November 2, 2007
Permonition
I was not a “popular girl” in high school. I didn’t wear the latest in the three G’s: Guess, Gibraud and Gitano. (Okay, maybe Gitano was more junior high, I think seventh grade or so, but I digress.)
I was the girl who wore a hemp necklace with her Birkenstocks on Monday, a pair of track pants and sneakers on Tuesday, faded jeans and a concert tee on Wednesday, a flowing skirt with a v-neck tank on Thursday, and cords with a cable sweater on Friday. My style wasn’t exclusive to any one trend. My closet evolved with my moods.
I was never a trend setter, although I did stop tight rolling and pinning my jeans way before everyone else (that’s only because my mother said it made my thighs look bigger), and I grew my bangs out in the eighth grade because I was sick of destroying another layer of the atmosphere with Aquanet hairspray.
I remember being teased because my bangs did not touch the door frame when I walked into a room. I believe I was called “hippy” several times my freshman year.
I loved the way I looked. That is until had to have my senior portraits taken a few years later. My mother insisted that I “do something” with my hair. I had long, thick, straight as a stick, brown hair without bangs. She demanded I get a perm because she didn’t want to “spend hundreds of dollars on photos that make you look like every other girl in the school.”
After several months of listening to motherly advice and downright nagging, I gave in to my mom and mad the appointment to get the fricken perm.
I think I went to Cost Cutters, of all places. I didn’t have a regular salon, because my mom cut my hair whenever I asked her to. The stylist, Amy, was very polite and she promised my hair would not look frizzy and out of control. I believed her and helped her break out her curlers.
Amy asked if I wanted my hair trimmed or cut. I agreed to let her take an inch off the long hair that fell to the middle of my back. Oh, how I miss that hair today.
After three hours of rolling curlers, applying solution and chit-chatting with Amy about my upcoming senior year of high school, my perm was finally set.
When my hair finally dried, I began to cry. I looked like a frizzy mess. It would take stock in Dep hair gel to get that mane to tame.
I cursed my mother for making me do it. I knew it was a bad idea. I should have trusted my permonition.
“I paid $99 for a perm YOU don’t even like?” she asked.
“You freakin’ made me get it. I look TERRIBLE!” I screamed. “I’m never, ever listening to you again!”
Needless to say, I managed to comb some of the kink out, and my hair looked more relaxed, rather than ready to rocket off my scalp.
My senior portraits still haunt me. It’s not that I hate looking at them, they just remind me of the time I got a bad perm. My husband however, loves the photos (that’s only because he has this thing for wavy perms — I think an old girlfriend from the 80’s had one).
Bad Hair Circa 1996.
(The scanner picked up the intricate detail of this mat board photo. Another reason I hate looking at this darn thing is because it’s pre “my parents spent thousands of dollars to fix my crooked teeth”. Ugh.)
This is just one of my beauty blunders. Remind me to tell you about the time I shaved off my widow’s peak!
———-
This post is part of a Blog Blast, sponsored by the Parent Bloggers Network, Harper Collins and the new beauty guide by Nadine Haobsh, Beauty Confidential. If you would like to participate in this week’s blog blast, click here for details.
———-
**If you’re visiting from NaBloPoMo, today is All Souls Day as well as National Deviled Egg Day. I don’t want to be near anyone who plans to eat a ton of eggs in celebration!
RSS feed for comments on this post.
TrackBack URI
November 2nd, 2007 at 7:48 AM, The Parent Bloggers Network » Beauty Confidential Blog Blast - Even Beauty Experts Make Mistakes Says:
[...] Permonition [...]
November 2nd, 2007 at 11:33 AM, dinky Says:
See, now I think it’s cute!!
November 2nd, 2007 at 12:03 PM, Dana Says:
Well, thank you!
I suppose it’s not hideous, but certainly not super-model-gorgeous! Hehehe.
November 2nd, 2007 at 2:31 PM, susiej Says:
Yes — maybe bad hair. Nice curls. But, gosh, what gorgeous eyes you have.
November 2nd, 2007 at 2:41 PM, Dana Says:
Susiej, thanks! I have to laugh when you say nice curls. It looks like my hair is ready to take flight. Can you believe that permed hair was that long? To the middle of my back? It makes me sick! I’ll never be able to grow that back!
November 2nd, 2007 at 3:01 PM, amanda Says:
I had a cousin of this do in 6th grade, but my hair was short and the frizz was confined to my bangs, making me look like young, female Kramer.
Ugh.
November 2nd, 2007 at 3:15 PM, Dana Says:
Oy! Amanda! I feel your hair pains!
November 2nd, 2007 at 3:48 PM, mammacheryl Says:
I got a perm in high school when my hair was chin length. Because my hair was so thick to begin with, the curls stood out almost horizontally from my head. My first boy cut happened after that debacle.
November 5th, 2007 at 6:40 AM, The Parent Bloggers Network » Dangerous Admissions Campaign Launch (and Beauty Confidential Blog Blast Winners!) Says:
[...] The Dana Files [...]
November 11th, 2007 at 10:36 PM, mom2amara Says:
Ok your perm is not bad! You should have seen the perm I got…in the second grade.
And Girbaud and Gitano! OMG that brings me back to the day!