HOUSTON, WE HAVE BANGS

I've never been someone who has been afraid to experiment with my hair, especially the color. I think my coloring fetish probably began when my mother first told me that I could NOT color my hair ever. Many years later my defiance of this order would eventually lead me to become a cautionary tale known simply as "the Feria girl." (The short version is this -- if you think that you may ever want to have your hair PROFESSIONALLY colored then do NOT color privately with Feria.)

Nevertheless, none of this experimentation has led me into the bangs path. I lived in South Dakota for a while and had huge 80's like hair with teased bangs to boot. It's a powerful temptation to tease those suckers and I'm weak, I tell you, weak. AND I have a cowlick that encourages teasing, so I have avoided the bangs. Since moving out of the midwest I've taken some proud in having modern hair. (No, most people in the midwest do not have dated hair but it is a phenomenon that has no explanation.) But, lately so-called modern hair has been sporting a lot of bangs. I like the look on other people and have been drawn to it so many times but always back off because it's a commitment. Hair color is definitely not a commitment that can't be changed but hair length -- yes. (Unless you're Christina Aguilera and have a closet full of tracks as my hairdress likes to point out.) But, I caved. I already had a shorter piece around my face, it didn't seem like much of a leap. I realized this wasn't the case when I got home and my napping husband's first response was "you got bangs."

I should say that Scott has never been one of those men who's particularly adament about what I should or shouldn't do with my hair. You know what I mean -- "I can't cut my hair, George just LOOOOVES my long hair." Fuck George, he isn't washing it, drying it, buying products for it, staring at its split ends, can't see when it's windy, can't drive with the windows down, blah blah blah. George will get used to short hair, damn it! Frankly, that is the kind of spiteful bitch I am, which I admit isn't always conducive to the most tender of relationships. However, this is the only thing that I'm pretty rampantly a feminazi about. I just feel like there enough pressure from society to look a certain way, and damn it George can't you just love me with my buzz cut? (Why am I picking on George?? I don't even know anyone named George!)

Where was I? Oh, Scott... So yes, he's never been one of those "don't cut your hair, don't dye your hair, don't wash your hair, etc" guys. He has opinions, but he really doesn't care as long as I look somewhat normal and not scare him when he wakes up. But one thing he's been pretty insistent about is that he doesn't like bangs, doesn't want me to have them. Who knows? Perhaps this is the driving force in getting them -- to show him! But, actually it turned out that Scott didn't really know what bangs were. He thought it meant I would have that page boy thing going on with the thick, curled under thing. I realized this when I started asking what he thought about certain actress's hairstyles. "Do you like HER hair? How about if I cut my hair like that?" Many times I would get at least a moderately positive response and would have to explain that THOSE were bangs. Granted, no matter how much he said he liked it, he always followed it with "why can't you just keep your hair the same?" but I'm not going for an overwhelming endorsement -- I just need a little push.

I'm not sure about the bangs. I think they look pretty cute but I forgot about the impractical part -- just how often they get in the way and how I don't really know what to do with them.

Let me say this (especially to Lori if you're still out there and aren't plotting my demise and torture): it's just hair. And if I like it or don't like it, it doesn't matter. I LOVE the person who does my hair (see Ode to my Hairdress, 3/1/04) and enjoy my frequent hair visits because it means I get to visit with HER frequently. If I don't like the bangs, it doesn't mean I don't like the artist. I knew going in there that I might not like it. I've been with her longer than I've been with some of my friends AND my husband -- I'm not going anywhere. Scott says I shouldn't share with her his "you got bangs" comment. Maybe not. But, it's just hair and I hope that she doesn't ever think I'm diminishing her abilities if something doesn't work for me. If it doesn't work, we'll do something different next time. Besides, some of the things I wasn't that crazy about at first I wound up really loving after a while. It's all a matter of adaptation. And it's just hair!