i totally blame lelaina for this! as i sat here dribbling through my past and grasping to recollect most of it, i ran smack bang into one of the turning points in the life of my hair. sure i had always been obsessed with brushes, combs, mirrors, hair pins, hair ties, ribbons, even scrunchies (and other weird and wonderful hair contraptions that would be advertised on the burt newton show for the amazing price of $39.95 but then sold off at the $2 shop when the original sales figures plummeted) but it was winona's character in reality bites that really fuelled the flames of hair obsession for me.
1994 was a tender time, 17 years of age, fresh out of senior and looking to break free, try new things. as a teenager with a head of wild and wooly hair i was especially eager to change the look that had given me so much attention. others would pour it on thick...'wow look at your hair' 'most women would pay a lot of money to have hair like you' and other continuous ramblings. i often thought but never said...'well most women would be friggin out of their tree if they ended up with a mound of curly locks like me, so thick and revolting, cause of the most irritating scalp itch and soaker of gallons of hair products'
so when trends started to change and the grungy, short matted look grew more popular...i was hooked!! i would parade in front of the mirror for hours - hair pinned back glancing from side to side, admiring my new look to be.
i remember the day i did it, a friend had an aunty who i thought was seriously one of the coolest women i had ever laid eyes on. her fashion was street, her piercings were many and her hair was shaved and dyed purple (it was the 90's). best thing of all she was a hair dresser. i was dropped off at her house with a flowing golden mane and picked up with a funky new do. i think there was a tear in mums eye...and maybe a tear in mine when my new style was so very much different to the pinned back version i had simulated in the weeks before the chop. after a number of bad cuts i think i ended up growing the mop back for a while. but i always envied the girls with the funky crops and knew i just had to try it again
perhaps it was a year or two later and i ended up in the barbers chair again, this time at a stylish and expensive inner city salon. my stylist was reknowned for his work, sporting a spunky bleached shag he asked me what i wanted. feeling adventurous and wanting to appear cool and carefree i said 'just go for it, do what ever you want' about 2 hours and $211 later, i swished from the salon not quite sure what had just happened but later realising that in my eagerness to act hip and desensitised to any kind of shock, i had allowed the spunk with the shag to basically shave my hair down to the roots apart from a few whisps from the crown of my head which were a shimmering gold and copper colour.
i dont know if it was the exhiliration of that experience or the fact that i never had the energy to go through the 'growing out' phase, but i have pretty much had my hair short (and loved it) for the last decade. i have have had crushes on most of my gay stylists, rejoiced in the feeling of a 3hour salon visit, and always felt a weight lifted with every new cut. the wonderful thing about short hair it that it allowed so much experimentation, i wish i could show you some of my older predigital photos, i have been every colour from platinum and champaign to blue black and silver/ purple (that one was not on purpose), i have chopped it myself, chipped at it, shaved it and smoothed it.
but since coming to tokyo i have pretty much had the same do, with a few shade and style variations...
i had been floating merrily along until people started commenting again 'wow look at your hair' 'its so curly isnt it?' 'what have you done to your hair' then zume reminded me, much to my horror, i have not had a hair cut for 6 months!! i dont know how this could have happened, i am the six week girl...alas 6 months has slipped by...and this is where i'm at -
and this is where i need/want to be -
its a little/lot different from where it all began, and it may take a straight perm and alot of chopping, but i'll let you know how it goes.
so what do you think?
zume is making the appointment in the morning...
oh and ps speaking of change, i think i can say this because there is very little chance that mr.d will read this...you might be spotting an ultra chic anna dilemna cruising the streets of tokyo with her stroller and knitting very soon
