So, the AWESOME thing about today...

...was that I woke up with the same totally RAD hair I went to bed with. It is totally sweet, baby.

First I must say, that I have NEVER had a bad cut from my hairdresser. She is wonderful and always does a great job. However, I triggered some sort of experiment yesterday...

"I need a haircut where I don't have to do anything to it," I said, "something that I can just get wet and let dry." "Cut it all off," I said, "I need to go short again."

"But it is so long," she said, "are you sure?" "I'm not sure what your hair would do cut short these days," she said, "your hair comes out of your head without much curl, and then curls farther down." "Do you want to try something to keep the length?" she said, "we can take a bunch of hair off." "We can put in tons of layers," she said, "so that it has some shape, without going short."

"I don't know," I said, "O.K. let's try it and we'll see what it looks like."

So we put some color in it to go back to my "natural" ugly brownish color, because I am no longer blond, and haven't been for some time (read: years and years). Having little babies does weird things to hair--with the color and with the curl. Anyway, I wanted to make it so that my roots aren't so obvious--so that I can go longer between color appointments. To do this meant going to my natural color.

Then she started cutting.

The first red flag happened when she was working on the sides "to get the hair to fall naturally off of my face:" She said, "I don't know what they call this now, but back in the '80's it was called a "C" cut. See how the hair falls like a "C"?"

back in the '80s..back in the '80s..back in the '80s. back in the '80s..back in the '80s..back in the '80s. back in the '80s...back in the '80s...back in the '80s.

O.K., so I admit, when I heard her say "back in the '80s," I cringed a little inside because maybe the fact that she doesn't know "what they call it now" means that "people don't use it now," so it doesn't need a name for the current era.

But I have always trusted her, and I just thought to myself, "she knows what she is doing, and people probably DO still use this technique; it will be fine--cute even."

She finished, and we both kept looking and looking at it. Debating whether there was enough long hair in the back to justify leaving it there. Or was one of us going to finally admit that it looked strangely like a mullet?

R: I had a cancellation next week, do you want me to save it for you, in case you decide you don't like it? How long to you want me to hold it for you?

Me: I'll be able to tell you in two days. I'll give it two days, just to see what it does.

R (not convincingly): It looks cute. See how the "C" cut is keeping the hair off your face?

Me: I'll be able to tell you in two days. We will see what it does.

R: It is probably in "hair shock" right now...

Me: Yeah. People don't believe that hair shock really is a thing. But it is. It is probably in shock.

R: Do you want me to style it for you before you go?

Me: No, I need to see what it does when it dries without doing anything to it.

The hair dried. It didn't get any better. I pulled it up--it looked darling up--little curls hanging down around my neck and around my face. "Maybe this will be ok," I thought.

I let it down to go to bed. It didn't get any better then, either. "Maybe this is NOT going to be ok," I thought.

I woke up this morning. Sigh.


As I was leaving the salon, I kept thinking, "I know I have an eighties hair cut, but who do I look like?" I couldn't remember. Which girls had their hair like this? Hopefully good looking, famous ones.

Paul keeps trying not to laugh. Not really. He laughs.

We'll see how he laughs when I come home bald next week...

He was helping me figure out who I look like. "The girl on Family Ties?"

"Mallory?" Maybe that was it. Nope. Turns out it is Jennifer in this particular photo. Nice bangs, Jennifer. Also, nice perm gone bad.


As I was looking for photos, I suddenly realized something. I didn't so much look like famous GIRLS of the '80s, as I did the following types of people:

Exhibit A: Notice the MAN on the back row, middle.
Now observe my cut again, paying special attention to the bang, and the fact that the hair on top and sides is way bigger than the scraggly, smaller amount of hair at the bottom (and no, I'm not on drugs. I'm trying to look "cool" like they did in the eighties):


Exhibit B: I am a combination of all of the hairstyles shown here.

Now me again:So, basically, I am a men's '80s hair band throwback.

Maybe in the '80s, people's hair was in perpetual "hair shock."

I even look a little like this famous 80's guy. At least the bang does.


After I took the above flattering photos of myself, I decided to get cleaned up, wash the hair, and "see what it does." Just like I promised my hairdresser I would do.



Not much better, although make up helps my look tremendously.

...Too bad '80s hair band guys wore make up too.


I guess the good news is, I really don't have to do anything other than get my hair wet to get this look. Good to know.