Wednesday, October 12

Memory Lane

Okay, for my trip down memory lane, I thought I would blog about HAIR.

Because there are few things more representative of the teen years that the battles you fight with you hair. And few things chronicle a woman's life better than her hair.

I happened to grow up in the era of BIG 80s hair. Snooki has NOTHING on me. NOTHING. You think I'm kidding? Check out the photographic evidence.


BIG. BIG. GIANT. HAIR. And the BATTLES to get it that way. Hot rollers. Curling irons. Perms.

Then . . . I turned 20 and my first white hair appeared. Premature gray runs in my family on my mom's side--but they're all blonde. In my (natural) hair color of dark brown/black (photo above was a dye job) . . . it showed up. So I had NEW battles to fight. Dying it every four weeks. For YEARS. As long as I was dying it, I tried red, black, striped, highlighted. It was only hair, right?


I also stopped trying for the big hair thing (thank God, right?). Only this weird thing happened and it got more unruly the older I got.

Eventually . . . I reached some sense of peace. With myself. And my hair. Then this summer I spent a long stretch in the hospital. And if ever there was a time to let the "real" me come out, it was then. I wasn't able to get to the salon anyway. So I decided to see what was under all that dye. And it turns out, it's ALL white. So this is the new me.

And this me is ME. My real color (who knew after all this time???).

Ahh, but my hair? Thanks for the memories.

So how about you? Is you hair some sort of timeline of your life?

35 comments:

Jon VanZile said...

That's awesome! I had no idea ... but your hair looks great as its natural self. When I first saw it, I thought you'd dyed it that color.

My worst hair was by far in high school. I don't want to say mullet, but ... let's just say it was close enough to be uncomfortable.

Erica Orloff said...

I wondered how men would document their "unfortunate" hair choices.

And yup. All white. Kind of fun to only pay for a haircut now. By growing it out, I save about $600 a year!!!

Laurel said...

Gorgeous! I love that color...you are so lucky to have it :).

I had big hair in the eighties. I was the only person who wanted sleek hair, but alas, it was BIG. I simply have way too much hair. To this day, if I want it to be somewhat sedate it takes at least 30 minutes with a blow dryer and then a flat iron and frankly, I'm not interested in working that hard.

I thought I'd be solid gray by now but oddly, no. (In eighth grade algebra we used to pass the time by plucking my grays. I still have them, and a few more, but they seem to have settled for maintaining their current numbers.)

Mark Terry said...

The current color looks great. That's rather hard to pull off.

Uh, yeah, my current hair style. Well...

Erica Orloff said...

Laurel:
I was as surprised as anyone when it all came in. Have to say--the in-between growing-in phase was awful. But my mom talked me out of giving up and dying it and now I'm SO glad she did.

Erica Orloff said...

Mark:
I like your hair. Or lack thereof. :-)

Gigi said...

You're gorgeous in every photo above and the MOST gorgeous right now! I love your white hair. In that photo you look stunning and happy and sooo lovely.
The trip down memory lane was awesome! You made me remember lots of big, bad hair. I spent years getting perms; I wanted hair like Donna Summer. These days, I just go with the fine, thin, straight look. It's all ok, but like a bad smoking habit every now and then I dream of a perm. just one more..

Erica Orloff said...

Gigi:
I had one perm that made my hair like Juliana Marguiles on ER. I loved it. But a month or two later, the fried damage made me have "perm remorse."

:-)

P.S. When Shawna saw my hair last week, she thought I paid to have it frosted. Nope. Mother Nature did it. LOL!

Jude Hardin said...

Love the current hair!

Anonymous said...

Erica!!! I LOVE your white hair. I am getting white hairs and I cannot wait until the whole thing goes. Seriously. Ask my husband. :)

Count me in the club of "just too much hair."

You look beautiful in all of your pictures. You're just a very radiant woman. Not much you can do about it. ;)

janet said...

Erica: You look fabulous! Proud you took the leap (I know many who are contemplating). Glad you listened to Mama ~

Erica Orloff said...

Thanks, Jude. :-)

Erica Orloff said...

ja:
I fought the white for twenty years! But I like it now. Mostly I am relieved it is WHITE and not gunmetal gray or something. Then I might feel less kindly toward it. ;-)

And I have too much hair too.

And thanks! :-)

Erica Orloff said...

Thanks, Janet. Mom is always right. Almost always. :-)

Barbara said...

You are so beautiful - the outside definitely is a reflection of the inside. xo BB

Erica Orloff said...

BB:
Back at ya, gorgeous.

xoxoxox Love you

sunnynikki said...

Yeah, other than a few die jobs and varying lengths I've always had more or less the same haircut in different stages. Only twice have I stayed and both times resulted in lots of tears so not I just keep it layered and long.

Anonymous said...

And I still stand by that comment! And I wasn't the only one sitting there that thought that!
Having seen this in person I can attest - it [and you] are Gorgeous!
I wasn't the only one sitting there that thought it was a Really Really expensive hair 'do' ;)
[and we were calculating how much it would cost us to ask where you went. ;) Hey, I know the people. ;) ]
It looks even better in person than it does here, if that's possible - simply Gorgeous.
Glad you've embraced your gorgeousness. ;)
~Shawna

Erica Orloff said...

sunny:
I always figured "it's hair"--so I've been many a color under the rainbow. :-)

Erica Orloff said...

Aww, thanks, Shawna.

Nope. Not expensive. Just Mother Nature. :-)

Wendy Toliver said...

I love your hair!

Anonymous said...

You are gorgeous!

Erica Orloff said...

Aw, thanks Wendy and FF. I'm an old lady now. ;-)

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Melissa Walker said...

I love a hair timeline! You look fabulous, Erica!

Erica Orloff said...

Thanks, Essay Writer. I could also chart my life in lipstick shades. :-)

Erica Orloff said...

Thanks, Melissa!

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Unknown said...

The white hair suits you very much. It really looks like platinum blonde to me. :)

Erica Orloff said...

Thanks, Ronni. :-) Nature's platinum.

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Cool post! Thanks for it.

college research papers said...

You look better now, seriously i am not joking, i dont know so much about long hairs or dying hairs etc etc, but your this look was amazing, and i hope you also feel good now.

book report writing said...

Yes i am agreed with college term you dont have to worry for your long hairs and its so difficult to manage your long hairs,they always tease us so its better you gave them a shape,and this style suits you.Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us.

Garfield Voetberg said...

Hi, this is first time i visit your site and i see that you look so young in your new hair style you look so changed i like your new design and hope next time when i came here so i found some thing interesting to read.

college term papers said...

Many things in our life which is so close to our heart as you showing that you like your hairs so much but day by day your hairs get weaker but after cutting you look so young and your hairs also starting growing very well.Thanks for sharing your sad story here:-)