Well, wouldn’t you know it. Just when I stop compiling responses to bite size prompts, I get the most humbling and honest, soul-bearing collection of responses from strong and courageous survivors (along with a trapped testicle from Geoff, which is – well – uncatagorizable! But I think he too, survived..)
If you haven’t followed the responses for “Crazy“, please pop by and follow the links in the comments section from my amazing participants. Thank you every one of you.
For some light relief and because it is fast approaching half term, I’m trying a photo post to respond to my prompt for this fortnight (that’s ‘two weeks’ for you you across the water). I’m not sure if you will find you can post a photo directly in my comments section – But I know I can. So if you don’t have your own blog to link back to, please request some help in the comments and I’ll contact you privately to collect any offerings and sort out the pasting of them here for you!
Before straighteners, and lovely de-frizzing styling products, I used to desperately try new ways of styling my hair to do something – anything – with wayward waves that weren’t quite curls. I’ve made the mistake of corkscrew perms, crimpers, mashed avocado (to smooth..) and sleeping with knickers on my head (to keep my fringe straight.. dur!)
Occasionally I would fancy I looked a bit like Farah Fawcett Major as I tried the 80’s big bouncy styles..
..but tragically, NOT!
I’d love to see your pictures or hear some bites on the prompt Bad Hair Day !
If you want to join in, please go to the Bite Size Page to see how!
Deadline Monday 3rd November.
Lisa Reiter - Sharing the Story 
November 19, 2014 at 9:09 pm
Loved this post – thanks for reading mine! Bad hair day can mean so many things – for me, it’s just about everyday – thin, fair hair with no volume and it never holds a curl. I spent 30 minutes in a chair while a poor woman tried to make me look good for my daughter’s wedding. She did it, but it took a lot of hair spray. I envy anyone with thick hair and curls.
The chemo hair reminds me of an old adage which I twisted: I used to worry about my hair until I met a woman who had none.
Thanks for reminding me to quit bitchin’.
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November 20, 2014 at 3:27 pm
This was a fun one whilst also being quite sobering, wasn’t it!? Perhaps one of my favourites so far. Just like hair, so many textures and layers. How we got from Farah Fawcett to quit bitchin’ is just great 😀 Thanks Noelle
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November 3, 2014 at 6:21 pm
Like a wisp of hair, I’m flying in with my post Lisa. This certainly brings back a lot of memories. The Story of Hair. Ha. http://sherrimatthewsblog.com/2014/11/03/bad-hair-day-bite-size-memoir/ I’m so late today sorry about that. Been a bit ‘hair raising’ lately. You know I had to say it…anyway, hope you enjoy it. This was great fun, thanks Lisa for this prompt 🙂
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November 4, 2014 at 9:42 am
Well, you must have had a sixth sense as I got tied up in the layers of yesterday’s post and didn’t finish with time to finish the next prompt! Some part of you needs the deadline though, doesn’t it and I am so grateful that you still make it even when things are clearly rather busy your end!
Love your post, thank you 🙂
Lisa xx
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November 4, 2014 at 11:51 am
Phew…so it worked out well then, thank goodness for that and thanks as always for being so understanding. I really do try to get in earlier, but you are right, you sussed me out a while ago…must be a subconscious thing going on 😉 I fully intend to keep going with your bites, no doubt about that. I’ll be going over to your next post after this to read on, but suddenly I feel that I need to share something with you. I was so touched by your conversation with Irene about chemo hair and what you both shared. My memoir is a story that runs primarilly between 1979-1981 as the story of my life with my American G.I. boyfriend,his drug use, our misadventures and our young hopes and dreams which ended with his catastrophic diagnosis with leukemia. I haven’t been specific about his illness on my memoir blurb, but may change this. I’m about half way through and embarking on the down-swing, the real deal. The first photo I shared on my hair post was taken in the little room where he and I and stayed as newlyweds after he entered partial remission – never full – and before we bought our first house and moved out. It was a converted shed in his mother’s back yard/garden. I make light of the hair and loved the fun of the bite but I am also reminded that not long after the photo was taken (by my boyfriend), he would lose all his hair and when we got married, he wore a wig. Bald heads for men back then were definitely not a fashion statement like now and certainly not acceptable for young men. For six months his hair grew back and I loved the crew cut look it gave him (his hair was naturally very curly and thick!). It came back quite straight and just as black as before. I remember as I watched his hair grow back how it gave me hope, hope that he would recover, make it. But he didn’t. It was a long time ago…but this is what I’m writing about. All that happened and how profoundly it changed my life for ever more. I hope you don’t mind me sharing this here Lisa, it hit me this morning because I think you are amazing in your honesty, in all you share here. And I do read. I just want you to know that. Sometimes I just don’t know what to say in the comments as I’ll go on and on…just like here, ha…but you know me, I can’t stop myself sometimes 😉 I don’t share this stuff much…which is why I need to write my memoir. You inspire me to keep going with it, you really do. Thanks so much for letting me share this here. Lots of love and huge hugs ❤ xxx
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November 4, 2014 at 9:15 pm
Oh my goodness Sherri. I wish I could hug you. Thank you for sharing all this. There’s so much in here and the poignant way you write, I hope you can include it in your memoir. It shaped you. It’s part of the story – it’s the ‘because..’ isn’t it? Amazing how we got from Farah Fawcett hair to all this? And I had deliberately left out the various chemo related hairstyles I’ve been through imagining I could keep this prompt light! The line “I remember as I watched his hair grow back how it gave me hope” had me in tears. How valiant is the body in trying to sustain us?
So keep at writing. I am beginning to recognise a pattern with mine (though I seem the least conscious of all of us..!) A session of tricky, draining stuff needs an antidote of some sort – a planned lunch with a friend / day off / writing something positive and uplifting. Working out what that antidote is before hand helps incentivise getting through a first draft in a set time – otherwise I find I drift and procrastinate, putting off the terrible, indefinitely. Holding hands – we’ll get there. Hugs back 💜 xxx
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November 4, 2014 at 11:29 pm
Holding hands, Lisa, holding hands… ❤ xxx
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November 2, 2014 at 2:15 am
Everyday is a bad hair day for me. Still is as you will see. I’m glad Farrer didn’t haunt my desires. Loved your pictures.
http://irenewaters19.com/2014/11/02/bite-size-memoir-bad-hair-day/
Off to check out everyone else’s hair.
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November 2, 2014 at 2:24 pm
I LOVE your bad hair! Hair like that must have influenced who you are. I have a friend with similar wild curls (though considerably tamer since ‘products’ too!) Her Mum always made her keep it short and growing it seemed to be a liberating part of becoming an adult.
When mine grew back after chemo it came back very curly and I thought I might need to just get it grown to deal with it. But not long after this picture was taken the hair follicles began to recover and it started looking like a perm growing out and I had to start short all over again. I have a sickening feeling whenever I’ve tried shorter styles since – the association is too strong to go back there, so I totally understand how your mad crazy mop affects how confident you are. Keep it wild! It’s wonderful 😀
This isn’t a tan by the way – it’s three carrot juices a day, every day after about 6 months
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November 3, 2014 at 1:50 pm
Three carrot juices a day so you are actually orange. You can’t tell but gosh you look beautiful. Short hair does suit you but it is your beautiful smile and that loving little boy that really makes this picture a special one and you still have the smile but I bet the little boy has grown a little.
Like your friend in the last two years, forced to find a new hairdresser as we moved, I have been introduced to product. My hair is now more curl than frizz and liberating is a good term for how I felt when I first grew my hair long.
I have a friend who before chemo was quite grey. Her hair when it came back came back thicker and blacker than it had been. Only now, over ten year later, has she got her first grey hair in her new mop of hair. Funny how hair holds such strong associations for us. Lots of love Lisa
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November 3, 2014 at 6:56 pm
What a lovely comment Irene. Thank you.
Hair does indeed have strong associations for many of us it seems. I have a male friend who has alopecia – I would be paraphrasing and guessing a bit but it has taken him a while to get used to seeing a different face in the mirror. He misses his strong pair of bushy eyebrows the most, though I would have to dig out photographs to remember him as anything other than the lovely face I see now.
I was delusional about how good those curls looked on me and you’re very kind to suggest they’re beautiful! It is a gorgeous picture though isn’t it. That boy Max is now 6ft tall and can just about pick me up like that!
Finally, I am amazed and delighted your friend’s hair came back with colour! That is incredible as I thought we went grey as the hair follicles aged and lost some of their magic powers. I have heard and met a few women who have gone grey because of chemo but none that have had that process reversed. Mine come back a lot darker than it had ever been – except perhaps as a newborn – My Mum says I had black hair then. It lost all its red and honey brown tones and I’ve resorted to having it coloured to prevent a harsher look now. I occasionally get a few greys but I notice they’ve disappeared lately! That’s a bit bizarre in itself but I’m not complaining 😀
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November 3, 2014 at 9:53 pm
It is a pity we have to have mirrors. I’m sure that we would all be a lot happier if we didn’t have to look at a vision we didn’t recognise and just used the vision we had of ourselves (hopefully the one other people see). Others looking at you see past the physical attributes.
You weren’t delusional at all but they probably just don’t feel you having been used to straighter hair.
Reading your chemo post I spent a lot of time thinking about my friend and what the effects of chemo may have had on her brain.It is interesting your hair came back darker also.
I get my hair coloured but never often enough for people not to be a bit surprised when one day I am white/blonde and the next day a mid brown. I’d probably let it just be white (better than grey) but my husband feels it ages me before I am old so I should wait a bit before I forgo the colour altogether. You have just reminded me of a story I may do as a post. Hair continued. You’re lucky they’ve disappeared and so glad you are here to get them. 🙂
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November 4, 2014 at 9:47 am
Thank you Irene! I try hard to remember I’d also rather see the wrinkles on my face than not! A dear friend who’s death kickstarted writing the memoir again, used to say about getting older “It sure beats the alternative.”
It sure does, but meanwhile you can be blond! ❤️
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November 4, 2014 at 8:57 pm
Whilst out walking the dog yesterday I asked Roger whether I should perhaps forgo colouring my hair. He was horrified. He thought I was suggesting it for monetary reasons. When told I am just so slack getting there and I don’t mind being blond he told me to go and get it done. He has to look at me, I see a mirror once a day. I’m booked in for Friday. 🙂
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November 4, 2014 at 9:20 pm
Laughing! 😄
Permission to ‘let yourself go’ – not granted !
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October 30, 2014 at 1:15 am
Well here is a first for me. I don’t feel called to write for this one even though I’ve had plenty of bad hair days. I did write a guest post that I talked about the life of my hair. Lots of pictures on the post if you want to check it out.
http://agirlnamedmichael-mj.blogspot.com/2012/05/guest-post-defining-moments-getting.html
I too wanted my hair to look like Farah’s but it sadly never did. Love your photo!
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October 30, 2014 at 5:44 pm
This is great Morgan! Love the transition of you through the years 🙂
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October 30, 2014 at 5:55 pm
Thanks Lisa. =)
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October 27, 2014 at 5:50 pm
Seems people are having a lot of fun with this. I’m so regretting not going with the full punk style but I have got a few photos to share of a couple of years before that. The trouble with these old photos is the image isn’t terribly sharp, especially when having to cut it down from a group photo. Yours looks lovely, full of fun.
Plus I’ve managed a spooky bad hair flash fiction:
http://annegoodwin.weebly.com/annecdotal/spoofed-or-spooked-by-a-bad-hair-day
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October 30, 2014 at 5:42 pm
Fabulous post Anne! Cleverly crafted to deal with Halloween and your incredible hair! I’m intrigued to understand whether you did actually do punk or not? Please dig deeper if there are photos of that!
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October 31, 2014 at 6:37 pm
Sadly I was just starting to get serious as it came in, so nothing to share. I did have a fairly good pre-punk look, though, even though I say it myself. Jumble sales were full of treasure in those days.
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October 27, 2014 at 10:10 am
I am SOOOO doing this!!!!
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October 27, 2014 at 11:38 am
Yay! Cannot wait to
laughsee ! 😀LikeLike
October 26, 2014 at 5:47 am
What’s wrong with your hair? Doesn’t look bad to me! 🙂
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October 26, 2014 at 10:50 pm
Too kind! I was about 19 or 20 and not Charli’s 13 ..!
Lxx
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October 25, 2014 at 8:40 pm
Similar tragedy afflicted me, too, Lisa! Take a good look at Ms. Fawcet and go see my 1980s hair attempt: http://carrotranch.com/2014/10/25/bite-size-memoir-bad-hair-day/.
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October 26, 2014 at 10:49 pm
Oh Charli – what a laugh, although I also remember how deadly serious this would have been at the time! I envy the long luscious locks even if the styling leaves my toes curling..( more than your hair!) I think I was still battling to be alowed to grow mine beyond a purdy cut and being mistaken for a boy 🙂
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October 27, 2014 at 5:45 am
Reminds me of my daughter when she shaved her head in college (a bet among professors and students as to who would grow hair the fastest by the next school year)…she thought it would be fun until she did it and looked just like her brother for three months!
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October 27, 2014 at 9:53 am
Gosh that’s brave though at least she wasn’t alone I guess! X
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October 25, 2014 at 5:37 pm
right ho; hairum scarum this one. Lots of memories and eventual disappointment…
http://geofflepard.com/2014/10/25/hair-today-and-gone-tomorrow/
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October 26, 2014 at 11:11 pm
I shouldn’t ruin it with any spoilers but a solar panel..
What a lovely joyful post of progression through the years. No disappointment here at all. It must have taken all weekend to dig out all these photos.
Thanks Geoff! 😀 Funny as ever!
Lisa xx
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October 26, 2014 at 11:18 pm
They trigger such great memories it really isn’t a hardship.
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October 27, 2014 at 9:50 am
It’s a nice little project in itself, isn’t it – a photo record of progressing years 😀
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October 23, 2014 at 12:10 am
Hmmm…. I think I may need some time….
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October 22, 2014 at 9:32 pm
Oh boy, you’ve done it now Lisa…what fun, fun, fun this is gonna be, haha 🙂 But it’s also very spooky…you won’t believe it but just this week I wrote a chapter of my memoir describing walking into my boyfriend’s room in his home in Los Angeles during my first ever visit with him, only to be greeted with this full-size poster of Farrah Fawcett staring back at me from the wall. The quintessential moment of the summer of 1979…and oh, how I wished I could have looked like her. Why couldn’t we have had straighteners back then? My hair was so darn frizzy, so unfair…but what a fab prompt, love it. Some light relief is just what we need. See you soon and have a great half-term 🙂
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October 24, 2014 at 5:10 pm
Woah! That is a bit spooky! I wonder how those women got rid of the frizz back then? I’ve heard tales of laying long locks on the ironing board! I was always experimenting so often having bad perms cut off and ending up with shorter hair than I wanted 😄
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October 25, 2014 at 8:42 pm
Ha, Ha, oh Sherri! We didn’t have straighteners because that was the hair-era before us! That poster tortured many a girl I’m sure!
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November 3, 2014 at 6:24 pm
Charli, torture is the right word and her hair sent me on a downward spiral of hair ruination!!
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November 3, 2014 at 6:23 pm
Don’t mention perms Lisa, you’ll read about it in my bite. I still can’t believe I did it…
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October 21, 2014 at 10:27 pm
lol Yah, I tried the Farrah Fawcett hair-do too, even bought her name brand shampoo, still didn’t work!
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October 24, 2014 at 5:07 pm
We didn’t have that shampoo! I would have given it a go!!
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October 21, 2014 at 10:03 pm
Hahaha! Best picture ever! 😀 Great prompt.
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October 24, 2014 at 5:12 pm
Thanks Sarah. I’m so glad I kept some of the ‘bad’ pics. I’m surprised I didn’t throw this out at the time! 😄
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October 21, 2014 at 6:58 am
I would have loved you though !!
Simon
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October 24, 2014 at 5:07 pm
Yes, we haven’t posted any of your hair from the 80s / 90s have we?!
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October 21, 2014 at 1:41 am
Lisa, This story was published Sunday evening on my blog, SnapShots: Devotions from Life. I adapted it to post here. In Christ, Berta Dickerson
“I said ‘Go!’ damn it!” Daddy said with a hard shove to Mommy’s back. She stumbled forward a few steps and stood still. Daddy repeated his words with more expletives.
Mommy cried quietly without fighting back and seemed to have no control over her body. She could barely stand, let alone walk. Daddy continued prodding until she was standing next to our car.
My three sisters and I sat on a worn blanket in our front yard that early spring morning crying as we watched them fight.
“Why do you have a suitcase, Daddy?” I asked. “Where’re you going?”
“I’m taking your mother to the airport. Say goodbye.”
“No!” we cried. They drove away.
When Daddy came home he said, “Girls, your mother has moved to California.”
We were four lost little waifs who needed their faces washed and their hair brushed in a little town called Meredosia in Illinois.
In Christ,
Berta
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October 24, 2014 at 5:06 pm
Oh gosh, Berta. This certainly was a bad hair day and it sounds like you might have had many more afterwards.
What a moving piece that leaves so many questions. Was your father doing right or wrong kicking your mother out? And why didn’t or couldn’t she fight for you? Did you see her again?
Thank you for sharing with us, Lisa x
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