All dolled up

Anyone who has ever been around me while I'm getting ready for a concert knows that my least favorite part is doing my hair. Since my hair was naturally curly when I was in jr high and high school (don't ask me what happened; hormones are crazy things!), I never really played around with curling irons and blow dryers and product. Imagine my horror then, when my hair grew back straight after a drastic cut my freshman year in college! As it grew out, I realized that I knew nothing about how to make it look good. So I kept it short, grew it long and straight, or just left it to its own devices. Each look managed to work with my overall style at the time, but when I entered grad school and started my path to Divahood, I knew I was in trouble.

I mastered makeup thanks to very helpful women at the Clinique and Lancôme makeup counters. I slowly moved away from my black, vintage, and generally shapeless wardrobe and have embraced color, cut, and timeless styles (timeless, not dated!). But my hair has still been the thorn in my side. I've been known to style and re-style my hair four times before a concert, each time dissatisfied with the mess on my head.

So, imagine my joy when this appeared on the back of my head yesterday:


I know it doesn't look like much, but for me it is a huge step forward! It is a variation on a style that my Pamina wore in Flute, and it seemed to be way beyond my reach. But I did it!! Hopefully I'll be able to repeat the 'do, and my days of swearing at my hair are over.