curly hair

I had to learn me because I was never given a chance to. People often act like this is easy or shouldn't be hard to grasp, but when you've literally spent your entire life not even knowing what your real hair feels like, it takes time to get used to that, especially when you have no one and nowhere to go to for solid advice.

Being a Russian immigrant meant being showered with stereotypes, and my hair didn't fit anywhere. Russian girls had slick, straight strands. Other Jewish girls had heavy, dark waves.

No one wants to have to say, “Shalom! I’m a child of Israel, and you are . . . ?”