Penny for Her Thoughts: Life with Hair

By Penelope Griffiths

So let me start by saying I am not a vain woman! However, I do have standards, but the last seven months have taught me that they’re not that high!
    I have had many hairstyles and hair lengths through my life. As a child my mother would cut my hair “bowl” shape. From small child to teen, I was mid brown colour but going blondish through the summer. At several points through my early days my mother would perm my hair; I had an “afro” before they became fashionable!

    By the time I was 11 and went to grammar school (all-girls), my hair was quite long and very dark, almost black in colour. My mother loved pigtails (braids) and, for some reason, a fringe (bangs), so that was my look until 13 when I started taking control of my styles – pony tails, bunches, buns, chignons, etc., etc. – but not pigtails! About this time, two girls who were in my class, Jayne and Elaine, had bleached their hair Marilyn Monroe blonde! Looking back, it was horrible as they both had very dark eyebrows and their hair was more orangey, but all us girls thought it was the most fabulous thing ever!

    Every day I would sit and wait to see who else had got hold of bleach and done “the deed.” And many did: Julie, Diane, Lesley (who was already naturally blonde!), and Rhiannon – the list was endless - would all appear with orange to sort of dirty blonde hair. One even went green! As for me, I did attempt it, but it never took. Plus, my mother would have shaved my head if I had!
    So being blonde was never available for me, and instead I just cut or grew my hair at various points through my 20s to 50s. Once I got 50 or so, my grey started showing. As I was financially sound, I could afford to go to a salon and have my hair dyed and styled, so I did. And gradually the stylist lightened my colour until by the time I was mid-50s I was, finally, a blonde!!

I’ve never enjoyed hairdressers, spas, manicures, etc., so to sit in a salon for hours on end several times a year was agony for me as well as expensive – each full colour, etc., was $250+ depending on highlights, conditioning, etc. In with that I had to have my roots “touched up” too – another $120+ per visit. And, because my hair grows fast, that was every 5 to 6 weeks!! But hey, I was blonde and we have more fun, right?
    Fast forward to my 60s and I’d had enough of the never mind the thousands of dollars it cost, so about this time I was ill and couldn’t go for my weekly (yes, every week) salon visit. But my stylist (Jackie) went mobile and would come to my home, plus she charged less than half what I had been paying! I took the decision to stop colouring and go “au naturel” grey – or skunk, depending on my hair pattern. This evolved gradually, because Jackie semi-coloured it brown to help it repair, and after six months or so of that colour, I also decided to cut it really, really short, which sped up the process. It took about a year to become dye free, and I loved it!

    Many of my friends and work colleagues were shocked that I’d let it go but I didn’t care – just think of the money I was saving. Plus as your hair loses its colour, so does your skin tone. That’s why some women who insist on dying their hair their “natural” colour look odd, but whatever floats your boat, I say.
    There was method to my madness because my move to the USA was imminent, and finding a good stylist and colourist would be difficult. After all, I’d had a Jackie doing my hair for over 15 years, so she knew me and my locks very well. So, I came here grey and with short hair, figuring that finding someone to cut it short wouldn’t be a big problem.

But it was! I tried two different salons and gave them three tries each to cut it short and to my satisfaction. It always started well, but by the second and then the third time they failed – too “long,” wrong parting, and one even shaved my face!!! Then one of my customers at the drug store who always looks chic with her short hair told me she just went to Great Clips. Being mainly a barber-type “salon,” they could cut short ands were cheap – $12 ($7 with a coupon, which was always to be had) for 65+.

    Fantastic! It worked great, I went every 6 weeks and my hair was exactly as I wanted it – short and manageable with no fussing in the morning or on washing.
    And just when I was set, Covid-19 hit! My last haircut was on February 23rd! My hair is now down to my shoulders, a full 5 inches of growth. At the moment it’s manageable, mainly because I’m not going to work or going out. I’ve taken to colouring it with various wash-out rainbow colours that I’d owned for years but never used— blue, purple, green, and pink. And the Grandsons love it, and my friends, when they see me on FaceTime, think I’m “with it,” and anyone who sees me out walking always tells me they think it’s wonderful and pretty like a rainbow.

    I’m not sure how or when I’ll be going to a salon or Great Clips, because I’m immune-compromised and am not risking going anywhere while Covid-19 is still rampant. I may be beginning to look like a Stone Age wild woman, but I’ve realised that I’m not that vain – unlike some of my friends who have started going back to salons and spas. Part of me is envious that they are resuming normal activities, but then I remember my friends I’ve lost to Covid-19, and I remember that you can’t go to spas, stores, movies, etc. if you’re dead. So, until this situation changes drastically, my hair will continue to grow and do its own thing….

Copyright © 2020 by Penelope Griffiths