Hair
Ross and I had a fight the other night about hair.
Oh, all right, if you want the truth then instead of Ross and I I ought to say just I, it might be more accurate to replace the word fight with the phrase hissy fit, and for hair read my hair and how much he did or didn’t like it during the year he helped me buzz-cut it to within an inch of its life every week.
What happened was that I said, “I’m thinking about cutting my hair short again when we move. Because it’ll be summer, and things will be kind of crazy, and it would be nice not to have to deal with it.”
Ross said “Short? How short?”
“Short,” I helpfully elaborated. “Like when we used to cut it with the clippers.”
“Oh.” And the faintest look of glumness passed across his face.
I pounced.
“Why? Would you not like that?”
“Well… not as much as, you know, the way it is now.”
“Why not?”
“I just… don’t… generally… like hair that’s that short, at least not compared to other styles. I prefer your hair when it’s a little longer.”
“But you helped me cut it.”
“Well, of course if you wanted to have it that short again I would totally support you.”
“But you said all kinds of nice things about it when I had it that way.”
“….”
“Were you just trying to be supportive? Did you not mean it when you said you liked it?”
“…”
And so on, for half an hour or so over a very chilly dinner.
We made up eventually, but not before I exhausted him so much with my accusations that he had to take a nap.
I suspect that this is a deep-seated hang-up from when I was 15 and my boyfriend broke up with me because I cut my hair short (or if not because of it, at least the day after). Have I already told you that story? I probably deserved it, since he was my best friend’s boy before he was mine and even at 15 I should have known better.
Anyway, if she still holds a grudge she can derive some satisfaction from the fact that the whole thing caused an evening’s worth of huffy paranoia on my part, 13 years later.
*******
I think the real proof that I am a (mini) grown up is the fact that an interval of 13 years does not actually seem shockingly epic to me anymore, and I am no longer surprised to think back that long and realize that I was very much already a prototype Meera then. ;-)
March 10th, 2007 at 12:49 am
Asher said in no encertain terms that he “likes girls with long hair”. I think you look good with shorter hair-cut,
but not that short. Keep the long hair and tie it up and when you feel hot and let it down when you want to look genteel and ladylike.
March 10th, 2007 at 12:57 am
Men like long hair on women - that’s what David always tells me. (Maybe for Ross it’s genetic)
love
Barb
March 10th, 2007 at 4:53 am
I do love short hair and I think you’ll simply look great since you have such a beautiful eyes and lines. The day after you cut them people will tell you all sorts of things: You look great! (but you can see their disappointment in their eyes) or… you looked better with long hair… or .. maybe you should have just cut it a little longer or such… after a week they don’t remember how you looked a week ago and are simply content in seeing you free from annoying hair covering your eyes:-) Just cut them. Ross will see you happy:-)
March 10th, 2007 at 8:22 am
Thanks for the interesting array of responses. Germana, I think your description of the stages of reaction is spot on. :-) I really love the way my hair feels when it’s cut that short (literally about an inch long all over my head), but in my heart I understand why Ross doesn’t like it as much as long hair, or even a short pixie-cut. It’s a very strong look; strangers on the street tend to tell me they like it, but perhaps husbands have other priorities. ;-)
It is just as much a commitment as long hair is, since once you’ve cut it it takes months to grow back to a normal state. So we’ll see how I feel about it in the summer.
P.S. I’ve now made it so that you have to fill in your email address when you comment. No one will see it except me, but it helps the spam filter remember you and automatically approve your post.
March 10th, 2007 at 1:23 pm
How short is short? I liked you with short(er) hair, at any rate.
March 10th, 2007 at 3:01 pm
I see a series of photographs as a retrospective of your haircuts and styles. Or maybe just in my head.