Glitter vs Jem Part 1

 Day 52: Should I cut and color my gray hair? 

My next few blog posts will break from reflecting on married gaming.  Instead, I am soliciting input from my readers about my hair quandary.   I will tell the story of my own hair journey and ask for input and advice on whether I should cut off my long glittery/silver locks and dye my hair an outrageous color? 

My streak of glitter 

Truly, Truly, Truly Outrageous

When I was a little girl I was obsessed with Ghost Busters.  Who am I kidding I am still totally obsessed and cannot wait for the kickstarter board game and upcoming movie reboot.  But when I was a kiddo my play dates were filled with talk of marshmallow men and evil paintings.  Living next door to my grandparents was the Egon to my Venkmen, a lifelong friend who had two eco-packs.  Together we regularly fought the forces of evil and collected old fireworks and bugs along Vassar Street.  Other than my eco-pack, I never really gave any thought to my attire or gender while pinning our bug collections to a bulletin board. 

I was mostly a tomboy, but Saturday mornings were the exception when I was transfixed by Jem and the Holagrams.  To me Jem was kick-a$$ pink version of Gene Simmons.  Long before I wanted to be a college professor I was fantasizing about having crazy pink hair and jewelry that connected me to a super computer. It just occurred to me in the last 24-hours I could totally have pink hair and super jewelry.

Bad Hair

When I was 16 my identical twin entered beauty school.  It was around this time that I first realized that most young women don’t just come to school with the way their hair naturally looks, they spend time manipulating and styling it (I still prefer sleep).  It would be another decade before my twin would bequeath me a flat iron, barrel curling iron, and hair dryer.  I have always known how to French braid or create a ponytail but in my 33 years I have only recently attempted to “style” my hair because I feel crappy about my appearance.  Hair is considerably important to the way women both perceive themselves and are perceived.  My hair has always been a way for me to say: I like myself, even if I don’t fit into your hypersexualized, younger, better version of what I could look like.   

Buffy Hair

Twelve years ago, and inspired by a season 6 episode of Buffy "Gone" and I cut off all of my hair.  This is actually a great story about how being married to me can be unpredictable. 

I was watching Buffy and working on my masters thesis, as a sidenote the topic of that paper was sex in video games.  Buffy was playing in the background and I realized I was pulling on my hair.  I walked into the bathroom and cut it all off.  Unlike Buffy, my hair looked terrible.  I immediately drove the 100 miles from college to have my twin fix the mess I made.  Her only option to correct my hack job was a pair of clippers.  She was very pregnant and berated me throughout the process, after her required payment of Cherry Garcia ice cream I headed back to school. 

Short Hair at E3

When I arrived to our flat/ aka the garage we rented, the hubs was already asleep.  It was a long drive so I collapsed beside him relieved to finally be home.  A few hours later I woke up to screaming.  His screaming.  Imagine his surprise when he woke up beside a person in face down with a buzz cut and had no idea who it was?  Though he never woke me screaming again for weeks his hands would roam to the nape of my neck and find my hair missing.

 But I don’t want to keep long hair just so its there when the hubs reaches for it.