What is a haircut if not the style your head wears that may define (or confine) your persona? What is a haircut if not the physical outer image of what lies within? And to wax even more philosophically, is our choice of haircut meant to defer or refer to our individual personalities? And so it goes, a virtual guessing game of follicular interpretation.
“This is me personified!” says Biddeford poet and writer Sandy Duross. Photo courtesy of Sandy Duross
Sometimes, however, a haircut is not a choice but a necessity.
When I was informed nearly three years ago that vital chemotherapy treatment would leave my salt and pepper, once-permed mane totally mane-less for months to come, there seemed no other alternative but to pre-empt said baldness with a totally cool buzz cut! And so, my trusty hairstylist obliged … provided the “new me” look with pizazz and “I am ready to conquer” effect! Thus, at this most inopportune time, “haircut” took on new meaning. It meant taking somewhat control of a certain but soon-to-be uncontrollable fact of life … a life I planned on resuming with the gusto of a reborn spring (minus the spring-step) chick!
But then, at some point during midwinter, my female impersonation of the Yul Brenner bald-as-a-cue-ball pate became a downright frigid reality. And so the inevitable “full cranial prosthesis” became the onus I once denied. For who was I to impersonate the style of Shirelles ’60s fame? Who was I but a medically-induced-but-not-giving-up totally cool haircut gone wrong?
And then six months later, as if writ in the script, the fuzz of a newborn chick appears … more silver than before, but nevertheless, fuzz to cherish and behold! I dream of my next haircut … of the statement it will imply; I want it to be POSITIVE and to project hope where there otherwise may not be. And so by then in my mid to late 70s, a punk-style spike haircut becomes my identity … with purple hairspray as a highlight because it says it all … I am woman, I am conqueror … and the world needs to know anything is possible if you believe … and keep tongue firmly implanted in cheek!
And so my haircut born of necessity indeed has become the haircut that inspires obvious, “what-the-heck-is-that” second looks … as well as those of thumbs up … of hope and levity when needed most. The right haircut at the right time equals no matter what or why, your haircut speaks for itself … your haircut sometimes says what you cannot … your haircut rocks!
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