An appointment with my hairdresser is coming up. I cancelled the last two. What should I do?
My hair is weird. I know everyone says that but in my case it’s true. I have curly hair in the back and straight hair on top. You know what that means?
I could wear a mullet but I think that’s out of fashion. Seriously out of fashion. I googled some images to include here and they were downright scary!
- My idol!
My attempts to look scrunched like Meg Ryan don’t work on top. Neither do my attempts for the popular Victoria Beckham cut. The back just curls up and wings out.
I can’t do the short shaped style that many older women wear for the same reason. I have cowlicks (in our family we call them roosters) and odd growth patterns. My hair needs to be long enough so those don’t show.
I can either straighten out the back or curl up the top. I’ve done both depending on the decade. What decade is this? What’s in?
This round I decided to throw caution to the wind and get a….I am so embarrassed to say it….perm for the top. (Please don’t tell the fashion police!)
Guys really have it easy. They can shave their head which also shaves hours off their grooming schedule (men do groom, don’t they?). They could write a book in all that extra time!
I didn’t want to do it before the holidays. Suppose it got fuzzy and I looked like an old fuzzy lady? For Christmas? Good grief!
The goal was to shave time off the hair care and years off of my appearance. I know that’s a tough job. I don’t know which one is harder to accomplish.
I went into the salon in January. My poor hairdresser had no idea what I was going to do because I vacillated for months. I think she was more worried than I was that I wouldn’t be happy.
I had the whole head permed. Yes, even the curly part. That way it was all equally curly.
There were all the cautions…you know it will seem too curly at first. It will relax. You are not used to looking like that. Give it some time. (All this is a nice version of don’t call me for at least 2 weeks if you don’t like it.)
You can’t wash your hair for 48 hours after a perm. (I think you lose your birthday if you do.) That is a long time since it stinks. It’s like living with a skunk on the top of your head for two days. Sometimes I name the skunk. It makes it more real especially when we are in bed together. I am almost sad to see it go. Almost.
Yikes! There were curls all over. Yes, I know that is what I wanted but it did take getting used to. It wasn’t fuzzy but best of all I didn’t need to wash it every day. No blowouts! It was ‘scrunch and go.’ That added hours to my schedule. HOURS! I could write a book!
Now I am terrified that the next haircut will cut it all off. That’s why I’ve been avoiding it.
It’s also gotten to a nice longish length that really is less work. Seriously my hair is less work when it’s longer than when it’s short.
Maybe she could add some extensions, curly ones! Maybe that will shave off a few years!
We do not age gracefully. We fight it every step of the way! Kicking and screaming. Until we die!
Writer’s Note: I was writing this when I read a post by Ellen Peterson about her friend with alopecia. Alopecia is an immune disorder where you lose all your hair. I am grateful for what I have but for a touching post about being hairless, visit here.
Related articles
- The Return of the Perm: A Primer for Getting Curls Without the Crunch (fashionista.com)
- Curly hair extensions aids add fullness and size to the natural hair (whitewomenhairextensions.wordpress.com)
Views and Mews by Coffee Kat 
My hair has a mind of it’s own. Some days it’s straight, some days it has spiral curls, some days it just looks like a poodle. I think about shaving it all off and buying a dozen wigs just to save time.
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Curly hair’s a pain. Fine curly hair is even worse. I have both, so I liked it better when wigs were the style. 🙂
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I look at those wig advertisements and think gosh, I could look like Dolly Parton (on the head at least) but then I remember how uncomfortable they were back in 70s.
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Hair! Nothing makes me crazier!
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After my last perm, my daughters told me that they would not allow me to get another one! That was 25 years ago!!’
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Perms have come a long way in 25 years. I remember those frizzy things. However, if your hair works for you and it looks like it does in your picture, you don’t need one!
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Gosh, will I recognize you? Better wear a name tag for our next lunch!
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No problem. I will be the one who looks remotely like Meg Ryan!
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You think you have problems! Just think what Samson went thru after his lady barber gave him a new “do!”
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I understand how you feel about vacillating when it comes to haircut since hair is our crowning glory. Somehow it looks good in Meg Ryan but mind you she has mucho dinero to have someone pick on her hair. My niece is losing her hair at a young age of 30. I wish I can give her mine. But really Kate, looking at your picture, your hair is just fine. Don’t join the family of skunks.
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I, too, have naturally curly hair that, when cut short, looks like a frizzy, dried dandelion on my head. I’ve tried the Beckham cut with the same results as you. Lately I’ve been doing a long Dorothy Hamill- esque bob sort if thing. It’s okay. I think that as long as silky straight hair is popular, I will never be in fashion.
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Fuzzy, dried dandelion?? I have never heard curly hair called that. I would love it if my hair was curly all over. If you can pull off a Dorothy Hamill sort of cut, that would be good. Not too long, not too short. Perfect as long as it doesn’t wing out.
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I do like your photo – is that the recent cut? I share your angst, Kate. I’ve had purple hair, an Afro, a perm, a shag (I love these). Several years ago, I decided to stop coloring my hair and am happy with that choice.
Meg Ryan’s hair style is gorgeous. I’d love mine to look like that, but suspect it won’t happen.
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I had to laugh at your comment. I have done a fair amount of these styles too except for the purple hair. The photo, while relatively recent, does not show my curly perm. That picture of Meg Ryan is probably at least 10 to 15 years old. I think she straightens her hair now but I think this style is gorgeous and ageless. Of course to pull it off, it’s good to look like her too.
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True. But no amount of money will pull off that plastic surgery. 🙂
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Aww Kate… thanks for the pingback.
…and seriously, I’m sure you could pull off the mullet, but it was probably best that you tried the perm first. Why is it we get so wrapped up in our hair? My dilemma now is hair color… to stop using or not to stop. ARGH!!! Life is sooo hard somethimes. o.0
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Tough decision. Some people look great with silvery gray streaks or maybe even all silvery. My hair is a dark blonde/light brown and it looks mousey with gray so I am not ready to even consider that. Yet!
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Too true, guys do have it easy. Often is the day I wish I could just shave it all off and have nothing more to worry about than washing my head.
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Me too! Who decided that women need to fuss with their hair but men can just look….um…..unkempt or bald!
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In our house, it’s the opposite. I have wash and wear hair. And I pay almost no attention to it between shampoos. In contrast, BFF has fuss and muss hair which he needs to arrange and rearrange throughout the day.
Without seeing your hair, I’ll say . . . keep the Meg Ryan look. Back when Meg Ryan looked like Meg Ryan. 😀
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