Regally Blonde A hairy situation

Author: Astri Von Arbin Ahlander

I have booked myself a hair dressing appointment in a couple of days. I hadn't planned on anything special. Just a trim. Clean it up a little. Maybe add some layers. But then this afternoon, I saw myself in the mirror and thought: should I go crazy? Maybe it's time to cut it all off. Be daring. Why not? "Britney, that's why not," is the obvious answer. But I'm not talking about the shave-off a la the pop Titanic (though both Demi Moore and Natalie Portman were able to pull it off). I'm thinking more in line with the bob. Because increasingly, the bob seems to be bobbing up everywhere.

Perhaps it's a nostalgic return to the 90s and "Pulp Fiction," which in turn traces its female lead's dark roots back to the 60s and Godard's muse, Anna Karina. Both of these unforgettable short dos were complimented by the straight-across bangs for a framed porcelain doll look that bridges on the unreal. Other varieties of the bob include shaggier edges, with or without the accompaniment of forehead hugging strands. Then there's the hipster mullet that we all shuddered at but pretended to love a couple of years ago. It may not have counted as a bob in the conventional sense, but the front was often so short in comparison to the back that I think it's fair to say it was a bob-hybrid.

When getting a new haircut, it is important to take the upcoming season into consideration. How will the bob do as the warmer air approaches? The length gets two thumbs up, but the bangs≠ - providing a heat-capturing film over half your face - may not be the best decision when you're rubbing sweaty elbows on an overheated New York subway. Then, there's the inability to put it up in a ponytail. Or to wear it in salt-water soaked braids on the beach. Or to show up to morning class with it tastefully mussed-up. OrÖ

I'm becoming predictable again. Finding all kinds of justifications for staying with my long hair, because there is something fundamentally frightening about getting your hair cut. I share nothing with those kids who let their friends bring out the scissors in the dorm bathroom, or, even worse, the ones who snip happily away at their own tresses. I am what you might call a hair conservative, terrified of change lest it leads to what I imagine as irreversible damage. How bad can it be? Hair grows back. I've heard that before. I've repeated it to myself as a mantra before a hair cut. But still, once you get me in that revolving chair, I choke up and order the safest thing on the menu.

In what is my hair terror rooted? Perhaps it stems from my Lutheran upbringing - a combination of Samson and the worship of Scandinavian simplicity. Another answer can be found in laziness - the long hair doesn't need much upkeep while the short do needs styling. But more importantly, I think it's a problem of trust. I don't like the feeling of a stranger, often with a horrifying hair style in multiple colors, slicing away at an extension of my body, telling me they know "exactly what I want."

No matter how tempting the cinematic references and doll-like cuteness of this season's bobbed It-do, my nerves are far from handling a serious shearing. Besides, while the bob may be hot right now, the fall runway shows all point to a come-back for the limp and lanky. So, when I freeze with fear at the salon next week, I'll say I'm not wimping out - I'm just planning ahead.