The hair tonic that changed my life

Keeping up with the trends, I used to frequently dye my hair, which had resulted in the brittle and drab hair that you can find in my old #badhairday selfies on Instagram. Despite the tons of products that I had used to repair my hair, nothing seemed to reverse the damage that the dyes had caused.

However, right when I thought nothing could prevent me from going bald, a friend recommended Stop it!!! Hair Growth Formula to me.

The first thing I had realised about the hair tonic is that it smelled of elaachi. The product description said, "Enriched with the natural goodness of cardamom, ambrette seeds, argan, jojoba, coconut, walnut, almond, coffee, garlic, and aloe vera, Stop it!!! Hair Growth Formula is an extraordinary hair tonic that will target the causes of your hair loss and stop hair fall up to 99.9%, make your hair 20X stronger, and add incredible lustre to dull locks. Co-created by best hair experts around the world, our formulation delivers just the right ingredients to your hair follicles, creating a more beautiful you."

Even though I had no idea how delivering the right ingredients to my hair follicles made me more beautiful, I decided to give the product a try. The pricing was at BDT 400, which seems relatively modest for a 500 ml bottle. I did go online to check for reviews, and found that it had earned kudos from several reviewers.

"I can't believe I have turned into a real life Rapunzel!" someone had written, "And I found my Flynn Rider too!"

I used to apply the hair tonic every night before going to sleep, and started seeing results from the fourth day. My shoulder-length hair seemed to be an inch longer. On top of that, it was softer. I couldn't stop myself from absent-mindedly running my hand through the velvety softness. My friends had noticed the change too, and they wouldn't stop complimenting me.

After a week, my hair had grown over 3 inches longer, and that started my glam metal phase. The phase was soon dismissed, however, when people started complaining how the amount of light reflected by my hair seemed to blind them. Since then, I started keeping it in a bun. My hair just kept getting longer and longer. And it was not only limited to my head, it spread across my neck and shoulders. I was very annoyed at first, but then I thought that maybe it was probably due to some kind of hormonal imbalance so I waited for it to cure itself.

I wish I had turned into Rapunzel, though. A whole month later as I stood in front of the mirror, I realised to my horror that I had actually turned into something like a real-life Chewbacca. My dread was ephemeral, nonetheless, since I was cast for the next Star Wars film, and soon turned into a celebrity.

That is when I got reminded of my friend who'd recommended me the tonic, but I didn't get to thank her since she'd moved to reside in the caves.

Zarin Rayhana likes to spend her time by pondering over alternative theories about the universe instead of studying for school. Send her your theories at ericaavianazarin@gmail.com