So I was thinking about my hair the other day. Or lack thereof. I shaved my head in 1994 right after I got married and never looked back. I just got fed up with the upkeep of hair. There were expensive and painful relaxer treatments, panicking about wind and rain, concern about it coming out in clumps, irritation about choosing hairstyles, hot rollers, blow dryers, curling irons, straitening irons, not being able to swim because of it, bad hair days... If you want a feeling of what I went through, check out the documentary
Good Hair. It's about me.
I love my hair now. I can't stress this enough. When asked if I'm ever going to grow it back, my answer is always a quick and certain
no. Never. The only thing that bugs me is that it looks the same when I wake up in the morning as when I'm the bridesmaid in my best friend's wedding. But I get over it quickly as I'm taking photos afterwards in gale force winds.
Anyway, I spent the morning trying to dig up some old photos of me with hair. They're hard to find, let me tell you but I managed a few:
This is me studying for my Early Childhood Education Exam in the early 90s as you can see from the ancient laptop. Always the fashionista, I'm demonstrating the timeless versatility of the mullet.
Here I am in Quebec City. You can't tell but the carefree curl and blowsy style took an hour to accidentally happen and if Scott had the stones to touch it, it would have felt like straw. Good times.
This is what happened when I had no time for blow drying. After showering I'd grease it up with some expensive Black girl hair product, throw a headband on it and make like a hippy. If it had gotten wet, There would have been an oil slick around it. But it never got wet.
Never.
Scott (in hairier days) knew not to come any closer to the crispy goodness that is my best wedding coif. I'm smiling here but I'm no end of pissed that the wind is wrecking my 'do.
And you wonder why I have no hair...
Have a great weekend!
kxx
6 comments:
You can pull off the shaved head look because you have a good shaped face and a good shaped head. Some ppl would look retarded with a shaved head.
I thank my parents every day for my good genes. And is it horribly racist of me to say that Blacks can pull this off better than most other races? Something about it looks almost natural.
It looks great on you. Makes you look exotic and mysterious, in this photo anyway, I donno, like something out of an Egyptian tomb painting. And I hope *that* doesn't sound racist.
You're right about hair being a major PITA. I need to get mine cut. Even though I like it long, it's just too hard to manage. And, it's not even nice hair, but thin and limp. The only time it looks halfway decent is with a perm or body wave, and who has time and money to do that on a regular basis? Occasionally, in desperation, I think about shaving my head. But, I'd never have the self-confidence actually to do it. Kudos to you!
i'm with you, babycakes!
i got my hair cut this morning first thing when i rolled out of bed, and it's a buzz cut.
the first time i did it, i had lost a bet, but i loved it and i never want to go back. apparently i have the head shape for it.
but yes, blacks can pull it off better than most other races.
and since you mentioned whether a thing sounds racist or not, i nay as well mention that i roll my eyes every time white people (of which i am one) nearly bend themselves double to use every descriptor available except skin color.
i have actually found myself in this conversation:
..."oh, you should talk to gene about that! he's the tall handsome one standing next to susan. you know, the one with the purple tie? he's tall."
"oh. the black guy?" (he is the only black man in the room)
"i guess," the person says, as if i'm hopeless. "i don't see skin color."
the heck you don't, i'm thinking.
race and culture matter. it's what you DO with those differences that makes it acceptable or not. me, i am impressed equally by the exotic nature of kenyans or brazilians or norwegians when i see them. i love to listen to accents, regional dialects, see cultural differences and all the shapes and colors we come in.
fascinating species, people.
Norwegians? How about Swedes? Have you read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and it's two sequels? There's exotic for you.
And here I complain when I get humidity Frizz!
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