Ideas With Attitude
Mon, 08/11/2008
Hair today,
gone tomorrow
By Georgie Bright Kunkel
Hair has got to be a very important body part in my estimation. The "I'm Worth It" commercial reminds each woman of her own crowning glory. But who knows what is really important in hairstyle from one decade to another?
Sampson surely needed his locks in order to stay alive. If he had been a 1960's teen, he would have been in trouble with the school principal.
I once had a school principal who was really upset when boys started growing long hair. He complained, "I can't tell the boys from the girls these days." After all in the old days, the sexes had to be treated differently so you had to be sure what sex you were dealing with.
What a fascination we have with hair. My husband likes to remark that balding men are supposed to be brainier and sexier. So why all the ads about hair restoration making one sexier? Dr. Phil has the women flocking to his show and he could care less about doing anything about his receding hairline.
Now I don't tire out my hair by daily shampooing. Once a week will preserve the natural oils, keep the water bill a bit lower and reduce the amount of chlorine filled steam that rises from the showerhead.
Some years ago when I had thick, heavy hair, I ran out of shampoo because I had given away all of our scrounged motel samples and forgot to buy shampoo for myself. I rummaged through the numerous bottles and packages under the bathroom sink and found one bottle of non-allergic preparation for thin hair that I inherited from my sister. It was lying alongside the bag of cotton balls that my sister saved from all her medicine bottles.
After wetting my freshly permed short hair I squeezed out the white, oozing liquid and worked it through my heavy hair. But instead of my hair hanging in short strands, this time it felt like bubble gum. I had neglected to read the fine print-Gives More Body.
My hairdresser already had labeled me the woman most likely to win a Jackie Kennedy hair look-alike contest. In case you didn't know - Jackie Kennedy had mounds of heavy, thick locks.
What did you do to your hair?" my grandchildren frankly asked when they burst into the door for an overnight stay and were confronted by my over-bodied coiffure.
"You know what people say about bad hair days," I answered. "Well, I just had a bad hair shampoo, children."
I was convinced that I would get used to it until I tried pulling on my red-white-and-blue sailor hat I had planned to wear at a political fundraising party. It just kept bouncing up and off into the air. Hair just has a mind of its own.
Now that my hair has thinned a little and I no longer suffer being asphyxiated with the odor of permanent wave solution, people tell me how handsome it looks when I occasionally venture out without one of my signature hats. That is, when I remember to comb my hair over the thinning spot on top.
No, I haven't had the nerve to use Rogaine and I don't intend to, thank you, after reading the fine print about side effects. I am now alongside the baby boomers that use scarves to camouflage neck wrinkles and a widow's hump, and hats to cover thinning hair. After all, my spirit is still intact and if I can remember that I'll be OK.
Georgie Bright Kunkel is a freelance writer who has written two books, produced an amateur DVD called Caregiving Journey and is starting a Rosie the Riveter group. Call 206-935-8663 if you were a Rosie during WWII.