Saturday, March 08, 2008

hair today and gone tomorrow

Everyone is hair blogging.

The ultimatest hair post ever was written many moons ago by The Angry Black Woman - now Kiya and Plain(s)feminist are at it. I am going to chip in now because my hair, it is a thing of infamy.

(I have read lots of great body-related posts in general lately; CassandraSays digging into femmeness, zombie z on extreme weight loss in the bodmod community; meanwhile, BlackAmazon is exploring age in amazing inspiring ways, and Bitchy Ogg Jones is writing on men).

So.

This is my hair. People like it, say nice things about it - strangers come up to me and compliment it, frequently. I am identified by it, in crowded rooms, in cartoony silliness, and so on. It's thick, dark red and it goes down to my waist.

This is not naturally occurring miracle hair - it's a product of its environment, like the rest of us. It's a product of the isolation I whined about
here and here; hairdressing, access to hair-as-fashion rather than hair-the-way-it-just-is, was something I was cut off from for a very long time. And because being without that sort of beauty play had given me the head of hair that it did, I never felt any desire to adopt it later. Why bother, when people paid to fake what I just naturally had? (The why is choice, enjoyment, play, and I guess that fashion stuff that I don't know a thing about).

I haven't had so much as a trim for at least 10 years. That's a shame, because if I did start trimming it it'd probably get a little longer.

I am backed into a corner here. I have only two appealing options; a) keep it as it is now, and b) shave it all off. All of it. Off. (Unfortunately the otherperson has said that if I shave it all off, he'll shave all his off. But, but, we like having good hair).

The reason writing this hurts is that I know my father likes it the way it is and quite deliberately made me keep it this way the entire time I lived with him.

5 comments:

Daisy Deadhead said...

You and me are long-lost sisters!!! I just adore your hair!

I wish mine was one uniform color, like yours, but instead, I have about 5 colors going on! :P

Daisy's hair!

Also, you probably aren't familiar with the hippie anthem, so it's time you heard it!

Almost cut my hair

"I feel like I owe it to someone."

thene said...

Woaaaah, yours is way thick and has such lovely curliness. (Mine's lots of colours too - some pale strands and some dark ones - but it somehow evens out).

You have all the best songs.

Anonymous said...

omg. If you cut, nay SHAVE, your hair I will be forced to do something drastic like dye my hair blonde and act like a valley girl SO HELP ME, I will do it.

thene said...

:O

*terror*

Um...even if I replace it with a big heap of leaves and feathers?

(I don't think I can shave it off. Just sometimes wish I could be as playful with it as you are :P)

P. Rocerin said...

I've been spending A LOT of time at the library since I've been back in Kansas. In fact, I was just there yesterday and checked out five books: a fiction novel by Kathy Reichs, a book about octopuses and squids written by Jacques Cousteau, a book about animal intelligence, one about Plains Native American medicine men, and the complete Grimm's fairytales