I’m not promising a part two actually, seeing as this experiment has caused me to question my status as a Fauxmos.
My new housemate Vic seems to blow dry her hair every day, regardless of whether she works or goes out. Seeing as I’m, well, me, this seemed rather alien. I don’t blow dry my hair ever. Well not since last year. I do have a hairdryer, straighteners, curling tongs (which I do use when my hair is long to be fair) and various other Nicky Clarke contraptions, but they sit in a box under my desk and are generally ignored.
Seeing as the weather is actually rather nice at the moment in Blighty, I pondered on Twitter why women blow dried their hair when a) the weather is so warm and b) they’re not even going anywhere.
I was inundated with responses (well I had about five) and things actually got quite heated, if you’ll pardon the pun.
@KezLewis advised that without blow drying and straightening her hair looked worse than Monica in Friends does in Barbados (and I’m prreeeetty sure that’s a wig). She has four kids and so doesn’t do it every time, but still feels she’s not acceptable to go out in public without sorting it. This is partly as she can’t see. So that made sense.
@kirstieh has an unruly front of hair/fringe and always does that, although this only takes 3 minutes about every three days. She agreed daily blow drying plus dye (Vic) was a “recipe for straw”.
@QueenLucyL does her hair even if she’s not leaving the house, as it doesn’t look right without it. Apparently it needs volume. Having looked at her avatar it does look lovely. Also she assured me I hadn’t failed as a woman, which was nice. “I wish I could go out without blow drying…” she tweeted, wistfully. I get that a lot, but when I think about the women saying it, their hair looks lovely and mine… well it probably doesn’t. Back when it was really long and red last year I often went out without brushing it, giving it a literally “just got out of bed” look which in retrospect may have been ample reason for Kev to dump me.
Our own @anwen said she didn’t know where her hairdryer was. HURRAY for Anwen!
Hurray also for @RealAKBizzle86 who says she doesn’t wash hers if not going anywhere. But in fairness her hair is very short.
Anyway, having taken all of this in, I decided to blow dry and straighten my hair today, just to see, and post pictures on the Twitter. They are also shown here.
It felt a bit odd and at first I couldn’t remember how to work the hairdryer, but I used some serum I seemed to have in The Box Of Nicky Clarke and some clips and afterwards I was horrified to realise it looked far better than it had since… well, October 1st 2009 when I won a work competition to have my hair cut. (I normally cut my own hair. Of course.)
It looked better, yes, and I think when I finally get a new job I shall attempt to dry my hair before I get to the office/supermarket/building site/wherever. But doing it on a Sunday when I’m going to lounge about with cider and Come Dine With Me repeats? Nah, don’t think so. I’m still a Fauxmos at heart, and in the second picture I just don’t quite look like me.
Tags: blow drying, fauxmos, gender, girlies
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Billy
anwenwenwenwen
jennylemac
Quiet Riot Girl
Burst Pistil
Hurray for me! I seriously think I may have accidentally thrown it out… I am generally doing well if I brush my hair of a morning and don’t go to sleep with it wet. If I want my hair to look Nice then I will pincurl it, if I can be bothered, this takes a lot less time than faffing around with blowdrying (for me, anyway) and doesn’t involve blasting HORRIBLE HOT AIR at my poor head. It also looks more interesting, I think. When I get my hair Done I usually have it dried as it does look nice, but it always does look a bit Strange and Not Me.
I’m extremely lucky in that my hair is very curly so it looks better the less I do to it and blow drying it gives me a microphone head. I know the current fashion is for straight hair and many women would not be seen dead with hair as curly as mine but they are simply wrong. I had my hair straightened once, pretty much by accident because I didn’t understand what the hairdresser was suggesting. I went to a party that evening and all my friends told me I looked like a newsreader or that I was heading for an interview. It was interesting to see the difference in my behaviour and in people’s reactions to me but by the end of the evening I hated it. I went for a long windy walk by the sea the following day and by the time I got back, normal hippy hair service was resumed. Phew.
I love wavy and curly hair (my mum’s hair is curly and I honestly grew up thinking MUM = CURLY HAIR) so this straight thing weirds me out. Once my hair is a bit longer I shall be curling it lots.
I actually can’t even have straight hair, to paraphrase our own Elly
I am a boy who has to blow dry his hair often because I get ear infections when I don’t
. but before that I didn’t use to do it and I don’t really notice the difference even now.