The experiences my sophomore year have given me a variety of emotions. I felt happy performing in "West Side Story," energetic yet tired from swimming, confused from the many translations in Latin class, and most of all: stressed.

But it was not until recently that I figured out the main way I cope with stress: I do something different with my hair. I cut it, straighten it, clip it, crimp it. I never even realized what I was doing. Now that I think about it, that's a really weird way to deal with stress — to take out all my frustrations on my hair.

I have gone through more changes with my hair this school season than ever before in my entire life. Looking at a diary my sister did of all her hairstyles growing up, I was inspired to share a few of my hair secrets and maybe clear up a few questions that anyone who followed my different hairstyles might have had.

August-October: Swim season. The style I had was one I often referred to as "The Bush." Chlorine in the pool ruined my hair and there really wasn't anything I could do in the 15 minutes we had to get ready for school to style it.

November-December: Post-swim season. At the time I was so fed up with school and ready for winter vacation that I just left the bush on top of my head. What is interesting, though, is that the more stressed I got, the more I was determined to do something with my hair over winter break. I felt that as soon as I did something different with my hair, everything else would change and life wouldn't be so boring and repetitive.

January-March: This was the funniest time for me. I came back to school with straight long hair and everyone was amazed. To all of those people whom I told I went to a professional hair dresser and got my hair done — I LIED! I have a confession to make. That hair was not my hair at all! It was a weave.

A weave is where the natural hair is braided in cornrows and strands of real hair are sewn into the braids. I got a real kick out of telling everyone it was my real hair and having them believe me. Especially when I got another one that was maybe two-three inches longer over the weekend and people still thought it was real.

In the black community, weaves are fairly common. Many people wear weaves, half-wigs, wigs, extensions, etc. Here at Uni, where there aren't as many black people, it was a big risk for me to try a weave. Freshman Leah Brown had a weave, so I joked about mine with her a lot, but my weave looked so realistic that I felt uncomfortable telling people it was fake. So I just went along with my weaves for a while and let people think they were real.

March-April: This was the scariest month of all. For the last weave I did, I was lazy and left it in twice as long, and my natural hair was completely, totally, 100 percent damaged. When I went to the hairdresser to try to fix it, she was bewildered and astonished at the tattered state it was in. My hair didn't look very good, so I did not want to go natural.

Since weaves were the reason my hair was messed up in the first place, I didn't feel inclined to do another one. So I did something I NEVER EVER thought I would do. I got a half-wig.

Half-wigs are just like wigs, but they start farther back on the head and the natural hair in the front covers it up. I was freaked out enough with the thought of wearing a wig, but half-wigs aren't as secure and I was afraid that it might fall during PE or my natural hair would slip and anyone looking would be able to see where the wig started. I didn't wear the half-wig a second longer than I had to because it felt so weird all the time and I was really self-conscious.

Present: I think in the past few months, it might have been more obvious to people when I had fake hair. Now I don't make as much of an effort to pass off fake hair as real. Some days I might wear a weave and the next day, since my hair is back to normal, I might just wear my natural hair. This is a lot more fun and gives me so much more variety.

Now I am sporting a short semi-curly 'do. The best part about it is that it was a total accident! My hair was straight, and I was taking a shower with a wig cap on since I lost my shower cap, and the humidity caused my hair to be a style in between straight hair and The Bush. I love how it is a salute to summer because it can be bouncy and light at times. But remember, my hair does grow, so even if next year you see me with long hair, it doesn't mean that it is fake.

So there you have it. My hair confessions. If the next time you see me you highly suspect my hair is fake and ask me if my hair is actually mine, expect the classic reply: "Of course it's mine — I bought it!"