XX Factor: the blog

Did You Just Diss My 'Do?

Hanna, I also flipped through How Not to Act Old in a state of mild confusion—I love to text and Twitter (young!), but I prefer high-waisted pants and concerts that end at a decent hour (ancient!). I suspect these minuses and pluses all even out and leave me at ... my actual age. Oh, well, at least that's easy to remember.

However, I must take issue with one thing you said: The "dowdy" "mom" coiffure is the same as the "butch dyke" 'do (hereafter the BDD)? Rilly? I've sported the BDD for some years now, and I think you've misread its message. You seem to think that the BBD is saying, "I've stopped spending ages futzing with my hair each morning because I'm old and I've given up taking the trouble to make myself presentable." You're so wrong. In fact, it says, "Check out my awesome hair, which was achieved without applying chemicals or spending precious minutes blowing hot air at my head. (And just think how even more fabulous it would look if I made the slightest effort.)" It is, as the French might say, insouciant.

BTW, I can't believe you admitted to vacationing in France, which, Pamela Redmond Satran points out, is strictly for the wrinklies. If you want to be phat and youthful, you've got to go to Berlin, Croatia, Syria, or Libya. See you in Dubrovnik!

Tags: hair, How Not to Act Old, pamela redmond satran

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June Thomas Slate's foreign editor, lover of television and seersucker suits

Comments

Why the contest between long hair and short hair?

By: Flaneuse | Fri, 08/14/2009 - 13:38

While I fully respect a woman's freely made decision to keep her hair short, I really wish the reasons given in support of short hair didn't make so many erroneous assumptions about long hair and the women who have it.

My hair is just past my waist. I wash and condition every 3 days or so, air dry, and keep it up. During the air-drying process, I am free to do other things. On an average morning, I comb my hair and put it up with a strong clip or a stick. The entire process takes about FIVE minutes. I keep it up in protective 'dos most of the time so that it looks awesome the day or two a week I want to wear it down.

I have long hair because I like it, it's versatile, and because it saves me the expense of styling products and salon visits. I trim it myself, because I can't trust stylists not to do a hack job on it. In my experience, long hair is so much easier than a bob.

I do NOT have long hair in order to hide behind it, in order to donate it (please, stop asking me that as if I don't deserve to enjoy MY OWN HAIR), or because I am hopeless.

I, like Ms. Thomas, also like to be able to say "Check out my awesome hair, which was achieved without applying chemicals or spending precious minutes blowing hot air at my head. (And just think how even more fabulous it would look if I made the slightest effort.)"

Those of us with extremely long hair have a lot more in common with those of us sporting the BDD than we might think.

Not a Dyke Do

By: cpowers | Fri, 08/14/2009 - 11:29

June, I would absolutely not call your hairstyle a "dyke 'do." It's a classic pixie, a hairstyle that can only really be pulled of by those of us with square or heart-shaped faces and great bone structure. The pixie draws attention to your face; there's no place to hide. I think it suits you well. I'm also currently rocking an updated pixie. The pic on my post on "Your Comeback" is about 6 months old. My hair is much shorter now. And yes, the super-short do isn't any harder to take care of than long hair . . . if you keep your long hair in a pony tail every day. Rock the pixie!

Duh!

By: Murasaki | Fri, 08/14/2009 - 11:01

Seriously, this is no contest to anyone who's made any kind of real in-the-flesh comparison. A BDD looks nothing at all like a "give up" mom's haircut. The BDD is all about the roguish minimalism, the "give up" is about desexualizing yourself.

The right woman with the right face for a BDD (I have to settle for a bob because I just plain can't pull it off) is dead hot. Calculated effortlessness is *completely* different from a lack of effort. Um, if that makes sense...

ha ha June I'm with you

By: lightening | Fri, 08/14/2009 - 10:01

Hi June, I'm 29, very pretty, and I have faithfully worn a BDD for several years. What my hair says is "I am beyond hiding behind long hair because I don't feel like my face is pretty enough. I don't want to spend my time and money on torturing my head so that I match the current standard of beauty."