It is enjoyable to watch your developing interest in hair styling during your teen years. Until recently I assumed you had no clue what a comb looked like. Shaggy, sticky and unkept hair was the order of the day. My ears perked up when I overheard one of you mention how you wanted a barber to cut your hair. That is a topic I’ve been uncomfortable with ever since receiving my first haircut from Jimmy the barber on Greenfield Avenue. Seventy plus years later I hate being asked by a barber, “How do you want it cut today?” Just like the last cut but a bit shorter is my instinctive thought. (Continue what Jimmy started.)
Like you I eventually started using a comb. Perhaps I did so in self-defense against my mother brushing my hair before I toddled off to school. It felt like her instrument of torture was made of stiff wire. I began combing my hair just like Jimmy the barber. Still do. “Styling” never entered my combing vocabulary. (Papa has never been too high on styling points in a wide variety of areas.)
I wasn’t unaware of shaking things up a bit with hair. I knew a pompadour when I saw one. I’d seen the movies “Rock Around The Clock” and “Rebel Without A Cause.” Our high school had plenty of examples. To which I thought, “conformist”. The sixties brought in the shaggy bowl cut. Beatles. More “conformist” opportunity. My least favorite decade exposed all to “Hippie Long”. I’ve lost interest after going through stages of Faux Mohawks, Man Buns and versions of tails; duck and otherwise.
All in all, the hair style of the moment is harmless. Of course, there are some who view some hair styles as symbols of our national downfall/disgrace. Usually the concern is pointed at a specific person or group. The actual target is usually some form of activity/cause/belief that somehow threatens. Kinda like the P that stands for Pool which rhymes with T that stands for Trouble in “The Music Man”.
So, enjoy your journey into creating some pazzazz with your hair. Papa even admits to trying something different once. I thought a crewcut/brush would beasier. But, my hair was too fine and it flopped. As if 9th grade wasn’t hard enough. Remember that it is your personality and the brain power under your hair that count the most. Have fun with which ever hair style you enjoy.