Ugh. Midterms. They’re the worst.

It seemed like all my professors were in cahoots this week to make Michael Jordan’s defeat of the evil aliens in “Space Jam” look like a cakewalk in comparison to my schedule.

With essays, tests and presentations looming over my head and just a few hours of sleep under my belt, the last thing I wanted to do was look presentable. But alas, wearing bar mitzvah sweatpants from 2007 is probably not acceptable anymore.

Though I could control my wardrobe choices, I don’t possess total dominance over my own head of hair. That’s where Pinterest comes in.

Now, my lifelong wariness toward my scalp can be traced back to one dark event: It was 1998, and I was on a play date. We were watching a Mary-Kate and Ashley “You’re Invited” video. Somehow there were scissors. Somehow the scissors found my grubby little fingers. Somehow those fingers clutching the scissors found my bangs.

The haircut I gave myself was not good. My mommy was not pleased. My bangs had to be cut very short to even them out. Needless to say, it wasn’t my best look.

With all of that in mind, I decided to get a little ambitious and veer away from my usual hairstyles this week. The pin I tackled featured a slideshow of how to make a one-sided braid. Though the instructions consisted solely of nondescript pictures and a caption in Spanish that I couldn’t comprehend, I still felt confident I could complete the task.

I tried. Then I tried again. And then I tried a third time before giving up. Perhaps the Spanish caption would have assisted me in my efforts — because the photos most certainly did not. I failed to create anything that looked remotely similar to the braid created in the tutorial and ended up with some knot action happening on top of my head.

This does not bode well for the Pinterest haircut I was planning to attempt next week.

Just kidding. My mom would kill me.

— Hayley Glatter