You know why I’m laughing in this picture? Because I remembered, again, what SisterBang said to me when I last saw her. We were hanging out being slugs with our dogs in that special sibling way that sisters have– you know, showing each other stuff on YouTube and laughing, sharing shorthand insider jokes, cracking on each other, talking for our dogs.
And my sister, who is super beautiful and has girly mermaid hair and always has, looks at me with that appraising look that all sisters know SO well and she says, “Your hair is getting really long.” And I go, “I know! It’s so weird! I have all this hair now. It’s still so weird to me.” And she gazes at me with that piercing Weinstein artistic gaze that we have perfected over thousands of years of strong critical genes and she goes, with utter seriousness, “Well, what’s your plan? Do you have a hair plan?”
No, I do not have a hair plan, and I intend to tease my sister about this until the end of our days, because it was a hilarious comment.
The thing is, though, she’s absolutely right. If you don’t think about what you’re doing with your hair, it will just grow like a weed and every day you feel like you have to think about it (ie, every day you’re going to be doing anything professional or any day you want to look your best) it will spring itself on you like an unpleasant surprise: I AM YOUR HAIR. WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO WITH ME TODAY?
If you want to have hair that expresses something about you, or is somewhat current in its style, or is flattering rather than residing on top of your head like a napping muskrat (which is, I believe, Donald Trump’s official hairstyle: Napping Muskrat), you have to think strategically about it.
Do you want a new style? You’ll probably need to grow it out a bit so the barber or stylist can achieve what you want. You’d be surprised how much hair you need to work with to make style changes.
Do you want to do something cool with the color? Do your research (Pinterest is great for collecting examples of what you hope to achieve), and plan a few trips to the salon over a few months’ time to evolve it. Don’t expect the colorist to be able to bring you from brassy yellow to shining chestnut in one visit.
So you want to be able to do a hipster waxed mustache look? That will take some effort. Ask around and see how to best groom your ‘stache to work toward the look you want.
Growing a beard for the first time? How will you shape it? There are dozens of options. Which one will be flattering to your bone structure? Don’t be embarrassed that you’ll need grooming tips and new tools. You will need both.
Are you going to cut off all your dreads or take out a weave and have a drastically different look? Don’t do that without serious consideration. That’s a major change and can create emotional fall-out that you might not anticipate. Hair is deeply emotional and it can be exhilarating or devastating to cut it all off.
Are you transitioning from a short hair style to having actually long or long-ish hair? Don’t buy all the curling irons and products all at once. They’ll just sit around gathering dust.
Hair is such a communicator of personal style. It can work for you or very much against you. Hair is a conveyer of personality! What’s your hair plan for 2016?