The very cut I'm terrified they're going to ask me to get.

ugh.

the constant teasing...

-- Anonymous, May 20, 1999

Have you noticed that none of the women, replying about how they had beautiful long hair that men loved, mentioned that men virtually stop looking at you when you cut it off? I got my hair cut short 2 years ago, and I really love it. It's so much more flattering and cute, and all my women friends compliment me. However, men don't look at me anymore. It's not only me this has happened to. A friend with beautiful curly auburn hair got hers cut shorter and immediately notice the change. Her face/body didn't change, but when her hair did, she became uninteresting. It has really bothered me at times (we all have an ego) but I attract short-hair liking guys now, and that's fine. If you love your hair, I'd keep it. If you have to cut it for the part, do it...it really does grow back (I never heard the thing about hair not growing past a certain length as you got older-sounds like crap to me!).

-- Anonymous, May 20, 1999

I *loved* having my head shaved! The very process - the buzzing, feeling the vibration of the clippers as they go up your scalp - was a heady experience [no pun intended].

-- Anonymous, May 20, 1999

pamie -- on the "does it grow back" thing... well, not always. I used to have waist-length hair and did all the stuff you described. People stopped me to compliment it, you know? Then I tried highlighting it and turned it neon (no exaggeration) yellow and they tried to fix it and 8 hours later, realized it just wasn't fixable... and it was breaking off in handfuls. I had to cut it and it was less than an inch long mostly. Not only did I cry buckets, and yeah, it's just hair, but it didn't grow out the same. I can't seem to get it much past my shoulders. It isn't as thick or something, and it seems to get split ends a lot more (which is why it doesn't get longer... it starts breaking off at that point).

Still, like columbine said, your decision. But I'd try to talk 'em into something freaky street that wasn't about shaving, but was still in-your-face rebellious.

good luck with the role.

-- Anonymous, May 20, 1999

at the end of february, i had been growing my thick, naturally curly hair for almost three years. since approximately the same time my sophomore year in high school. it hit the tops of my jeans. it turned heads and stole scenes and was always the center of attention at parties. but it was in the way a lot, and i braided it every single day and had since junior year. i hardly ever let it down.

so i cut it. five inches. sounds like a lot, but when you have that much hair, it's not a big deal.

and it was okay, but it was kind of an uncomfortable incovenient length now. i think i want more gone, i decided. i'm tired of it. i'm a person, not a head of hair. i was tired of being pretty because i had All This Hair.

so last week, in a fit of anger at a friend and recurring depression, in an attempt to recreate myself out of the shadow of someone else, i took another six inches off. my braids barely brush my shoulders now. i can still braid it, it still does into a ponytail. i love it. people don't, though - i have acquaintances on campus stop me and say, aggie, your HAIR, and then wail rather pathetically and meoldramatically. i'm not sorry to have short(er) hair. more convenient. easy and quick, and i'm not just a head of hair anymore.

if i had guts, i would go chin length, like my sophomore year. i don't. so i'll have to be content with my head weighing just this much less.

-- Anonymous, May 20, 1999

Right after college I went from sporting the Prince Valliant/Dutch Boy hairdo to 1/4 inch stubble. I was sick of it and just decided to try something much different. The first thought I had after shaving it was "why did I wait so long to do this?"

Girls with shaved heads? (insert english accent here) h-o-t HOT, baybee. And you can always wear a wig if you don't like it....don't you remember what that did for Michael and Gloria?

-- Anonymous, May 20, 1999

Yeah, I shaved it right to the bone in 1989. Off went the eyebrows, too. It felt cool, actually, even though I had to go to work in shades and a baseball cap to avoid looking like an alien. I was acting in a play: Sarcophagus by Vladimir Gubaryev. It was about Chernobyl, although I was playing a long-term cancer patient called Bessmertny ("Immortal") who was permanently in chemo. With no eyebrows and pale pancake make-up all over, the effect was outstanding. I'd do it again tomorrow if my girlfriend would let me. She allows me a grade #4 cut these days, sometimes a grade #1 if I trick her into putting the wrong plastic things on the shears.

-- Anonymous, May 20, 1999

I can relate, Pamie. In college we were doing a cross-gender cast version of "The Importance of Being Earnest". It was going to be adjudicated and have a chance of going to the American College Theatre Festival. Well, part of the audition form notified you that all women would be expected to get short haircuts.

I've had long hair since I was a toddler. My sister, who was * supposed* to be a boy, had short hair cuts, while I sported the long- n-lovely look. You'd think I'd be sick of it by age 22, but, no. I opted for the role of "cotume goddess" instead. (If you ever get the chance to lace men into corsets night after night I highly recommend it.) I just couldn't face chopping my hair.

Now, I've cut it since then, but only to my shoulders.

My hairdressers always had excuses for me: "Oh, she's in college, and all the boys *like* long hair in college." No, *I* like long hair. But it's true: men fall for long hair more often than not.

Suckers.

-- Anonymous, May 20, 1999

Pamie, the girl who said men stop noticing is right on the money. When I was 22 or so and going through my partying/drinking/lookatalltheguysthatwannadancewithme phase, I had hair about down to the middle of my back. Then I decided to go short short, and no matter how completely cute it looked or how feminine it made me look, all of a sudden I wasn't getting asked to dance much anymore. Which is probably just as well, since I was married at the time, but that's another story. Of course, you should never do your hair just to get the attention of the opposite sex, but it's hard not to. Attention, whether you're available or interested or not, is always great for the self esteem.

"Some men like that sort of thing." "Yes, but I don't like the men that do." -"Tootsie"

Kate

-- Anonymous, May 20, 1999

How are we supposed to give a truly informed opinion when most of us don't know what Pamie looks like? Or am I missing a picture link somewhere?

Pictures, my friend. Pictures.

Marigold

-- Anonymous, May 20, 1999

I've never shaved my head because I'm sure I have an ugly scalp, and I *know* I have an ugly face. You have to be pretty cute to pull off a shaved head, or you have to not care.

I did cut my hair really short a month ago, and while I liked it at first, I just hate it now. I've been depressed for weeks -- not because it looks particularly awful, but because I feel boring and unattractive and androgynous and unfeminine and ICKY. I haven't been this depressed over hair in years. I've done all kinds of things to it in the past -- dyed it awful colors, done awful things to remove the awful dyes, permed it, gotten it cut into horrible formations ... I think of myself as adventurous about my hair, but not anymore. This is awful and I want my damn chin length bob back.

I do not like layered or razor cut hair. That's just all there is to it. I look like Gwyneth Paltrow in Shakespeare in Love, when she was wearing that awful boy wig.

-- Anonymous, May 20, 1999

I too have long hair, and am afraid to cut it. It used to be down to the middle of my back like yours, Pam, but then I just got totaly sick of all the spilt ends and uneven clumps and stuff, and I gathered the nerve to go and actualy have it cut to just below my shoulders. Gah! I didn't know whether to laugh or cry afterwards. It was much easier to fix that way, but just not as much fun...it made rather messy french braids, for instance, and I don't go to work on Thursday and Friday morning if my hair is not in a french braid. It just doesn't happen.

I have threatened to cut it off to my ears and dye it red (I hate being blonde). But my fiancee loves my hair, and I like the nice way he fiddles with it, so I leave it. I WILL cut it all off someday...really.

-- Anonymous, May 20, 1999

I had long hair for um..... about 15 years, since about primary school. About 3 weeks ago, after approx. 3 years of 'should I, shouldn't I ?' I cut it up to my ears.... and I love it. I'm a haircut surviver. Just like you I was told not to cut it, that 'it was too beautiful', that I 'had a nice wave running through it' and that I would look like a boy (that came from my boyfriend). Oh yeah - I also did that thing where you kinda fold your hair back and pretend it's short so you can see what it would look like. Let me just say now that doing that comes no way close to reality. It turned out to look a hell of a lot better as it now has a 'style' and my hair no longer looks messy 5 minutes after I've brushed it.... and my friends and boyfriend love it too (he took back everything he predicted). I think the style of your haircut has more influence than your face. Shaving is pretty radical - maybe they could have tousled/rough short hair instead? Just an idea. I also believe that you shouldn't cut your hair until you are completely sure you want a change. I'm not sure yet about guys noticing me less now, that could be true but all my male friends like it better and I was sick of that whole classic long blonde hair syndrome anyway.

And on the side -- getting compliments about your new appearance from everyone you know is better than any birthday.

-- Anonymous, May 20, 1999

I just saw the kim thing. Maybe Will's scab never healed after all ?

...... very disturbing.

-- Anonymous, May 20, 1999

Okay...I have a feeling I'm headed toward off topic---but what Kim thing???

-- Anonymous, May 20, 1999

I was clean cut boy in high school. So when I got out I let it grow and grow. Beautiful blond hair to the middle of my back. I had to flip off more than one guy who would drive up behind and then beside me to get a look, and then flip me off because they thought I was a girl. Dopes. My wife purported to love it, but apparently started to get tired of it. Everybody was telling me to cut it. Everybody. As a guy I was getting tired of messing with it all the time to make it look decent. So to piss everybody off I shaved it to skin. Boy that worked too. I wish I had some girl offer me $500 to shave it. That would have been cool. As it was I let my dad do it--he had fun.

Yeah--pictures..where are they?

-- Anonymous, May 20, 1999

i've had it really short, linda evangelista short, and i've had it long-ish, and both are wonderful. getting my hair cropped really short is so liberating; i think, "this is ME! what a relief!"

BUT, the absolute worst stage for hair is when it's from the top of your ears till it hits your jaw. those three inches are just excruciating: you can't tuck it behind your ears, you can't slick it back with gel, you just look like prince valiant or a big ol' bowl head. (sorry, Beth; maybe yours will grow out fast... butterfly barrettes?)

if you can make it through that stage without grabbing the scissors, then growing short hair out is possible. everyone should do it once or twice.

-- Anonymous, May 20, 1999

1. Pamie, your hair. It would be helpful if we could see a photo, so we could start advising you on possible styles. You know, get a couple of old Vogues out and start scanning some new looks in.

2. This Kim Rollins thing. Bizarre. I didn't ever read her diary until I already knew they'd broken up, and then I read all her archives during a particularly slow week at work. She was very good at what she did.

Later, I followed Beth's link to Wil the broken-hearted's site and read his story, and felt pretty sorry for him. So just now I had a little squiz at the fan club site, and followed through the enemies bit, and found the page where somebody with too much time on his hands did a time line, and then found the link to Wil's first few days of Ouch, and read them.

My take on it is this - she was medicated up to the eyeballs, hugely selfish, and happy for him to provide for her every need, but ultimately didn't find stability a turn on, so gave him the old heave-ho. He was needing medication, was so amazed that he'd landed an attractive, intelligent girl (who understood what it was like to be perennially depressed) that he funded her and gave her a job, and chose to sacrafice all semblance of dignity by airing his pain with the web world once he got dumped.

The summary - she doesn't deserve to get worshipped any more than I do for occasionally writing my Mum a funny letter, and for surviving Keith Morrison dumping me when I was 21. He doesn't deserve too much pity because he was a bit of a wet blanket by the sounds of it, and has lost any right for respect by not having the pride to restrict his heartbreak to at least his closest friends. I mean, I didn't need to know he was throwing up on a regular basis. And I couldn't care less that she had a big bruise on her face by intentionally injuring herself.

People break up every day, they just don't share the minutiae with the rest of the world (the ending of Estrogen being a case in point - Jackie retained her dignity, and only told us what she wanted to, and I like that in a girl!)

So, to finish my ranting, I can care a lot more about the welfare and current status of people like the dignified Jackie than I can about the heart-breaking Kim and the hard-done-by Wil, so no, I don't think Kim should be worshipped. She shouldn't be hated either. She should be just given us much thought as any other random person who used to write well but stopped because she got too busy.

But your hair, Pamie - there's a topic I'm interested in! Don't cut it!!! Seriously, learn from the mistakes of a girl currently grimacing at her reflection in the monitor. If you get the part (and of course I trust you will!) then be a long-haired punk girl and put some spray-on wash-out colour in it instead. And stick some fake mental studs across your forehead.

-- Anonymous, May 21, 1999

I had long hair about 5 years ago and then I started cutting it-it crept up my back until it was brushing the middle of my ears and then I got sick of it and decided to grow it out, which took about 2 years. Now it's long and I love it because i can play with it and do different things. (not that short hair isn't versitile... I just suck with hair, so it's easier for me to play with the long stuff) My face is so round that I feel that I look like a basketball with a mop on the top when I have short hair, but I get conflicting reports-people who knew me with short hair first and now the long hair like the long better. People who knew me with long hair, then short hair then long hair like the short better. It's a hair conundrum! But, Pamie, I think you ought to go in stages... cut your hair some, wait a little bit, cut more, wait a little and then go for it. At least you can sort of feel your way out there. It would be a huge shock to just cut it all off. And another hair question-how do you get it curly? I have curly hair envy and everything I do usually just flattens out after the day is half over.

-- Anonymous, May 21, 1999

I have never shaved my head. I am however, very adventurous with it. I had always had long, naturally wavy, naturally blond hair that reached the middle of my back. In eigth grade, I cut it up to my chin, but everyone liked the long better, so two years later, I found myself back with long, wavy, blond hair to the middle of my back. this was my sophomore year. Then I broke up with my boyfriend and I went and got long layers and bangs. This soon became boring and off I went on a hair styles adventure that still hasn't stopped to this day. I chopped it to my chin, then dyed it red, grew it out some, dyed it back to blond, got a Meg Ryan from French Kiss haircut, grew it out some, got a chin length bob, chopped it into a longish pixie, went to Ireland for a year and dyed it black. Let me interrupt myself here for a sec. I am a natural blond that has the kind of complexion that works with any hair color. This is not to say, however, that the folks were pleased when I got off the plane with black hair and hadn't told them... He he he. I kept it black for almost a year and then I wanted something different again. I was then informed that when one dyes their hair black, one has to GROW it out. It can't be dyed back to the original color. So I then had to grow it out. Let me tell you, I looked bizarre with blond roots. Everyone made the predictable comments that almost every woman in the country has blond hair and dark roots and here I am with black hair and blond roots. To get as much of the black out as quickly as possible, I ended up with a cut that was no longer than an inch on the top of my head. That's the closest I have gotten to a shaved head. Right now I am back to blond and attempting to grow my hair down to my chin. Hmmm. However, I am feeling the need to do something wild again and I think the color purple is calling to me... Oh, yeah, I do have blue streaks right now, but they are non- permanent...

-- Anonymous, May 21, 1999

OK, a few of the things people said I looked like with the black tips and blond roots: a german shepard puppy, a ferret, and a chemo patient, because from far away, the blond looked like skin and it looked like i was missing chunks of my hair. Ah, i was a bizarre sight. However, I must say that I do still get PLENTY of attention from guys, even with short hair and EVEN WHEN I HAD THE BIZARRE BLACK/BLOND, 1" HAIR, THEY STILL PAID ATTENTION TO ME. So I have never found short hair to be a problem with guys. Go for what ever hair cut you want, because it really will grow out. And if it's really annoying, you can always get creative with hats!!!

-- Anonymous, May 21, 1999

I shaved my head when I was sixteen and I have to admit I looked good and it really felt good to run my hands over it, my only regret about shaving my head was that I did it in the middle of winter in Maine (I never said I was bright). I would love to shave it now but my face is rounder now and my head is lumpier (I fall down alot) so I don't think it would work again, plus my ultra corporate ultra conservative office would not approve.

-- Anonymous, May 21, 1999

no i have never shaved my head. i haven't because i'm afraid of what i'd look like with no hair. i mean, i look horrendous enough as it is with short short hair... so i am shying away from the possibility. and sometimes girls with shaved hair look good. some people have that perfect shaped head that makes it look good. i just don't think i'm one of them.

-- Anonymous, May 21, 1999

Ky, I did that thing with the blonde roots/black hair for a while ... but then I got sick of it and had the black dye stripped out. It messed up my hair and was a complete nightmare, but only for a few weeks. I then went platinum blonde for a while until I got sick of that and started dying it red.

I keep trying to get back to my natural color, but I get impatient and go back to red. I'm now ALMOST dye-free, which is the only advantage to having really short hair.

-- Anonymous, May 22, 1999

No, I've never shaved my head. Too damn chicken. Plus I have a weird round Charlie Brown-shaped head, and I think I would look ridiculous. Maybe if I weighed 110 pounds and didn't have a bit of a double chin it MIGHT look OK. MAYBE. But I still ain't gonna shave it -- no way, no day. Too vain, too chicken -- and what would I hide behind without it?

My good friend Karen, a.k.a. Bitchetha, shaved her head once. She went on vacation (to Seattle, like that matters) got drunk with a friend, the friend dared her to shave her head, next thing you know the Bitch is calling me from the airport telling me to look for a bald girl when I pick her up! Before that she had had shoulder- length hair, and she looked pretty cute with it shaved. She still keeps it way short. Don't know if she's ever tempted to shave it again, though. I'll ask her to write her own post about it.

It's weird what a personal thing your hair is, and what differing opinions people have about it. My hair was naturally blonde until about seven years ago, when it started going darker. (And let's not even mention the GREY!) I tried highlighting it for a while, keeping it close to its original color, but it got pretty exhausting to try to keep up with it. So I asked my hairdresser to go darker, closer to my natural color, and for some reason it came out RED. She felt awful, because the color had gone bad or something -- but it looked great and I LOVED it. I've kept it some shade of red ever since. Weird thing is that I was born with stick-straight hair with absolutely no body whatsoever, but over the years it got wavier and wavier, then curlier and curlier, and I kept fighting it... until one day I scrunch-dried it, just to see what it would look like. Now it's this wild shrub-looking thing, but I kinda dig it. I've worn my hair all kinds of ways over my life (although if it was short it was usually some version of a bob): all one length down to my ass in college, then chin length, and all kinds of lengths in between, sometimes with bangs, sometimes without. (OH -- isn't it the worst to try to grow bangs out!?) The worst mistake I ever made was that damn Jennifer Aniston haircut a few years ago! Too damn hard to make my wacky hair do that, then I had to grow out those ridiculous layers. Now it's pretty much au naturel (except for the color), curly-ish and longish (bra-strap length). Funny, people always think I have a perm (like I would actually PAY to have hair this bizarre!) and that my color is natural (I do have a redhead's coloring), but it's the other way around. BUT -- to get to my point about people's opinions -- everyone has something different to say about my hair, and everyone wants me to wear it a different way. Fortunately, my hubby (who has even longer hair than I) doesn't seem to care much one way or the other -- he says he likes whatever I do! (Wonder how he'd really feel if I shaved it!?) But when I dyed it red the first time, my boss -- and several of my friends -- almost cried. "But you're such a beautiful blonde!" one of them wailed. Yeah, right, I wasn't even a "real" blonde anymore -- what did I care? When I started wearing it curly, some people hated it, and thought I looked better with straight hair. Yeah, like I want to spend an hour with the blowdryer every day, only to have it frizz and look like Sigmund (the Sea Monster) 20 minutes later! So -- no matter WHAT you do to it, SOMEONE will probably hate it. You have to do what YOU like. (Although that business about guys and long hair is pretty much on target -- I've always gotten more of that kind of attention with long hair. Not that we like to admit that we need that, but external validation can sure be good for the ego!)

I had an idea about your playing a skinhead. What about wearing one of those bald wigs? You know, the ones you can make up with the same makeup you use on your face, so it matches? Or if they just decide to go really short, you could still wear some sort of wig. Austin is full of great places that have groovy, funky wigs -- check out places The Bazaar (which I'm SURE you're familiar with) and see what they've got. I don't know if I could ever cut my hair for a part. Thank Goddess I gave up acting a long, long time ago, so I never had to find out. Maybe I have a Sampson (or is it Samson? who can remember?) complex.

-- Anonymous, May 22, 1999

When I was younger (up to 2nd grade), I had hair down to my rear. I got it cut up to shoulder-length and then was told the next day in class that little Johnny didn't like me anymore. It fluctuated back and forth between a little past the shoulders to a chin-length bob until this past October when I got it chopped off to a very short Liv Tyler-ish thing. I've heard nothing but compliments, except for a small few who think that women are SUPPOSED to have long hair.

One girl in my improv troupe shaved her head and dyed it green last year and got a lot of flak from some people, but she could definitely pull it off and really did look cute like that. I would probably shave my head if I had to, although I probably wouldn't do it voluntarily because I derive so much pleasure from constantly dyeing my hair. Coloring on my scalp just wouldn't be the same.

-- Anonymous, May 23, 1999

A collection of hair comments:

While stationed in England during WWII, my father was in a pub with a few buddies. One of them had taken an interest in an English girl who had very beautiful long hair. When his buddy asked him for advice, Dad told him that he should ask her for a lock of her hair to carry with him in the coming invasion, that she would be very impressed with such a romantic gesture. Then, while his buddy was off at the men's room, Dad took the young lady aside and warned her that this guy had just gotten out of the brig, that he had attacked a woman and cut her hair off. You can imagine her reaction then when the guy came up to her, told her how beautiful her hair was, and asked if he could have a little piece to carry with him...

My father gave himself a Mohawk haircut a few days before the D-day invasion; he had decided he wanted to go into battle looking fierce. Unfortunately, an officer told him that was a non-regulation haircut and he had better change it immediately. So he had to remove the scalplock, meaning he now had a totally shaven head.

I wore my hair very long in high school (this was a few year pre-Beatles). A guidance counselor persuaded me to lose my greaser look and get a very short flattop haircut before going off to a college interview. When I got back from the interview I discovered that they were taking senior pictures that week. To this day I cannot stand to see my yearbook picture (and, naturally, name tags at reunions always have your yearbook picture!)

My father tended to wear crewcuts, no fuss, easy to care for. However, he grew annoyed at people at work making wisecracks about my brother's long hair (this is late '60's, my brother was working for the same three-letter company). The guys making the cracks tended to be middle-aged and balding, so Dad started to let his hair grow until he had the kind of pure white long flowing hair that you might see in a charicature of an old-fashioned Senator. (Only after he retired did he go back to very short crewcuts.)

At various times in my adult life (usually while in grad school or whatever) I have grown my hair shoulder length. A few years ago, (perhaps inspired by hitting the half-century mark?) I decided that I was secure enough in my professional life (it is good to be a programmer) to grow my hair the way I wanted and so I let it grow and grow, usually wearing it in a ponytail. My eldest, after sporting hair in various interesting colors during his college days, began to shave his head. We made an interesting pair: me with gray beard and long dark brown ponytail and my adult son with shaved head. I no longer have the ponytail. My wife finished another master's degree and I asked her what she would like as a graduation present. She replied "I want you to cut off that damned ponytail." So, snip, snip.

If you do shave your head, you should post before and after pictures.

-- Anonymous, May 24, 1999

I've naturally have extra curly, full bodied hair. When I was in college it was just past my shoulders and I loved it. I auditioned for a play, and they said that a requirement for it was to shave my head. Years pass. Hair styles changed. last Halloween, I was throwing a HUGE party with around 120 people in a loft apartment overlooking a street w/ 120,000 Halloween partiers and I'm running SOOOO late. My costume is a demon outfit that I've made and put a lot of effort, time, and thought into, and I have a bald cap for it. Time is flying and the first guests are arriving, and I know how long it takes to do a good job with a bald cap, and I've not even started on makeup yet. Someone says, "Tim! Just shave it!!" So I did. I shaved my head, and then put red liquid latex on it (BURN!!!)and had the party. The next day, everyone is interested to see what I look like bald. I like it. My girlfriend loved it. Of all the hairstyles and all of the looks that I have had, this is not only my favorite, but most peoples favorite as well. I hear *regularly* people saying that they've never seen shaved bald work for anyone as well as it does for me and old friends of mine telling me I'm crazy but I've found my look. Girls stop me on the street to rub my head.

But these are just my results. Individual milage may vary.

But I ended up not getting that part because I wouldn't shave my head. Maybe I should have.

And girls with shaved heads. If you have the attitude for it, it is SO sexy, but a girl w/ a shaved head HAS to have the 'tude to do it, otherwise, nope.

-- Anonymous, May 25, 1999

Hmmm, I would like to shave my head at some point, but right now I am feeling the need to go purple. Hmmm. Also, are you guys missing Pamie's daily journal entries too, or am I just a weirdo???

-- Anonymous, May 25, 1999

Along with my earlier entry, a few years later I had my head shaved in basic training at Lackland AFB in San Antonio. I didn't have a choice. We just stood there and when a chair opened up we were supposed to get into it RIGHT THEN and not say a word. I got skinned bare and my scalp felt like it was covered with velvet for about a week and a half. It grew back with a little bit more curl than before, but I think that was the humidity -- Texas was about a thousand degrees that summer anyway, so I didn't mind the haircut.

And slightly off the subject, if you are in San Antonio, go to Schilo's. It's a German deli that makes possibly the greatest root beer on the face of the planet. Of course, that's only if you like that sort of thing.

-- Anonymous, May 25, 1999

Graaaargh! Lackland Bad! Dredging up memories! Hut-two-three-four! Chow runner go! You, you're done! Sing LOUDER (Off we go, into the wild blue yonder...)! Thanks a lot.

AF basic training struck me as one gigantic big joke, but I got a weird pleasure from having my head shaved. In spite of the fact that I've been out of the Air Force for about 6 months now I still keep my hair only about 1/4 - 1/2 inches long.

Guess I should pay attention to the forum question - what do I think of girls with shaved heads? I'm more likely to notice them than girls with typical hairdos. Shaved heads tend to accentuate the eyes and face, so a somewhat pretty woman will become striking with a shorn head.

-- Anonymous, May 26, 1999

Hair update:

I got a callback for the part.

I'm that much closer to having to chop it all off. We'll know more next week.

-- Anonymous, May 26, 1999

I have a shaved head now! I did it awhile back because the AFRO was beginning to make a come-back and the high-top fade was on the way out!! I vowed NEVER to go back to the "blow-out" afro!!

If (WHEN) you decide to shave your head, don't go all the way -- GOD, I SHOULD LIKE SOMEONE'S GRANDMOTHER -- cuz the upkeep is a bitch!! If you thought that ravor stubble on you back was bad!! You ain't seen nothing yet!! If you want a clean melon, you have to shave it and cream it, and polish it WAY TOO MUCH!!!

I can imagine that long hair can be a fucker also, but having a creme rinse 2x a week is nothing compared to shave a skull every other night!!

-- Anonymous, June 02, 1999

Pamie, I am so glad for your sake that you didn't get rid of your hair. I am now in growing-out hell, and today, while surfing the net for Dukes of Hazzard sites (I've grown obsessed with that show recently, and really want somebody to start showing it again) I realised that my current hair is exactly the same as Bo Duke's.

In fact, if I was a blonde I could be his twin sister.

-- Anonymous, July 15, 1999