What goes up...

I know I know, what goes up must come down. I just didn't realise that applied to my self esteem as well.

Three weeks ago I straightened my normally insanely curly hair with hot straightening tongs. As long as I keep it dry, it will stay straight for about 4 or 5 days. I do this every few months as a change, and a way to appreciate (or at least learn to live with) my unruly curls.
The Chinese, with predominantly straight hair, are mad on getting their hair permed. They always assume that my hair is also permed, no matter how many times I tell them otherwise.
The day I showed up to work with staight hair, I had to endure an onslaught of comments such as:

"Wow! So beautiful!"
"Oh your straight hair looks more beautiful!"
"Beautiful straight hair is better than your curls!"
and even...
"Now you don't look like a sheep!"

Baaaa.

This was a great ego boost (aside from the sheep comment), and I proudly flicked my straightened locks out behind me as I swaggered around the halls of my school.
But then of course after five days of not washing my hair I realised that I could rival the middle east in oil production, and so I had to wash it back into it's usual mass of curls.
The first look of dismay when I walked through the door at work was priceless. The second was humourous. The third, fourth and fifth were annoying, and everything in the two weeks since then has been downright depressing.
My students still feel the need to tell me that they think my straight hair is more beautiful, regardless of the number of times I tell them that the curls are natural and I cannot keep it straight all the time.

Yes what goes up must come down, and right now my self esteem is sinking faster than a lead balloon.