Sass In The Small Town: The Short Of It..

This past weekend, while out on the town and tearing up the dance floor (as you do) I was signalled to the bar area. Curious, I ventured over to the seemingly unassuming guy and was casually asked if I was into women. I’m straight, but either way the question in itself and the way in which it was asked was offensive. Standing there in my custom SomersetJane backless cocktail dress and metallic heels, I asked what exactly gave him that impression. My hair was the answer. Over the years since I left school days behind I’ve been known to sport short hair in an array of styles and cuts. Faux-hawks, mullets, retro bobs, shaved sides, I’ve done it all. I looked at this poor man with pity. How awful to be him and live in a world of grey. Of lack lustre fashion and old-fashioned gender driven style.

I do admit that while my hair gets me noticed, it’s not always for the reasons I’d hope. I’m often told I look like Pink or Roxette, once even a ‘white’ Amber Rose. I can admire these women but I in no way intend or desire to look like or replicate them. I’ve also been told that while I can walk into a room and have the whole place staring, no one is necessarily getting up to meet me or have a chat, that my look might be too intimidating. It’s sad too that as a single girl wanting to meet someone and settle down, conversations with new people and potential partners go something like this, ‘Hi you remind me of Pink! Are you a hair dresser? Who does your hair? It’s so cool, can I touch it?’ By this time I have my creep alert up, a few more comments pass and they promptly move on. Often for the best, but sometimes I’d like someone to talk to me about me, not just the way I look. And I’ll tell you right now and unashamed, I’m all about the vanity, but there does come a point when even I bore myself..

It’s unfortunate, the small minded-ness of some. That long hair is for girls and short hair for boys. That if someone appears different, they become a novelty rather than an interesting person worthy of getting to be known. Michelle Williams was featured in the Feb Elle mag and when asked in her interview how she was enjoying her new short crop said this, ’I really like myself with short hair. Of course the only people who like it are gay men and my girlfriends. Straight men across the board are not into this hair!’ So those with fashion and style know-how get it, but it’s dis-heartening in a sense that so few can see the beauty in short hair. Should it not be an outward sign of the women inside? That the courage it takes to chop of your locks must come from something deeper. It’s not easy to walk around without the one thing that so easily defines femininity. Women who wear short hair truly for themselves, as a statement, and as a personal style, for me, show a more tangible sense of knowing exactly who they are. It leaves little to hide behind, it bears more than just the nape of the neck. This confirms strength. It would have to, on making one’s self so vulnerable.

Now don’t be going and chopping off your hair ladies! For some it’s definitely not an option. I wrote this as a reassurance to myself for what my short ‘do’ means to me. And as a statement against ‘small town syndrome’ and the narrow-minded opinions it sometimes produces. Should you feel the need to ‘get shorty' though, you shouldn’t go wrong finding inspiration in these fabulous celebs playing up the short hair trends for 2012.