a couple of trucks hitting puddles. i tried to schedule it so i'd be in the snow, so i'd avoid that, but the forecast failed, and i ended up biking in the rain.
i think it was the water from the puddles that left some kind of residue in there, which locked the matted hair in place. and, it took some time to come to terms with it. 98% of the time, simply applying conditioner gets the knots out, but this was different - every time it seemed like i was winning, something seemed to harden and undo the progress, and i just couldn't get whatever the residue was out.
i've had long hair for almost my whole life, and i've never had to cut a chunk of it like this out before...
i was very worried. but, it turns out it's not that bad - you can't even really tell, due to the way i wear it, behind my ears. to be clear: i lost a lot of hair, all of it in the back. but you'd have to examine me with a set of mirrors to determine it. thankfully...
i kept telling myself "it'll grow back". and, it will. three months. six months...
but, it's why you need to avoid biking in the rain - and why i almost always do.