New reader K. needs advice! She writes,
I am SO excited to have found your website. I am desperately reading back entries to learn. I might even buy lipstick for the first time…(yes, I am 40 and have never done that. Yikes.)
I did a wedding on a tall ship last year and had terrible trouble with wind blowing my hair into my face (sadly, I have a photo). You wrote that I could wear a good hat to a graveside in winter. And that sunglasses on my head won’t do…so what’s a girl to do?
Dear K,
And we’re SO excited that you have found us! And we’re very excited about your Very First Lipstick. Please do send photos if you do purchase one. There’s a whole archived section on lippy, so hopefully you’ll find some good recommendations there.
Oh my heavens, those weddings on ships. PeaceBang did one once and found it most trying. Trying not to slide around on choppy waters (even while anchored) was one challenge. Trying to be heard above all the ambient harbor noise was another. And yes, I believe that the wind presented a third challenge, although more for hanging onto my folio than for hair issues.
Sunglasses on the head are an absolute no-no (as is wearing sunglasses during any rite of passage, no matter how much you have to squint). Now that I have longer hair, I have a few things that help keep it under control for outdoor services:
Option 1: A thick headband.
Option 2: The hair gathered into a low knot and clipped with a nice claw clip in back, and a thin headband to keep the shorter front pieces and bangs from flying in my eyes.
Option 3: When it’s humid enough for my hair to get curly, I let it air dry with clips and volumizer at the roots, finger-comb it when dry, then use two small tortoise claw clips to gently hold the sides back, one claw on each side and leaving most of the hair down. Then I slip a very tiny bobby pin into my bangs to keep them off my face. The whole thing looks loose and I hope pretty. I’ll try to find a photo when I can locate my camera’s adaptar cord!
Hope this helps!
Kiss of peace, PB
My hair is shoulder+ length for the first time in over a decade, and my car doesn’t have air conditioning. This summer you could watch a clergywoman attempting to drive in a tornado hair storm in mid-Ohio.
I solved the problem by buying a really beautiful long silk scarf. I now feel like a 50s movie star when I drive in the summer.
I simply put the middle of the scarf at the top of my forehead, and pull it around to the back (smooth over my hair). I then knot it at the base of my skull and let the ends drape down.
The same could work well on a ship, I believe. [Well, it would if you were a guest, but not if you’re officiating, or else people might say things like, “Who’s Jayne Mansfield over there? What a character!” I have to say that any scarf in the hair seems inappropriately ‘dramatic’ attire for an officiant. Hate to be a bummer, but unless you’re part of an ethnic group for whom head-wraps are normative, I wouldn’t recommend it. I wear scarves all the time to the office and such. Not for important meetings though, as I think they’re too gypsy-mama on me. – PB]