This morning I got a text from my granddaughter: "I dyed my hair purple!" I texted back: "Cool. Can't wait to see it."
Things have changed since I was a teen-ager in the sixties. Hair wars were almost as volatile as the war in Southeast Asia back then. Parents would insist on teen-age boys getting their hair cut in the old buzz cut that they had worn in grade school; boys wanted to wear their hair longer, touching their collars was pretty daring.
I never did really see the point of that fight, other than parents asserting their authority and kids rebelling against it. I always secretly admire parents who let their kids do weird things with their hair because it shows me they get it: these things pass and you need to save your big guns for the fights that really matter. Besides, when your kids look back years from now and see their high school yearbook pictures and everybody howls with laughter, there ya' go! And their children will probably be wanting to do even stranger things.
I suppose the intent is to shock. I'm sorry, most of the time I just laugh. Of course, in the beginning when I saw some of the current hair-styles I admit I was a bit taken aback. The first time I saw a girl with one side of her hair shaved and the other long I felt so sorry for her! I was sure she had just had brain surgery and was very brave to be coming out in public.
Mohawks never cease to amaze me, although they are so prevalent now they are almost passe'. The first real mohawk I saw was on a guy in London and it was about eight inches high and spiked with different colors on each spike. I was fascinated. How long does it take to do that? And what do you do when it rains? Does the color run down your face like a rainbow? I guess I stared and that was the point for this particular kid.
It seems like the hair wars kind of faded out when the real war was over. Hair was just hair and when our youngest son, Jake, grew a mullet (you should hear how his kids roar when they look at old pictures) we didn't mind. Sometimes he wanted it straightened, sometimes curly. Not having a daughter I had never thought I'd be giving home permanents to my kid, but I did. By the time he was sixteen and looking for a part-time job, the longish hair had lost some of its allure. It was amazing how quickly he got a job when he admitted people were stupid and prejudiced about long hair but "He who has the gold makes the rules". As soon as he got his hair cut, he got a job.
When Jake was in college he decided to make a different kind of statement with his hair. He shaved it all off. I'm not sure it had exactly the kind of effect he intended. He wore a "do-rag" on his bald head and when he went he out looked pretty much like a cancer patient undergoing chemo and people felt sorry for him. Didn't last long.
And that's my point. Hair will grow back, ( well, at least it will when you're a teen-ager) or it can be cut. It can say "Hey, I'm too cool to look like my dad." or "I've got hours and hours to spend on getting this spike to stand up exactly where I want it," or "Purple is my favorite color this week!" If kids are looking for ways to shock there are way worse things.
Now, adults, that's a different story. Yes, I'm talking to you, Mr. Long-Grey-Pony-Tail. We all know that you are growing the tail because you can't grow it on top. And if you have one or two hairs longer than your arm that you have wound round and round your bald head until you are in real danger of a bird making a nest up there, no matter how many millions of dollars or television shows you have, please stop!
Through the years I have gone from my natural red hair color, to five years of being blond, back to red and now this grey. I've resisted the Senior Citizen blue rinse special so far but the purple is intriguing me. I'll have to talk to my granddaughter about it.
For now I'm just trying to remember to comb it when I get ready to leave the house. I don't feel the need to make a statement but, nevertheless, nothing says "Old Lady" like recliner hair.
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