Kumar: My favorite Metrosexual - Sixth Installment

8. You can't imagine a day without hair styling products.

Shortly after Kumar and I got married and had settled into our first tiny appartment, a curious good-sized bottle containing liquid having the same consistency, color and smell of brake fluid mysteriously appeared on my dresser. When I asked Kumar what it was he just mumbled non-commitally that it was "something for the hair." So I left it at that. When spring arrived and my de-cluttering instincts got the better of me, I went ahead and chucked the bottle into file 13. The thing is, it was just collecting dust and Kumar had never even touched the stuff, anyway. When my mother-in-law discovered what I had done, she was livid and for good reason - it turned out that this weird stuff was liquid gold - a hair tonic blended from special herbs that she had specifically ordered and had the makers send from all the way from the old country! I know she must still hold this against me and I feel terrible and I've been trying to redeem myself eversince. Well, Kumar never used the tonic because this was back in the day when hair loss was the least of his concerns. Now many many moons later, Kumar's crowning glory is still glorious as compared to his average male contemporary, but perhaps not as luxuriant as it used to be. We were at a close couple friends' place once when the husband remarked, voicing out Kumar's greatest fear, "Hey Kums, it seems like you're thinning"...Kumar's face just blanched...."you do know" as if to add insult to injury, our friend continued, "that it will be over for you if you lost all of your hair!" And this is what launched us on an all-out mission to preserve Kumar's existing hair and still viable follicles...I immersed myself in research, looking for products online that might help. I learned that massaging the scalp with certain essential oils is beneficial. Armed with this knowledge, I went to the nearest health food store and bought lavender essential oil, this being a better choice as it also has sedative properties as opposed to the more stimulating options - perfect for when I would massage his scalp religiously every night. I also bought him what's called Chia seeds, you know, one of those so-called panaceas, to up his protein intake because hair, of course, is made out of the protein, keratin, now everybody knows that! These seeds when ground look and taste like sawdust or plain sand....the ideal way to take them is by sprinkling them in cereal or yogourt where it is less discernable, but on the days we forget, I give it to him straight by the spoonful to wash down after with a glass of water. Kumar has actually been quite willing to take these preventive measures and at the same time relinquish all gels, pomades & "texturizers" - all metrosexual staples not to do without- at least for the short-term, in view of the foreseeable future...Hence, I was not surprised when another bottle of that special concoction fresh from Sri Lanka showed up on our dresser again the other day and this time I promised that I would never ever throw it away.....