A little hairy

Long hair, short hair, red hair, blue hair….

Okay, so that doesn’t sound at all like Dr. Seuss. It did in my head, I swear!

So I love my hair stylist for multiple reasons. Over time I have gotten to like him, but I stayed with him originally for three reasons:

1. He never gave me a hard time for only remembering to come in once a year (no one is making any money off me in that regard).
2. He’s never forced me to be social when I don’t want to. I have never understood why it seems expected to tell your entire life story to a complete stranger just because you are getting your hair cut (and yes, I recognize the irony as I share things on the internet for all who care to read).
3. He has never once uttered the phrase, “Isn’t all this hair hard to take care of?”

Which is a question I have heard from every other stylist I have ever seen (and my hair isn’t even all that impressive). Not once have I ever understood it, since it is usually delivered by someone who clearly puts intensive amounts of time into their own hair every day, while I braid mine and forget about it. Long hair is encouraged when young and female, but apparently not *too* long, because then you veer from the norm.

The norm. Almost all the all the women I know have people comment on their hair pretty continuously.

If the accounts of my various girl friends are any indication, this is the only acceptable timeline for hair styles (my friends of color tend to have different experiences, including strangers who touch their hair without permission. What kind of people think doing that is okay?!?). Women who dare to wear their hair long after their 20s are continually pressured to cut it, while women in their 20s are pressured the opposite direction. A young woman I know with short hair who used to work retail has had multiple people refuse to let her wait on them in the store because of her short hair. Really? Really? I, myself, have never noticed hair length impacting how helpful or unhelpful a person was. Personally, I think it is more intense for her because she is simply so very gorgeous–so it is doubly grating to some people.

No one’s hair affects anyone else. It really doesn’t. Long, short, spiked, or purple, it makes no difference.

This unsolicited rant brought to you courtesy of a hair appointment scheduled for today, my own personal frustrations, and my recent viewing of this video by Allure.

https://www.facebook.com/allure/videos/1832685793428271/?hc_ref=ART8d3S8oG5iBB7i3y8GLnXU3jPiRj00JFNdpQe8744V9RTUWNu8DuQciG5jhObwLyc