Woe and Tell
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Backstory
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I am so mortified by this photo, taken in the fall of 1987.
And I blame it entirely on my mother...
Why? Well, this was the late 80s/early 90s when perms were the hottest look in town, and I wanted to fit in with the other Forenza-wearing, Outback Red-loving tweens in school. So I told my mom I wanted a spiral perm.
Her idea? Why pay for a salon when People's Drug Store sells Ogilvie home perms?
As I certainly wasn't pulling in any sort of income to afford a real salon perm myself (or even argue for her to take me to a salon... I was a rather obedient child), I had no other choice but to curtsy to my mother's rather appalling suggestion and go with it. However, as you can see from the result above, it wasn't a pretty outcome. I have unnaturally thick hair -- considered dangerous for even a trained cosmetician -- and my mother (AKA "my personal hairdresser") fell prey to the potential for the frizzed out mushroom top. Not to mention, I hadn't a clue as to how to take care of it (these being the days before decent "product" was easily available), and I believe I actually owned a pick with which I attempted to "comb" it.
I probably would have just forgotten about this hideous perm if it weren't for two things: 1) this school photo serves as a constant reminder of the blunder, and 2) the lingering memory of a nasty note intercepted in Mr. Robertson's social studies class that mortifies me still...
Here I was, with my massive and unruly frizz cap, sitting in Mr. Robertson's class. I sat near my two close friends, Jenny & Vicki. As 13-year olds are apt to do, they were passing a note back and forth. For whatever reason, I somehow was passed the note to pass on to Vicki and noticed my friend Jenny's handwriting and decided to take a peek.
It was then that my heart dropped and my eyes teared as I faced the horror of teenage judgment...
J: What do you think of K's perm?
V: It's soooo ugly! I think it looks even worse than Chrissy L.'s hair!
J: Oh my god, I know, it sucks.
This was a death sentence.
Let me tell you that Chrissy L. was the school dork. Every school has one. Although I might sound like a "mean girl," I have to say she had absolutely no friends, as she was considered spastic, nerdy, dippy, weird, and unsocial, all of which made her totally avoidable. And... she was highly unfashionable with orange-toned, frizzed out hair. (which, I might add, could be gorgeous now if she is properly using product on it).
In my eyes, being called, in any form, "worse than Chrissy L." by one of my closest friends (and behind my back!) was akin to a quick and swift kick to the gut. Truly, a devastating moment...
In time (like, after a year of hair hell), I convinced my mother to take me to a salon for a real spiral perm, and I recall her gladly willing to pay the big bucks the second time around. |
Mortifying Picture
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