Talk Me Out of It
You guys, I’m really going through something right now. It could end disastrously. I can hear you all now, giving me pep talks and reassurances, in my head:
This is completely normal.
Every woman has those thoughts now and again.
Honey, give it a week. You’ll change your mind.
Remember last time? You really regretted it.
For the love of pickles, think of your cheeks!
That’s right. I’m bored with my hair.
Now, I know what you’re thinking. How can you possibly be bored with your straight-as-a-two-dollar-bill mousy brown hair? Woman pay good money to have hair that hangs like wet spaghetti.
I know, I’m ashamed of myself. But I can’t help it, I’m booooorrrrreeeeeed.
Okay, so a little back story:
I have had every haircut known to womankind, save for a perm (I was too young for that 1980’s tomfoolery). Well, that and the pixie. Even I, a hair experimenter extraordinaire, know that a pixie will look hideous on my ginormous head with my prominent nose and fluffy cheeks. No, I am not exaggerating; I have the largest head in the free world. Think Albert Einstein, or maybe Charlie Brown. I have a bigger hat size than Jack Nicholson.
But other than that, I’ve had it all. The shag. The Marcia Brady. Zoe Deschanel’s bangs. The bob. The bob with bangs. The long bob. The asymmetrical bob. The short shag. The bowl. The Rachel. The Ross (just kidding).
My hair has been brown, auburn, blonde, green, red, copper, and for one unfortunate summer, orange. The only two colors I’m afraid to try are platinum blonde (I’m too lazy for that kind of upkeep), and black (because I’m afraid that with my pasty skin and lack of eyebrows it will make me disappear).
My hair isn’t even that bad right now. I’m growing out a haircut I regretted, and I just went back to brown after being red for a few months, so it looks moderately normal.
To answer all your questions: yes I’m really that pale, no I’m not wearing makeup, yes my favorite sweater looks like an item from Bill Cosby’s closet, yes that is a stained glass unicorn in the window, and yes I like to keep my office looking “eclectically busy.”
See? It doesn’t look that bad. I can put it in a ponytail when it annoys me (which is everyday). My husband is thrilled that I’m growing it out. He’s not a Neanderthal that prefers his women to be long-haired blondes barefoot in the kitchen, he just married a girl who had long brown hair for the ENTIRE TEN YEARS they dated, so change is hard for him. The last time I came home with a haircut, his first words to me were, “I hate it.”
Wait, did I just say I had the same haircut for ten years? Natalie, how does that compute when you just said a few paragraphs prior that you had every haircut known to man?
Well, little field mice, both are true. I had every terrible haircut under the sun in my teen years, then suffered from a combination of having one bad haircut too many and no longer being able to afford to go get it cut in my twenties. Heck, I couldn’t even afford a five dollar box of Nice ‘n Easy. So long, brown, straight hair is what I had when I met Mike, when I married Mike, and up until I hacked it off a few months after we got married.
Truthfully, long brown hair is what looks best on me. But I get bored. I get antsy. I think to myself, “Maybe I can finally pull off this wavy chin-length bob,” even though my hair is not wavy.
Then I always regret it, because I don’t like spending more than two minutes on my hair a day. Even when I do bust out a blow dryer or maybe rescue my curling iron from storage, I lack the patience to see a style through to the end. I get halfway done, get frustrated, pin it up and call it a day.
So I’m putting up some pictures to remind myself why I don’t need to do anything at all to my hair except leave it alone.
This is what I look like with bangs. You’d think I’d have learned my lesson, but sadly no, this is not the last of my attempts at having bangs.
Note the bangs with trapezoidal shoulder length cut, to accentuate my round face. I am thirteen here, not a 40-year-old soccer mom.
The first of many shags, unfortunately. I dyed it green not long after this.
This is what happened when I went to the salon and requested a “Drew Barrymore” look. Not quite what I had in mind. And stop pointing out that I was the tallest fourteen year old in the history of the universe.
This is what the cut looked like pre-styling, so basically, all the time.
I had to include this photo. It’s my favorite.
My sophomore photo was so terrible that there is no photographic evidence of it outside of my yearbook, which is in storage in the attic. Instead, I am including this placeholder photo of what my hair looked like at the time.
Imagine this in a lovely dirt-brown shade complemented by a corpse-like complexion, and you’ll be pretty close.
See, here! Here! My hair is okay. Sure I’m growing out a color job, but it looks fine. Why couldn’t I leave well enough alone? Sigh. Not long after this photo was taken…
Junior prom, circa 2000. My date was such a nice guy he didn’t even point out that a mane of tight barrel curls was on its way out. Also, note the repeat of a trapezoidal shape.
After this beauty disaster, I grew out my hair and it didn’t change much for ten years.
If only I could bottle and sell whatever made my hair look this good that day.
That was it. For ten years. Until I got married, got full-time work, and finally had enough money to be “creative” with my hair. “Creative” is code for doing shit to it that should not be done to hair when you have chubby cheeks and a Roman nose.
Thankfully though, I think this slideshow has served its purpose. The existence of zero photos of me when my hair looked bad last year proves that I should leave well enough alone.
63 Comments
Beduwen
Solidarity sister! I so relate to your hair angst! I had the same hair- straight as spaghetti – til I started perming it at 15. Ugh! Then kids and the whole texture changed….now I long for that straight hair! Still get bored and need to shake things up every now and then…cut it off a few months ago and now want my old hair back. :-/ It’s a never ending cycle.
Beduwen recently posted…Five Days in Paradise
Natalie DeYoung
It really is. My hair is just as straight as it’s always been…
Karen
Your prom date forfeited his right to give head-related fashion advice, because he chose to wear that hat. Just sayin’.
I love the photos!
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Natalie DeYoung
He had to wear the hat, because he was a good six inches shorter than me… 😉
Ilene
“Bored with hair” is such a dangerous place to be. BUT – you have a gorgeous face and can and DID get away with anything. Those photos are proof! And I’ve had every hairstyle under the sun too! Including the tomfoolery known as the perm! (I’m older than you 🙂 and platinum blonde.
Ilene recently posted…You Gotta Be: Ask Away Friday with Tamara Camera Blog
Natalie DeYoung
Meh, you’re kind. 😉
Shailaja V
You do realise I almost choked on my breakfast, while reading this and doubling up with laughter!
Hilarious, Nat!I love the trapezoid motif 😉
Shailaja V recently posted…A real conflict
Natalie DeYoung
We aim to please. 🙂 Thank you!
Lillian from It's a Dome Life
This is hilarious. I can relate!
I thought you looked good with all of your haircuts. You are so gorgeous you can pull anything off.
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Natalie DeYoung
Thank you. I’m going to frame this comment and put it on my wall…
Chris plumb
I think you should do the Carol Brady look again. : ) Oddly, my junior year photo was the only good school photo I took, but I didn’t buy a yearbook that year. I went back a year after I graduated, and asked the yearbook teacher about it, and he said he had a few blemished books from that year that I could have for free. Ironically, the only flaw in the whole book is that one page, the page my photo is on, is blank. Now my daughters will never know that I once had it going on.
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Natalie DeYoung
I’m telling you, the Carol Brady will come back in style one day.
And your junior photo will have to be the stuff of legend, I guess. Don’t let them forget that you were once a mythical looker.
chamanasgar
What does your hair look like now?
Natalie DeYoung
See the first picture. 😉
Michelle Longo
I used to be crazy with my hair. I did do the pixie cut, it was a terrible idea. I also did the self cut. Bad, bad, bad. And now I’ve had the responsible hair for far too long. Go crazy, do something bold!
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Natalie DeYoung
Yeah, I’ve done the self “trim,” which was a disaster. I think the most crazy thing I’ll do right now is perhaps Princess Leia buns? I don’t think I’m emotionally healthy enough to be around scissors.
Ellen
Oh the junior prom photo. My, you are brave!
I always hate my hair in the winter. Brown, boring, straight, thin, and alternately plastered to my head or flying away due to the dry air and static electricity. I am always looking for the perfect haircut to save me and give me wavy hair full of body that I never need to style, just wash and go. I know your itch to do SOMETHING but I think you’re right to resist it.
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Natalie DeYoung
Yes. I always want full, wavy hair, and no amount of haircutting will transform my hair into anything other than straight. When they invent the wash and go look for straight hair, I will sign right up.
Beth Teliho
*grinning* You are so funny, AND ballsy to post the “awkward” photos that are actually pretty adorable. Loving your Cosby sweater, btw.
I agree. I love it long and brown. If you want a change, do long layers around your face do well for you?
Natalie DeYoung
I think the wildest I’m going to get here is an intricate braid. I don’t want to go near the scissors with the kind of mood I’m in… 🙂
A Pleasant House
I was feeling the same way. No new cuts or color though- just a touch-up. With your pretty face you could pull anything off!
A Pleasant House recently posted…SMASH IT!
Natalie DeYoung
You are too kind. I could use a touch up, too, but I’m afraid once I go in I’ll say something stupid like “make me look like Jennifer Lawrence!”
Considerer
DO NOT CUT IT ALL SHORT! Cos I did that. And it was a dizAAAAAAHster. Really, really tera-bad.
Long is nice on you, but if you’re bored, have you done the whizzy, sharp haircut which works GREAT with straight hair of having it short at the back, then sharply down diagonally to longer bangs in the front?
I have no idea about hair. My hair lives bundled up on the back of my head, and has done for most of my life because I’m so clueless about it.
I KNOW!
Get a hat.
Considerer recently posted…Ten Things of Thankful #32
Natalie DeYoung
Why yes, I have had that haircut. I would do it again, but it requires blow-drying, and I know myself too well.
And that’s a good idea. I have a jaunty cloche that I think I’ll pull out.
Stacie
I am old enough to have had both the pixie and the 80s big perm. Plus, I had all variations of short I never intended when it was growing out from the chemo. But now I have boring hair. I like to be able to pull it back when I exercise, so it has to be a certain length. Plus, I can not spend more than 5 minutes styling. Can not. So, not doing anything bold any time soon.
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Natalie DeYoung
Me neither. No styling for me.
And I’ve seen those 80’s perm pics on Facebook, I think… 😉
Darcy Perdu (So Then Stories)
HA! Loved this pictorial — especially the Amazon 14-year-old. I can relate! I’m 5’9″! And yes keep your hair the way it is now — it’s lovely!
Darcy Perdu (So Then Stories) recently posted…Ode to the Teacher’s “Thinking Chair”
Natalie DeYoung
Ah, a kindred spirit! Funny, now I’m just a normal height, but at that age I felt GARGANTUAN.
Joe
Hmmm, as a guy I wouldn’t normally comment on a woman’s hair post, but now that I’m out of the Navy and growing my hair, I’m finally facing the dilemma of how to style it. I want go for the Jesus look. Kellie has vetoed that idea.
Joe recently posted…Science Is A Drag
Natalie DeYoung
But Jesus had such long, luscious locks. I think you could pull it off, with a little hot oil treatment perhaps…
lisa thomson
I love the pictorial of your hair styles. Soooo cute. I’m going through the same dilemma right now. I need some shape but I’m growing it out. I won’t spend more than 5 mins styling so, my options are limited. It’s funny the rash of pixie cuts right now. They look fantastic on some people and actually really transform a woman’s look. But I did that in 1990 and probably would not go there again. Show us a pic when you get your cut or color done!
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Natalie DeYoung
Samesies, on every point. If I do something, I’ll update, but for now I think I’m going to leave well enough alone.
dailyshorts
I am totally hair obsessed and when I get bored I do things that have been disastrous and some things that have luckily worked out. I will not be much help in trying to dissuade you from changing your look, exactly the opposite. I think you would look nice with a short pixie cut with sweeping bangs. But definitely go to someplace like total beauty.com for a virtual makeover first. Those virtual makeovers have gotten me out of a lot of potential pickles.
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Natalie DeYoung
YES! Since the virtual makeover thing came out, I avoided certain cuts that would have been disastrous.
Night Owl
You’re hair looks great compared to what mine looked like over the years. and I’ve learned my lesson like you have to not bother it when you really feel like you want to. I use to do drastic hair measures when I’d go thru bad break ups. I’ve had my hair fire red. also had it hot pink 2012. then I cut it short and now i’m growing it back out. had it long and it was down my back. now its just below my shoulders.
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Night Owl
but…..hair does at least grow back. it just may take a while. which is why I now take some pills that help with hair growth as well as skin and nail growth.
Natalie DeYoung
Ha! I’ve had a haircut for every romantic rejection in my life, lol. But the worst ones I get are when I’m bored.
Marcy
Loved seeing the series of photos! I had a bunch of bad 80s perms. Why, oh why? Since then, I just brush it and leave it alone.
Marcy recently posted…For the Record: The F.U. Sharp
Natalie DeYoung
That’s probably wise. I’m kind of glad I missed the perm era, because I have a feeling it would have looked just as bad on me as it did on everyone else…
Aisha
I like the bangs on you, personally. Why not be bold and do a raspberry koolaide rinse? And btw, the older a woman gets, the pixie can really do wonders – I used to have really long wavy hair, but now I cut it myself really short, and I swear I feel like I look ten years younger everytime I do it!
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Natalie DeYoung
Thanks! The bangs are okay when I’m about thirty pounds lighter and my cheeks aren’t as prominent, lol.
And I just might do a raspberry shade…haven’t tried that yet.
Lauren Kells
Natalie, I love that you used your hair as a means of experimentation and expression! At least, that’s one function of hair that I appreciate. I dyed it black the second my mom allowed (when I was 18). What rebellion. Now, it’s super short most of the time, which many people have an opinion about: http://laurenkells.com/2014/01/03/i-like-your-hair-long/
Yours was the first Moonshine Grid post that I read and it inspired me to choose one about hair, too. Thanks!
Natalie DeYoung
Thanks! I feel that hair can go a long way as a means of expressing yourself. For instance, I felt so cool the entire time I had fiery red streaks; much cooler than I probably was, lol.
znjavid
I think it’s great to experiment with hair styles and new looks. If you’re bored, go for it!
Robin
What a great photographic journey of you and your hair. I learned that boredom only leads to bad things when it comes to my hair. My hair is straight, thin, long, and brown – except for a silver streak that I don’t color because my grandmother had it. On Christmas Eve, we went to my cousin’s house. I pulled back my hair to show off the streak. In photos, I look like I have a huge bald spot. I am leaving the streak, but I don’t think I’m going to pull my hair back to show it off when there is a camera pointed at me.
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Natalie DeYoung
Exactly! Boredom leads to bad things…
Jen Brunett
1. You certainly do not look like you have a giant head.
2. I think you look adorable in all of your pictures.
3. I had many perms. Be thankful you missed the boat on that one. I can still conjure up the horrible smell if i even say the word “perm”.
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Natalie DeYoung
Oh, I do have a giant head. The hair masks its hugeness. 😉
tedstrutz
Oh, I think I have stumbled into a Chicks Only page. But, I’ll comment anyway. I think you looked great no matter what the style, as I took a walk down your memory lane. I saw a kind of Jody Foster vibe. If you are asking, I’ll put in a vote for red, and yes, the last photo is hot.
For your next ‘selfie’ be sure to look at the mirror… and lose the sweater.
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Natalie DeYoung
Jodie Foster? I’ll take that complement. 😉
And I’ll never lose the sweater. It’s quintessential me.
Ericamos
Perm it! Perm it! Perm it!
No, but for reals, my go-to boredom fix when I don’t want to actually cut off my hair is to either get some side-swiped bangs or highlights…or both. And since you have straight hair, you could have some awesome looking side-swiped bangs!
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Natalie DeYoung
Side swept bangs are a look I always try, but can never master because of my cowlicks…
Maybe it’s time for a perm? lol.
Samantha Brinn Merel
I’m so with you. I’m completely and utterly bored with my hair and need a change but I can’t decide what to do. I’ve basically had the same hair my entire life, and am in desperate need of some variety. But what to do?
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Natalie DeYoung
Twin perms? 😉
Ice Scream Mama
love your history in hair!! and yeah, i think your boring hair is your best hair. but that’s coming from a gal who basically has had the same hair for 20 years!! so there.
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Natalie DeYoung
I know, the boring hair looks the best on me.
Deb @ Urban Moo Cow
Just cut it off, lady. It looks beautiful as is, but you will get a rush. I so relate. And I wear my hair up every day when it’s longer than chin-length, so what’s the point? Just wait until you have to color it because it’s gray.
Deb @ Urban Moo Cow recently posted…His Perfect Mommy Is Just a Myth
Natalie DeYoung
Ooo, tempting to just chop…
Deb @ Urban Moo Cow
Also, I so didn’t escape the 1980s perm tomfoolery. sigh…
Deb @ Urban Moo Cow recently posted…His Perfect Mommy Is Just a Myth
Dana
The grass is always greener, isn’t it? I have curly hair and I usually like it, but there are days where I would kill for straight hair. To be able to actually use a brush? I can only imagine. I enjoyed your hair history pictorial, Natalie. And since I’m over a week late on reading this, I’d love to know what you decided to do!
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Natalie DeYoung
Ha! I did nothing, and now I’m glad because the urge passed. You’re right about the grass being greener on the other side when it comes to hair…
J. Raven
It has been some time since you originally posted this – what did you do?
As a guy with curly hair, I’m no stranger to “limited options”. My choices are shaved, buzzed, short & curly, or long & curly. There are no other options so I get where you’re coming from.
I stumbled in here via a link of a link of a link but you have a great way with words. I’ll be back –
J. Raven recently posted…Courage on the Hill
Natalie DeYoung
I tell you, I did nothing, and it was so wise of me. The phase passed, lol. And thanks for coming to visit! 🙂