So I dread getting my hair wet, since maintaining my desired effect becomes an issue. Thanks to the hair dryer and a little factoid I picked up from one of my female friends, I can take a bath and mold my locks, without much effort.

The hair dryer, one of the standard electrical devices for hairstyling, is a reliable gadget for forming contours and angles on a clump of hair. Once it is plugged, it continuously provides a stream of hot air, drying wet hair in just a few minutes. Newer models could also spew out blasts of cold air, which is a useful setting when preserving hairstyles. In my case, the unit at home is pretty advanced. It can deliver either hot or cold air, with just a flick of a switch.

Before, when I practically depended on hair gel for styling my hair, I scoffed at the usefulness of the dryer's cold air setting. I waited for the gel to harden, as if splashing cement on my scalp. But I realized that I lost a lot of hair strands whenever I slept or took a bath. Looking through some of my old family pictures, I remembered that my grandpa was partly bald and my dad was called "Jawo" by his siblings because of his receding hairline. I figured, I'm not falling prey to this family curse, so I set forth and consulted one of my vainer ex-girlfriends.

When I reached her place, memories of how she gave more attention to her makeup and her wardrobe over her partner filled my thought stream. I called her on my mobile phone and in a few moments, she appeared by the front door. She smiled and let me in.

Once inside, she discussed much about herself, as usual. I swear, if she were a writer, she could have penned an entire collection of autobiographical short stories in that conversation. I, waiting for her to run out of air, grabbed the chance to ask about my hairstyling concern, when she finally decided to inhale, after her continuous barrage of stories. She looked at me straight in the eye then all of a sudden, disappeared through one of the corridors. She came back holding her hair dryer, which resembled the one at home.

She sat beside me and handed me the device. She told me that I depended too much on hair gel. Instead of using that destructive hairstyling solution, I could simply toggle the dryer's hot/cold switch.

1. The first step was to comb my desired hairstyle
2. Then to dry my hair using hot air.
3. When my hair is water-free, I must blast some cold air to preserve the hair's form.
4. Apply a little styling lotion (not hair gel!)
5. The result is naturally flowing hair without the icky wet feeling given by moist hair gel.

I gave her a kiss, shared my own personal stories then headed home after munching on her signature oatmeal cookies.

I took a quick bath after and gave her tactic a try. Surprisingly, it worked like a charm or perhaps it was my shampoo. My hair, when struck by a gust of wind, was "bouncy" yet the strands returned to their original form right after. I was so satisfied with the results that I stormed back to my ex's place and gave her something that perhaps she will never ever forget - a very endearing scalp massage.

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