Back in the Day: Hair

Ponytails, ponytails, ponytails.

I see them everywhere.  And for the last few years they seem to be partnered with those strange ‘Super-Size Me’ rubber bands that help keep stray hairs in place. Don't they give girls headaches?
 
It's not like I don’t get it.  They’re an easy solution when you’re playing sports. But take that look off the court? All I can say is it wouldn’t fly back in my day. No sir-ee. Which leads me to this week's post:

BACK IN THE DAY
Hair: Birds of a Feather Blow Dry Together

Join me, young friend, as we go back to my youth. Ponytails were left in the locker room.  A glamorous bunch, were we. Our hair was our glory. Our hair was our pride. Our hair was, well, VERY BIG.

It wasn’t always that way. For years I had the classic 'long hair parted down the middle' look. Many of my friends also indulged in the short wedged cut inspired by beloved U.S. Olympic figure skater, Dorothy Hamill.

But then SHE happened and everything changed.

The date: September 22, 1976
The time: 10 p.m. (9 p.m central)
The show: Charlie’s Angels

Oh, to be one of Charlie’s Angels. It was every girl’s desire. They were three beautiful women who “graduated from the Los Angeles Police Academy only to be assigned such duties as handling switchboards and directing traffic.” Say what? That wouldn’t do! They were feminists! Gorgeous feminists with killer bods! So they ditched the precinct and got real work as undercover detectives for Charlie, a mysterious man who spoke to them through a speaker. Oooooh.

There was Kelly, played by Jaclyn Smith, who was crazy good-looking in her own right. Then there was Sabrina, played by Kate Jackson, who, despite the coolest name, was the least pretty and therefore the least favorite choice when doling out character assignments during imaginative play in the school yard.  Finally, there was Jill, played by (drum roll, please)…

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FARRAH FAWCETT. Just call her ‘Farrah.’ Everyone will know who you’re talking about.

Farrah was drop-dead, leave your wife/girlfriend in a dumpster gorgeous. And her hair? Well, it started a phenomenon, a phenomenon that lasted all the way through my teen years.

See those beautiful layers? They’re called ‘feathers.’ Taken as a whole they’re called ‘wings.’ Once she introduced those concepts to the world, big hair really took flight. Then the over-indulgent Eighties came around and everything exploded.  Literally.

We were all victims. No one was immune. Case in point: Julia Roberts - Academy-award winning actress and America’s sweetheart. Just look at her now…

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and look at her back then:

What about Whitney Houston? She’s a Grammy-award winning singer who was formerly America’s sweetheart until she married Bobby Brown and totally wigged out. Anyway, she’s trying to make a comeback, so I’ll give her the press. Here she is now…

and here she is back then:

Catching on to the theme?

Oh! I’d be remiss if I didn’t include at least one photo of a ‘hair band.’  There were a lot of them in the Eighties...

These guys are from Poison (and, yes, I said, “guys.”) If you really need a giggle, just type '80's hair band photos' into Google Images. You will not be disappointed.

You know, now that I’m done looking back at the past I have to admit that pony tails aren’t so bad after all.  Just don’t wear one when you go to prom, okay?

Thanks.

photo credits:

Dorothy Hamill link
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Farrah Fawcett link
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Julia Roberts 'now' link
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Whitney Houston 'now' link
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Poison link
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Special thanks to Cool Aggregator's blog post on 1980's hair photos. You'll find Julia, Whitney and a few others too. Check out the post here!