My hair is going to be the death of me, literally.
This past week for the first time, I decided to do something about all the frizz. I paid good money for a hair treatment that is supposed to straighten my hair for the next six weeks!
I am planning to attend all the Mississippi State University football games since baby girl will be performing on the sidelines, so I wanted to look my best. I knew my hair would go wild in all the heat.
Two days after the treatment, my hair is wonderfully straight!  But my whole body is covered in hives. I am not 100 percent positive, but I believe it was the hair procedure that caused the rash. It was the only thing I did differently, so it is certainly at the top of the list.
Who in the world would have thought I would have an allergic reaction to a hair procedure?
My breakout was so bad I even had to visit my doctor to get a steroid shot and a boatload of medicine.
I have done some crazy things in the name of vanity, like wearing high heel shoes that nearly broke my ankle, worn dresses that were cute but not warm enough for the season and crammed myself into under garments that nearly asphyxiated me.
I guess I can add the hair episode to the list.
Men have it so easy. I do not know any man who would go to the lengths women do just in the name of looking good. Sometimes their lackadaisical since of vanity makes me feel envious.
I know there are plenty of ladies out there that think the obsessive lengths I go to trying to look good is ridiculous, and they are probably right. As I see it, I live in the South and I was trained by a mother of the 1950s. It is just what I have grown up thinking I was supposed to do.
However, there are times I have wondered what it would be like if I did not try so hard and maybe just let my hair go wild and free, but having a hairdo like “Kramer,” the fictional character on the American television sitcom “Seinfeld,” is just unfathomable.
In addition, a couple of times I have considered saving my bucks and just going gray, but that does not appeal to me either.
It seems I am in a quandary, at least when it comes to my hair.
My editor and friend Jan Griffey has suggested to me that when I have no control over my life’s situations, I should turn to the serenity prayer.
Do not misunderstand me. I am not trying to trivialize this prayer with what I am about to write.  I do think this little prayer speaks to all of life’s tribulations, large and small, when is says, “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change.”
But truly, the genetics of curly hair I inherited from my father and paternal grandmother are definitely something I cannot change, and the beauty industry now offers so many options that I wonder if its second verse speaks volumes, too.
“. . . the courage to change the things I can.”
I just do not know if I can rally the bravery to have my hair chemically straightened again for fear that I could have another breakout.
Being covered in red welts wreaks havoc on my vanity issue, so I would need to consider the consequences!
Then again, maybe it was just a mysterious bug bite which caused my malaise.
Whatever the culprit, I will be thinking long and hard before going to these hair lengths again for vanity.
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Terri Cowart Frazier is a staff writer at The Vicksburg Post. You may reach her at terri.frazier@vicksburgpost.com. Readers are invited to submit their opinions for publication.