spikey hair
There’s no doubt about it, more than elections or the economy or even terrorism, people’s interests are rarely piqued higher than when discussing a topic of supreme personal importance. Hair.
From the shaved heads of medieval monks to the long-haired hippies of the ’60s to the weave in the hair of today’s rappers, hair has always been on our minds as much as it’s been on our heads.
“It’s one of the leading ways people can establish their individuality and express their style,” says Jerome Shupack, M.D., professor of clinical dermatology at New York University Medical Center. “Hair has had sociological importance throughout the ages.”
Because of its importance, anything that happens to our hair that we can’t control– falling out or turning gray, for instance –can be the source of much anxiety and fear, notes the FDA.
Normal fear can propel a person to do constructive things, like running away from a psychotic Cambodian handyman or single-handedly lifting a Hummer off a barefoot wrangler from the Sundance Institute, or thinking that plenty of checks in your checkbook means plenty of money in the bank.
But when it comes to hair, well, that’s another story.
Young women learn how to toss their long hair when flirting, and practicing The Hair Toss is no mean feat. It requires three things: a target, a will of steel, and a neck.
Women rush to their salons to get their hair cut like Jennifer Anniston’s or CSI’s Marg Helenberger’s with stiff tendrils bristling out like wind socks in a hurricane. What do they do, dip them in Viagra? There was a time your mother wouldn’t let you out of the house with erect hair; now we pay a fortune for that look.
By Maggie Van Ostrand