25 things

I got tagged by Kimli to do this internet meme some weeks ago, and while normally I avoid memes she bought me a really nice watch for Christmas and I keep getting compliments on it so I’d feel really guilty if I denied Kimli this, a silly list of information about me.

The meme itself seemed far too open and vague, so I decided to narrow it down to just trivia about my hair. Still there? It sounds shallow, but I think about my hair a lot. Not as much as I do music, or friends, or my career, or even my cat, but still, probably more than it’s due. Some of you will remember that I usually post a blog entry when I get a new haircut, so this isn’t a completely surprise I’m sure. And now you get to read my thoughts about my hair, all organized into a list.

I can feel the excitement from here.

1. I’m pretty sure my hair is the same colour now as it was when I was a kid (light brown). If it’s darker, it’s not by much. Mind you, I just mean naturally; I pay for highlights.
2. I like that highlights cover up any grey hairs I’m getting. There’s this one grey hair I see at my part that I’ll be happy to kill in a couple weeks.
3. My hair was wavy when I was a child, curly as hell when I was a teenager, and is back to wavy in my adulthood. It might’ve been better the other way around.
4. Because of a few weird encounters in my teen years I worry that having short hair makes me look masculine. That’s one reason I’ve kept it long for the last couple years.
5. Because of a few weird encounters in my adulthood I worry that having short hair will keep me from getting laid. Which doesn’t make sense, since I got way more action 4 years ago (with a pixie-cut) than nowadays, but the idea lingers. Tanya said the same thing last night (about long hair == more male attention).
6. That said, I think I look best with a chin-length bob haircut, but I’m somewhat unwilling to chop off half my hair to do it.
7. A former workmate (also named Tanya) thinks that if I got my hair cut super-short again, I’ll go back to looking 19, because she thought I was 19 when she first met me 4 years ago. At 31 I think that’s a bit far-fetched.
8. I find my long hair very annoying during sex. It gets in the way, it gets messy and sweaty, sometimes the guy leans on it, and it tangles up way too much.
9. I find it a weird coincidence that my hair matches the orange in my cat’s fur. Like it was fate or something; it’s not like my stylist has ever seen my cat.
10. I complain about my cat’s shedding but I think I’m worse.
11. I end up eating my hair by accident now and again. It gets in the way. I know I eat my cat’s hairs once in a while too, but they’re shorter and easier to swallow.
12. My hair is entirely unmanageable if I don’t use conditioner. And combined shampoo/conditioner doesn’t count as conditioner.
13. It bothers me that my stylist won’t give me bangs even though I know they’d look dumb on me.
14. I wish I were the sort of chick who could get away with really bright hair (like that chick Kari on MythBusters) but I don’t have the balls nor the complexion for it.
15. I rarely use my hair dryer. Only before a special event when I shower right before it.
16. I rarely use hairspray or gel or mousse or anything, even though I have all of these products.
17. I don’t brush my hair, but use wide-toothed combs. This is from when I was a teenager and brushing created afro-frizz.
18. My mom has female-pattern baldness, and every time a bunch of my hair falls out I worry that it’s genetics saying hello.
19. However, I have tons of hair. Or hairs. Many, many follicles. So far, so good.
20. In Grade 10 Science class we had to use microscopes to look at our hair. As one of two white people in class and having curly hair, I was asked by my mainly-Chinese classmates for my hairs. Within minutes, there were gasps and shrieks, as my hair was about 3 times as thick as everyone else’s. That was probably the most attention I got in all of high school.
21. It took at least a year to find the right balance with highlights: brighter, but not lighter than my natural hair. The bonus is that my roots aren’t that noticeable and 4 months after getting the colour (such as now) some people still think this is my natural colour (if I don’t tell them).
22. I feel like blonde looks weird on me but darker hair makes me look sickly.
23. I normally wear my hair down, and pretty much always have. Maybe a barrette to get hair off my face, but that’s it.
24. I have really no concept about how to “do” my hair, put it up, or braid it, or anything like that. I know how to braid, and I have all the necessary accessories, but my perfectionist nature realizes that I can’t do things 100% symmetrically so I give up very quickly. I also feel silly in an up-do or fancy hair. Like I’m playing dress-up.
25. I have a badly-organized Flickr set of haircut photos from the past 4+ years. I consult it when making hair decisions.

That’s it. No tagging of anyone else, because everyone else has done this meme already.