Hair: An Important Topic

Before my former hairdresser Lyla moved to San Diego, I went to her faithfully and she always did a great job. We even discussed my hair icon Gwyneth Paltrow together. Now, I'm in no way disillusioned into thinking that I look like her. At all. Let's face it, when you, even jokingly, have been called boyface and then later in life, manface, it's impossible to see yourself in any Gwyneth way. And I have been told I look like my dad and my maternal grandfather--who are nice-looking, but MEN. Not unlike Gwyneth in Shakespeare in Love:



Anyway, what I will say about her is that we have the same hair type. We both have a lot of thin blonde hair. And thank goodness we have a lot, since it is thin (but I AM thickening mine with Mane & Tail Shampoo--love it love it love it). By choosing Gwyneth as a hair icon, this keeps me from becoming deceived into thinking I could pull off some haircut I see on a course-haired brunette that might ultimately leave me in tears. So basically the only thing I need to resist succumbing to is thinking I will leave the hairdresser's looking LIKE Gwyneth Paltrow, which I think I have finally mastered.

It has been over a year since Lyla left town and I began cutting my own hair. It has been fine because basically I never think my hair looks that good, so I might as well do it myself for free if I can get it to look acceptable, right? Well, it's time for a cut/trim again and so hair has been on my mind a lot. I mean, there's no telling how much time in the last 7 or 8 years I have spent looking up pics online of Gwyneth's hair. Nor can I tell you how many times I've had the Sliding Doors cut:



I don't really have a picture of myself with that cut, but you saw me with shorter hair in a previous post.

But basically, right now my hair looks (a little) like Gwyneth's in this picture. (Sorry about the link, but IMDB is so stingy with their photos!) Okay, it's not exactly the same, but you get the idea.

Plus in that picture I am, I mean Gwyneth is with Michael Douglas, who coincidentally is married to Catherine Zeta Jones. I remember seeing CZJ for the first time in The Mask of Zorro and thinking how beautiful she was--and then immediately being offended by my dark-haired grandmother who was with me when she leaned over and whispered, "I just really think dark-haired women are so much prettier than blonde ones." The fact that my instant message persona/screen name/pic is now Catherine Zeta Jones probably stems from that very day.

I really don't know what my dilemma is right now, I'm not planning on heading back to the short hair department yet. Maybe someday when I get too old to be able to pull off long hair and I start debating a perm...but for now should I go a little shorter? is medium length hair ever a good idea on me (all pictures point to no)? just keep going a little longer? keep going a lot longer? do I need bangs?

I get so confused when I look at pictures like these:






Someone tell me what to do.

Next, I would like to discuss a very personal topic with all of you out there on the internet. You see, I have a very low hairline in the back. I know. I'm not proud of it. When I got my first short haircut, I realized my low hairline wasn't going to cut it when the back of my new haircut was going to look somewhat like this:



It was at this point, that the hairdresser shaved the back of my neck (just like the man[face] that I am), moving my hairline up a little. I was horrified and shocked and embarrassed, even after learning it wasn't totally uncommon for short-haired women to do this.

And I was even more horrified and shocked and embarrassed than I am everytime I have my eyebrows waxed and the woman says, "You want a lip wax too?" No, I don't want a lip wax. Do I need one? Why is she even saying it? I think maybe she is just trying to make more money, especially since I have heard her ask the same thing of others who don't need a lip wax. But still, I did pause to consider if I really need one when she said to a woman on Friday "You want an eyebrow wax too?" and that woman really did need some eyebrow help.

But now back to the even worse topic of neck hair: Even now that I have longer hair, I haven't given up the shaving practice. It makes me feel a little better to have a higher hairline on the back of my neck, even if it is at the expense of having to maintain it and feel manly about doing it. Plus growing it out and it getting too prickly seems even worse. Anyway, it's something I think about a lot.

Gosh, there are so many questions about the length of my hair, the placing of my hairline, the amount of hair on my face and I haven't even touched the pros and cons of highlights...ahh well, another day perhaps.

Anyway, if I have upset you or grossed you out or sent you over the edge and you don't want to read my blog anymore because I'm suddenly Marcy Manly to you, I'll understand. I'll still be here alone with my hair obsessions, shaving my neck and thanking Heaven that Gwyneth is older than me so that I can follow her right into her old-age hair decisions.