Thursday, December 15, 2011

Do you have a signature style?

A friend of mine confessed via Facebook today that she'd had a perm. A perm. Seriously? First, I laughed and put a sarky comment on her status update. Then I posted a status update on the Fibro page, asking Friends of Fibro to share their own perm stories.

But even that wasn't enough. And so I'm blogging about it. Partly, I think, because I am in awe.

I am the most boring person on the planet when it comes to hair. I've had essentially the same hair for 20 years. Long, red, curly (okay, frizzy unless drenched in 1001 lotions and potions).

Prior to that, I had ... the same hair. Oh it was shorter when my Mum was in charge (because I wouldn't have wanted to deal with my mop either). There was a fringe. There was a moment of asymmetric madness in the late 1980s (all the better to show off my button earrings). A bob.

That's it.

I've never gone blonde, or brown, or black, or pink. I've had it straightened once or twice and it was nice for the 20 minutes it lasted but, really, not worth the effort to do every day. I wear it up every day and wear it long and curly when I go out. I colour it now to cover the greys, but I've finally found a colourist who can make it look close to what it looked like naturally about five years ago.

As I said, the most boring person when it comes to hair.

I put some of it down to being a redhead. The colour was pretty good, why muck about with it? The rest I just put down to me being boring.

The big problem, of course, is what happens next. It's probably time to cut it off. But if I cut it off, it's harder to deal with (much curlier and frizzier - no perm required). I'll continue to colour but at what point do I decide that I can't be a redhead any more?

Who knew that a lack-of-signature style would throw up such conundrums?

What's your hair history? Have you ever had a perm?

[image: if all else fails, I'm getting me one of these Rapunzel hats from Evermicha/Etsy]

37 comments:

  1. Spiral perm!!

    I have dead straight hair and it barely worked. I had to scrunch it with mousse all day to keep the curl.

    Horrible, but I loved it so.

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  2. In answer to your question - yes.
    Two in fact...they lasted about 4 years!!! Yes, I have strong hair, I ended up having to get it cut off...in the 80s of course.

    Other than that, I'm kinda like you. With once-was-brown-now-needs-constand-dying wavy hair. You know, not curly, not straight...just annoyingly kinky!

    AND...I just had my bi-annual visit to the hairdresser this afternoon. I figure if I only go once or twice a year I can spend a FORTUNE and not feel quite so guilty!

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  3. This is about me isn't it? Don't bother answering because I know it's about me and my freakin poodle perm!
    Cheera to the freakin weekend!
    I'm a loser and was bored, okay!

    ReplyDelete
  4. If you are blessed with long curly hair - then leave it long and curly you lucky lucky duck :)

    I am constantly mucking around with my hair because it is quite boring. Natural colour = poo brown. Usual temperament = very vanilla. Bleh.

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  5. You outed yourself @Lisa Heidke! I would never have mentioned your name ever... I think the perm has affected your mind!

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  6. You realise that most of us paid a fortune over the years to have what you call 'boring' hair, don't you?

    But yes, having had pretty much the same colour hair all my life (it was golden when I was younger, and hairdressers and men adored it), the most exciting thing I did to my dead-straight locks was...yup! the spiral perm.

    And yes, the damn thing didn't take to the hair at the front, but lasted about two years at the back. Yikes!

    PS. Secretly, I've always wanted to be a redhead.

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  7. I too have taken the piss tonight, poor Lisa.
    My hair story is long, as is my hair right now, if straightened.
    Briefly:- curling wand, curling brush, hot rollers, crimping, many perms, a spiral perm, streaks, red, black, orange, and short pixie cuts, I've done it all. My hair was quite nicely wavy when younger, but now, I think as a payback for the perming, my hair is SOOOOOO friggin curly and frizzy, my straightener is my best friend. I have not permed for 17 years, and have not coloured for 5 years. I have learned.
    And now I want my nicely wavy hair back.
    Sigh. The grass is always greener. Or the hair is always browner. Or something.

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  8. I've had some shockers.
    Often in reverse correlation (?!) to the amount I've spent too.

    For a week's rent $, I once left Toni & Guy sporting a cow on my head.

    I've had the mop, the chop, the boy, the fringe from hell, the limp, the scrag...

    I've finally found 'the one' and now live in fear of my gorgeous haridresser falling pregnant.
    :-)

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  9. What a fun post.

    I am a redhead wannabe. I die it red. The same colour every time because I just love it.

    I have two hairstyles- and that's it. It's either down or it's in a modern version of a french twist. They work. It doesn't take me long to do. I feel comfortable.

    I regularly look at and envy other hairstyles but I'm a coward and just stick with what I know.

    I have no idea what other people think of my hair, but I suppose it is a signature style whether they like it or not.

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  10. My hair story is boring, as is my (brown straight) hair, but my husband once had long black hair that he got permed. He tells me it was all the rage in Germany (his home country) at the time but I do wonder why he didn't mention it until after we'd got married.

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  11. Like you, I'm boring and also long, reddish and curly.

    I'm too scared to go short in case I end up with an afro your could hide a hibernating hamster in!

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  12. Al, my aunties (identical twins, aged 75) both have your red coloured hair - and still have it a dark red. One wears hers long, the other bobbed. The both look great still - enhanced red these days, but still their "natural" colour, obly a little less Irish Setter, apparently?

    My hair is a whole post by itself.

    xx

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  13. I'm just glad my hair is dead. If it was alive, holy moly it will entrap the world. Love the hat!

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  14. My childhood was filled with bad hair choices mainly by my Mum and her so called hair dresser friend!! See link for my perm stage! http://lwlelyse.blogspot.com/2011/10/bad-hair-evidence-photo-2.html

    ReplyDelete
  15. My hair is stick straight, people are constantly asking me how I got it so straight. It's also red, but more of a light red. But not quite strawberry. I colour/color it but only because I like it darker, more rich. I have had every single hair color though....from maroon to brown to blonde...I figure it's just hair and I can always change it back.

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  16. Do you have time to 'do' your hair everyday? I don't. I think there comes a time in life where you find peace with your hair. Why mess with it?
    I think your hair sounds wonderful. Besides, what would Mr 4 pat? Cut your hair and you'll have to buy a dog.

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  17. I've had a perm (back in the 80s) and I've been blonde, black, brown, red, orange. I've been long and short and every length in between. I like to play with my hair. x

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  18. I have dead straight hair so have had spiral perms and curly perms. I have blond highlights (which made me look old) and I have had red / violet highlights.

    I go from short to long to short again - my husband never really knows what I will look like when I come back from the hairdresser. He has even driven right past me because I went from hair down the middle of my back to a pixie hair cut and he didn't recognise me !!!

    I would kill for red curly hair - so don't think you are boring - think of all of us brown, dead straight haired ladies out here who are so envious of you and your hair !

    Have a great day !

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  19. I had a spiral perm as a teenager.

    As for colour. I look brunette but am at least half grey and I went grey in my early twenties complete with witchy streak at the front which is hereditary. The reason I look brunettes is obviously my love of a regular dye job. I am seriously considering staying brunette until I am ninety! I am going to be ones of those Nannas with the dye job and the crooked red lipstick. Why not I say!

    Your hair is stunning. I think you should leave it as it is.

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  20. I colour my hair as close as my natural colour as I can get just to cover the mofo greys. I get the "anti-perm" chemical straightening twice a year so I never have to "do it". My hair is long and thick and horsy in texture. Which is why it needs taming.

    Did streaks once. Not a fan. Hate upkeep x

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  21. But like FW I wanted a spiral perm as a teenager but I was denied. I blame everything on that. x

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  22. Spiral perm when I was in year 9. Now I just colour it to hide all the grey!

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  23. I tried a perm in the eighties, but had such thick hair that it took six hours!! Never again! I now alternate between a plain chin-length bob and a layered chin-length cut. As you say, why mess with it?

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  24. Yes, spiral perm here too back in the day (the 80's that is). Can't say I would do it today though.
    I am a constant chameleon with my hair. I go from blonde, to brown, to blonde and back to brown again. I don't really even know what my natural hair colour would be these days. Somewhere in between I am guessing. Luckily I have a great hairdresser who looks after my hair too :)

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  25. I am dead boring. And it kills me. The biggest move I made was going bleach/peroxide blonde when I moved to London and I have to say, I felt like it changed my life. "Lifted me", so to speak. It's pretty much been that colour ever since. When I moved to Hong Kong I also moved my side part into the middle. And that, my friend, is the extent of my hair adventures. As I said, dead boring. Boo....

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  26. Oh yes, I had the spiral perm. Oh how I loved it - for all the two weeks it lasted! What a terrible waste of money!
    Now, I'm super boring! :)

    ReplyDelete
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  28. Never had a perm! Have naturally curly fine blonde hair that will do as it's told if I want it straighter. So the daily blow dry just takes out the ringlets and leaves a soft curl. I'm naturally blonde and still have the blonde after 45 years. Amazing. Although I think their are some greys hiding in there. I too am boring. Haven't changed things for decades. Shoulder length, with a side part. Works for me. I like my hair and have never battled with it. Sometimes I wish it were straighter and then I think of my beautiful friends who have no hair, battling cancer and I am so grateful to have a headful. A-M xx

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  29. I had a perm when I was 10. It was 1988 and it seemed like the right thing to do at the time. It took me ages to talk mum into letting me get it. I hated it straight away. I don't do my hair now, I tie it back in a boring low ponytail every day. I always wanted curly hair (hence the perm) but I have finally embraced/accepted my thin with a slight kink do.

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  30. I had a spiral perm, the day before my very last high school 'photo day'. Forever in print. In the homes of many. What the hell was I thinking?

    These days I go for boring (SAFE!) The same three colours in my foils, to hide the 'sparkles' and to look as natural as possible. I've grown my hair over recent years (now down my back)and my hairdresser is BUSTING to cut it off! Every time I visit she says hopefully, "How much do you want me to cut off"... On my next visit I might surprise her and answer, "As much as you want", knowing I'll walk out sporting a new short hairstyle.

    How old is too old to have long hair?

    ReplyDelete
  31. I had a spiral perm, the day before my very last high school 'photo day'. Forever in print. In the homes of many. What the hell was I thinking?

    These days I go for boring (SAFE!) The same three colours in my foils, to hide the 'sparkles' and to look as natural as possible. I've grown my hair over recent years (now down my back)and my hairdresser is BUSTING to cut it off! Every time I visit she says hopefully, "How much do you want me to cut off"... On my next visit I might surprise her and answer, "As much as you want", knowing I'll walk out sporting a new short hairstyle.

    How old is too old to have long hair?

    ReplyDelete
  32. Same, same. Of course, I recently lopped it all off to the shortest I've worn my hair since 1987 and then it's somehow straightish due to Keratin Brazilian Blowout (sounds dangerous and slightly sexual, probably is). And, of course, I have been in the process of 'growing it back out' since the day after I cut it.

    I will need to start up with the colour in 2012. The greys are on the loose, sister. The greys are on the loose. x

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  33. I'm boring too. My signature style is longish and layered. Natural colour. But right now I really am itching for a change in both style (shorter but no idea what or how) and coloured (because the grey is now too obvious! boo hoo). I'm shopping around right now and cannot believe how expensive a cut and colour can be. I'm stunned.

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  34. PS - that photo reminds me of the stocking hair... x

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  35. I LOVE your hair! Keep it red and keep it curly!!

    Mine is naturally curly but like you said, frizzy if I can't tame it. It was due to that that I had a perm when I was at school (the whole class could smell the perm sollution for a week!) a few years later I had it relaxed (so it was permanantly straight) in China. I don't speak Chinese- It was the most terrifying 3 hours of my life!

    Anyway, now it's natural and I'd leaving it alone...except for the colour, it's meant to be brown but I had red in it a while back and it keeps coming back through.

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  36. It is good to have your own signature style.

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