Cher Hair

So anyone who knows me or has met me knows I have very, very long hair. As a young girl I loved the Tommy Hunter show, watching hopefully each week, waiting for my hero Crystal Gayle to dust the stage with her over five foot long mane. I’d watch in awe as she swayed along with her music, her long shiny raven locks falling perfectly straight, immune to damage of any sort. I’d wonder how she was able to maintain her elongated coiffure. I’d picture her meticulously braiding her tresses before bed to keep them in their utmost shape. These tresses demanded respect!

When I was seven my father took me to visit a hairdresser friend of his who ran a salon from the basement of her house and told me I could have my hair cut any way I liked. Looking up at the woman I told her that I wanted my hair like hers, which happened to be a bouffant, somewhat like my other idols Kate and Cindy from the B-52’s. This turned out to be a huge mistake, the hairdresser got a wee bit snip happy and the resulting haircut left me looking more like a rebel little boy then the beehived beauty I had envisioned. My mother was most upset; previously she and I had had matching haircuts. She thought my father had done this on purpose to punish her. In fact I was the one who ended up being punished, arriving at school Monday to whispers of “who’s the new boy?” Did I mention the new do also sported a rat tail? Yes, I was doomed to fail socially.

This was the first of many hair failures for me. In the eighth grade my step-mother surprised me with a trip to Casa Dante’s school of Hair Design where I got my first and last spiral perm. The student hair dresser forgot about me while the perm was setting, so when she finally removed the rollers my finally once again long locks had poodled up near my shoulders with the last 2 inches bleached white! I won’t even mention the tuft that became my bangs.

After surviving the perm years and then many years experimenting with hair colour, including a year of calico chunks, I decided that was it – no more dye, perms or experimental cuts for me!

Several years later I still haven’t quite made it to Crystal Gayle lengths, more of a Cher “

Half-Breed” length. Yesterday I decided, to hell with it! I want some colour! So I broke my vow of never dying my hair again and took the plunge. I’m rather happy with the result, so much that I decided to do myself a little cut-up to commemorate my re-entry into the world of chemical hair colour. Here’s hoping I still like it in a month.