March 1, 2007

Bad hair day.

This last 24 hours was a monumental bad hair day! I go in to my usual place for a retouch, and somehow, sitting down in the chair and looking into the mirror unleashes my impulse to reconnect with my identity as a redhead. For a woman of a certain age, like me, it's easier to be blonde, but no matter how light my hair gets, I still believe I'm a redhead -- even when I'm looking in the mirror. It has deep personal meaning! Here's my original hair color, photographed long ago.

Ann in the 1960s

(Let that chair tell the story of how long ago it was.) 

So, suddenly, I'm all let's make it red! But for elaborate chemical reasons that aren't worth explaining, the attempt at red came out the horrid color of an old penny. It was shockingly homely, plain, drab, dowdy, frumpy... aarrggghhh! I can't begin to tell you. It was a nightmare.

The hairdresser went into emergency mode. It would have been insanely embarrassing to show up at work like that. The restoration effort had numerous stages and took three more hours.

At work, no one seemed to notice. I guess the recovery effort was a success. In the end, I think it was an improvement over what it was when I sat down in the chair, but in the middle, it was horrifying, my friends. I'm glad you didn't get a chance to see me like that.

46 comments:

Anthony said...

I would prefer one when the fair Ann was a bit older m'self.

Richard Dolan said...

"Bad hair day" -- talk about a gender-specific downer. But yours was not quite as bad as what you featured back in January ("Wigging out"). Can you imagine a hair day so bad that, like the crazed bride, you would want to go at it with scissors?

YAMB said...

Come on, we want to see a picture of today's results.

mean aunt said...

Ann I know what you mean about hair color.

I was crushed when my kids began to draw pictures of me and give me brown hair. I don't have brown hair, I have blond hair. I've always had blond hair.

It just looks brown now.

sigh

joated said...

You know, you could have made a real comment by shaving your head. Just like Brittany. ;-)

Eli Blake said...

(Let that chair tell the story of how long ago it was)

Chair!?!

The hemline tells the tale much better than the chair ever could!

Simon said...

Ann - then and now.

Revenant said...

That photo reminded me to add the "Avengers" DVDs to my Amazon wishlist. Thanks. :)

Agnostic Monk said...

Boy! That picture is fantastic.

Agnostic Monk said...

Im wondering how balding men would feel about bad hair day.

Harkonnendog said...

You were hawt!

Agnostic Monk said...

I should add that you look gorgeous then as now.

Simon said...

Harkonnendog said...
"You were hawt!"

"Were?" Sure, but I can't be the only one who thinks she's hawter now. :p

amba said...

Now you're going to bring your pedophile fans out of the woodwork. Well, ephebophile, anyway.

- amba

Ann Althouse said...

Actually, I don't think it's a drag getting old. I feel better in my 50s than at any other point in my life. What's a drag is dying, and you are just as undead at every point in your life, all of which you should appreciate.

vnjagvet said...

I date the picture as mid sixties. About the time of the miniskirts/very short dresses. As a mid-twenties something single male, then just out of law school then, I loved that time for looking.

Your pic looks like you are about sixteen or so. Just guessing.

One of my daughters just went through that hair drill recently and it took about the same amount of time. You handled it much better than

Kris said...

I can't believe you tried to go red. You have a fantastic cut & color. I think you should give your stylist a plug.

Ann Althouse said...

Kris: Thanks. Sometimes you just want a change, and I was feeling fiery. And, as noted, I consider myself a redhead and sometimes get tired of the disconnect between image and self-image.

Ann Althouse said...

Simon: That's really freaky.... Interesting though.

Richard Dolan: That video was revealed to be a fictional sketch with actresses.

I'm glad people like that picture. I'm actually wearing false eyelashes in it. Mary Quant false eyelashes.

Simon said...

Ann - which was freaky, my 6:23 comment or my 7:06 comment? ;)

It looks a little rushed so I might slow the frame rate a little, and I reckon that if I rotated each image just a fraction, I could make the eyes line up better.

MadisonMan said...

Wow, three hours at the hair salon. Your stylist sounds like a keeper! I bet she's telling tales tonight.

I date the picture as 1964.

Pat Patterson said...

It's the high school version of the Jean Shrimpton look. Or at least as much as the parents would allow.

Simon said...

A second take on the same thing as earlier -- slower frame rate and some rotations to make the two faces align better -- and then I have to do some actual work. LOL.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ruth Anne Adams said...

So Desi didn't declare that you had some 'splainin' to do?

I had a naturally blonde coworker who went dark brunette and all her coloring was off. We called her "Serena." She was red the next day and blonde again the third day. The upside was that the hair shaft was quite thick and strong what with three shades of coloring.

I cannot believe your folks let you wear make-up and false eyelashes at such a young age!

Ruth Anne Adams said...

Did you happen to take that photo to your colorist so s/he could match the original shade?

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
alberto52 said...

Ann,
You look a thousand times lovelier today, and a thousand times sweeter. Now is always the best.

Simon said...

Theo - I hope you didn't put it quite that way to her. ;)

Mortimer Brezny said...

Not to offend, but most female law professors didn't grow up super-hot. I wonder if growing up super-hot has influenced Ann's view of federalism. Wait, what the hell am I saying? I think my mind has been frazzled by the vortex of Simon's hypnotic collage. Anyway, I have to get back to building my time machine. (Subtle enough, Simon?)

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Simon said...

Mort - well what about male law profs? What about the super hot Steve Calabresi - did his rugged Rat Pack good looks influence his views on federalism? ;) Did Dan Markel become a liberal lawprof while moonlighting as Captain America? I mean, these are the questions you have to ask. ;)

Re time machine, very subtle, yes, but I stand by my 7:06 comment. ;)

Ann Althouse said...

Ruth Anne: I'm about 17 in that picture. There was nothing odd about wearing makeup at that age. I didn't often put on the eyelashes. It was hard to do, and they were heavy. In any case, my parents did not object to things like that.

Bruce Hayden said...

Sorry Ann, you are good looking now as a blonde, but that reddish hair was awesome. I think I would have been swept off my feet if I had seen you then.

I don't know about how it was when you went to college, but that is when the girls mostly seemed to quit wearing dresses, or if they wore them, they were the hippie type. I remember taking my girlfriend of a couple years to a party in a skirt maybe two or three years after your photo was taken (she is your age), and everyone being amazed at her fantastic legs - they saw her every day around the fraternity house, but always in overalls several sizes too big. Oh, and that was also the first time I had seen her in makeup, and realized that she had been professionally trained in it.

But a couple of years earlier when I was in HS, the girls were still required to wear dresses or skirts.

Mortimer Brezny said...

Oh, I didn't say Ann wasn't super-hot now. But I agree with Bruce that the idea of Ann as a redhead is tantalizing. It explains so much. I have this thing for redheads. (Is "this thing" subtle enough, Simon?)

Hmm, about 17. Well, I'll have to calibrate the time machine to "Legal Time". Unfortunately, I am too old. I should have known: I'm using the word tantalizing in all seriousness.

PeterP said...

You think you had a bad hair day?

Try this:

Usual barbering is just indoor lawnmowing - run clippers over skull 'til even trim achieved. Primitive, effective, cheap - my kind of guy.

But no, suddenly an urge to have it done 'properly'. Why after twenty years of DIY God knows.

So local 'hairdresser' is allowed to do his expensive stuff with a result I hated.

Back to the bathroom v. grumpy. Grab clippers, storm into action.

Clipper guard pings off while mowing the back. Result a bald gash from neck to crown!!!

No choice but to perform a half-Britney and wear hat for a week.

Now that is a 'bad hair day'!

[Great photo. Chair? I see no chair.]

VietPundit said...

What a lovely picture!

I never would have thought such a sweet, innocent girl would grow up to be a lawyer :)

Ruth Anne Adams said...

Mortimer Brezny: "This thing" is subtle enough for the mafia. But they call it "La cosa nostra."

Did you see how I used a Maxine-esque technique to get The Alt to state she was 17 in the photo?

Sixty Bricks said...

you looked great

Richard Lawrence Cohen said...

I remember your hair as redder than that. The whole photo leans toward the brown side; we need to adjust for that.

a@b.com said...

Anyone else reminded of Lindsay Lohan in Bobby?

reader_iam said...

I dumped the blonde a couple of years back and went for the red. No regrets.

I was considering perming my hair--something I've never done but always wanted to do--next week as a b-day present. After reading your story, however, I'm having second thoughts. The perm will strip the color, and then when we re-do the color a day later, who knows if it'll be the red that I like?

Hadn't considered that.

PeterP said...

Just before we all get too carried away with time-warped desire: I guarantee that the woman in the photo was not wearing a thong...and equally I am convinced that Prof Ann currently has more thongs in her wardrobe than I do. (Research grants available on request.)

Ruth Anne Adams said...

I notice that now the "Great hair!" quote has been "sucked into the Althouse vortex."

Coincidence? I think not.

PeterP said...

blah..blah..blah..Research grants available on request.

This just in - substantial cash bounty offered for capture and return of my short-term memory. Did I really say that? Must have been a good night.

Unknown said...

Hubba Hubba!