I'm suffering from a minor cold at the moment, head feels fuzzy indeed. These photos were from just before the cold hit. This is me having a play with plaits, as I said I was going to in my last post, god knows why I decided to go for the milk maid look, and then a couple of days after, I saw on Milk Teeths, Ashley looking lovely, and sporting the exact hairstyle, it's been around a while I know but Fashion is a funny one, simply in the way it infiltrates ones subconscious, without even realising... I'm sure many people will be acutely aware of what new hair trends are... and as you all know, I couldn't give a monkeys, but I do have silly long hair, and am too tepid to even consider going near a pair of unqualified scissors, and I just don't have the knowledge or the money to spend on good hair. Therefore, milk maids, plaits, buns, bee hives, up dos, pony tails are going to have to do... What I do need is a trim, and an assault on my fringe (I can never decide between blunt, or side swept and by the time I've done side swept and am ready to grow the fringe out to get an actual hairdresser to cut it, in I go with my golden swallows and chop it, really badly across the eyes) and some sort of style cut into it, so I can least wear it wavy and down. My hair eight months ago, http://look-know.typepad.com/look-know/2010/09/venus-in-furs.html so I reckon I'll just get it styled in a similar fashion.
Hair is such a big deal, this may sound shallow, but good hair and shit hair, really make all the difference between feeling vulnerable, and hair so coiffed you might as well be wearing armour (Anna Wintour anyone?). Hair is powerful full stop. It's the first thing to get experimented with as a teenager, trying to muddle through your adolescence in a bid to figure out who you are. Hair is such a vivid lollipop-traffic-light of a sign, of who you are, who you want to be, or perversely: what other people want to think of you as. When I was about 13 my hair was very short and I was accused of being a lesbian, as of course it's a derogatory affliction right? And was bullied horrifically, all because I had short hair and kids being homophobic - but it was the short hair that triggered the violence, as it was an out and out symbol of proof that I was queer. Which is disgusting behaviour, and I blame a school that wouldn't believe a young girl was being bullied for being gay. But none the less, I kept it short, and for a long time, the length of my hair fluctuated from super crop, to shoulder length and back again...till I was 16... and I had a fair few different styles...
Rai aged 16 (excuse the 16yr old graphics)
I kept it short and cropped, I had it spiky, I had it flicky, I had it curly and bobbed, and then it grew and grew until in a mad panic aged 15 I cut it all off in a bizarre mess. I got marched to the hair dressers, wearing my mod crimpelene orange mini dress, and the hair dresser, Gary – how I miss you in my time of need!! – ingeniously cut me an asymmetric Vidal Sassoon-esque 60's bob to match it. The pattern has been, super short hair when I've been single, and short bobs lending to longer lengths growing out, when romantically entangled. By the time I was 19, I'd kept it in a blunt bob for what seemed like aeons...and gradually as love blossomed, the hair kept growing. (I must add my hair grows VERY fast, I could have a crop and six months later I would have grown it out completely) I now find myself with the longest hair I've had since I was 12...and even though I have had it trimmed, with those scant trips to the salons, I've invariably kept it mid length to long.
The relationship between hair and identity is a long and well established one, and if I look at my hair right now, it doesn't feel exactly healthy, or even look good, it's a sprawling mess atop my head most days, I hate washing it (it's such a bore to wash long hair) tons of it fall out, and I've got the flying grey hair or two shining in among the black mass, what that says about my identity, lord knows. I don't think I could cut it though...Yes, I know it's a dull boring hair cut, and it mustn't say much about me as a person, but for me... it seems like my hair is this mad symbol of stability, comfort, and a soft billowy constant. I'll wear it up and show my face, but to cut my hair now would be a brave and bold thing, and maybe I just can't be that right now, and I'm not ashamed to admit it. I love the fact that there are so many cute girls wandering around with cropped hair, and if I'm honest, I smile and think fondly of my own hair cuts, and the mad wonderful memories with them. Hair is such an emotional thing indeed...
Contemplative, wearing my trusty vintage polka dot shirt, with a H&M ruffled navy skirt, MaxMara knitted stockings, and black canvas lace ups from Topshop from when I was at college.
Do you like our new dining table? I upholstered the seats myself...