As my kids lined up to watch Ariel for the 20th time, I was peeking at the Little Mermaid’s adventures with one eye and the other anxiously perusing the fashion newsfeed. Here’s what I found:
As you may have read in my latest episode of Living a Fashionable Life with Autoimmune Disorders, I recently shortened my hair. The next day,my daughter asked me to cut half her hair length. Which I did, eventually, with tears in my eyes. And as she’s watching Ariel, right now, she stormed out the door looking for a scarf and came back with a pony tail and her scarf tied to the pony tail, mimicking a very, very long pony tail… I’m looking baffled at her and back at my screen where a trend is announced ‘the bob haircut is dead’ with pictures of celebrities wearing looong extensions as a justification.
Now before I get any further, I don’t know how many of you did this when you were little, but as I always had short hair growing up (I was very thin and my Mother decided my body couldn’t feed a long mane, so she kept my hair boy-short) and I used to wear scarves attached to a headband, pretending I had long, long hair! Had I ever wanted braided hair, I would just wear a pair of tights on my head, pretending the legs were tails. Anywhooooo as different as they say the new generation is, let me tell you, my daughter’s hair game is just the same as mine was, 30 years ago. Go figure!
DIY: Hair accessories inspired by Valentino Couture!
So, unlike my Mother, I keep my daughter’s hair long. With the occasional trimming, she wears braids to school and I enjoy my time crafting headbands and all sorts of hair accessories to keep her hair in decorated order. Actually, I suspect I may enjoy braiding her hair a little too much as she was really eager to try this new haircut which makes braiding a bit difficult for me (a bob just above the shoulders).
I know this makes for a confessional, however, there’s a serious reason why I started to write this piece and I’m getting there!
Once the summer sets in, you’ll read and hear a lot of fashion people telling you that short hair is off the style radar and if you have anything less than mid-length hair, you’re falling behind the trends! Don’t be fooled by the headlines!
See also: How media is using our insecurities to keep us hooked on all sorts of professional services!
Truth being told – although you won’t find any headlines related to that – hair stylists income begins to slowly decrease toward the summer months. Only to mount back up once fall kicks in. So if you’re having a new haircut and reading news headlines telling you that any old or present haircut is antiquated just because summer has started, don’t be fooled! At least if you don’t want to be set back $1,000 for a high quality set of micro extensions (save extra $20 for regular maintenance costs on your precious extensions).
What those headlines don’t mention (or just superficially touching the topic) is that celebrities need to do everything it takes to keep their appearance in excellent shape. That includes body, hair, makeup, clothes, anything and everything because it’s their job to look good and make people relate to them, wanting to replicate their everything.
See also: 10 style quotes to dress and live by!
Trends are built using the fame capital so the perfect marketing recipe involves the celebrity du jour and the right suggestion that would soon become a must-follow. Celebrity image is built carefully, by teams of professionals taste makers. They don’t study each and every individual but representative segments. Flocks. And they shepherd us into greener pastures – they say – because we all think the grass is greener on the other side.
It’s not. Your hair is your own, Kate Hudson doesn’t have your hair. Or your body. Neither does Vanessa Hudgens. They don’t have to cook, clean, prep the kiddos, file reports and scrub the dishes and the floors in those extensions or those clothes. They do not live your life, why should you live theirs? How is that image in any way substantial or representative for each and every one of us?
My personal goal is to find myself and my comfort zone. What’s your personal goal?
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