I haven’t had a whole lot of blogging inspiration lately. So I decided to find some. This blog post is inspired by Fat Mum Slim’s post titled 50 things to blog about. It is supposed to be a letter to my 16 year old self but I thought 14 would be much more interesting. So here it is….
A letter to your 14 year old self…. ok so it seems this is more of a story rather than a letter…..
Good lord. The year would have been 1993. I probably had a permed fringe and dead straight hair at the back, would have been a bit like my own version of the mullet. I wouldn’t go back to being 14 if you paid me a million bucks. I do not have fond memories of that time. Well actually that is a lie, I do have good memories, just not good school memories. Kids are mean, especially boys. I was a super skinny kid with no boobs, pimples, braces and loads of freckles, add a permed fringe on top of that and you basically have social suicide. God I bet you have a great image in your head right about now. Please don’t vomit.
What was my Mum thinking letting the hairdressers do that to me….actually what was my hairdresser thinking. Yes Carla, I am talking to you. She remembers my tragic hair stories, she brought them to life!
Not only did I once sport a permed fringe, but I also gave the whole head perm a shot. Which didn’t take to my fine blonde hair. So it was a half-hearted perm. I also had a run in with some hair colour. All my friends were colouring their brown hair and I wanted to give it a go too. Just one problem, not really a good idea to try and colour blonde hair – it ended up pink. So I then had a pink perm. WHAT WAS I THINKING PEOPLE. There is a reason God didn’t give me daughters…..THANK GOD!
My Mum & Dad probably thought all of these bad hair styles were ace, there is no way I was going to get tangled up with boys looking like that…they were probably really smart parents actually. I would show you pictures but I can’t bring myself to make that permed fringe go viral, it may become a new trend, ha ha ha.
Ok, so I can’t remember the exact year that all this perming happened. What I can remember is another tragic haircut. When i decided to get all of my long naturally blonde hair cut short. I don’t think it was a good look for a skinny kid with a super long neck. My hair also decided to go a mouse brown colour and hence I really have been dying/streaking/foiling it ever since. Trust me, brown hair is not a good look on me (of course I tried it once). After getting my hair chopped off all the boys teased me and told me I looked like Damo from Home & Away – you know, Irene’s son. That is what I looked like so they all called me Damo. Lucky I knew how to laugh it off, and it probably made my skin that little bit thicker. I was thinking last night about getting my hair cut short, and then I remembered this experience and I just don’t think I can do it. What if I look like Damo again???
This is “Damo” not me!!!
So as I said a few paragraphs ago, it wasn’t all bad. I have some really fond memories of being 14 and they would have been spent with my family and cousins. Going on holidays to the coast, riding bikes with my friends, celebrating birthdays with all my Cousin’s and Aunts and Uncles. They were the best days. Me and my cousins had so much fun together and still do on the odd occasions that we are all able to get together.
I think by 1994 I had finally saved enough money that I could buy my first big stereo along with my first two CD’s: Brian Adams & Mariah Carey. I was probably also listening to a bit of Ace of Base & Salt-N-Pepper perhaps even some Big Audio Dynamite, or was that earlier? Movies I would have been watching were Dennis the Menace, Cool Runnings & Waynes World 2.
On TV I would have been hooked on shows such as Melrose Place, Beverley Hills 90210, E-Street and of course Home & Away.
And who could forget the way we used to wear our jeans? Rolled up 3 times. Levi 501. You knew you had made it big time if you owned a pair of 501’s, the who’s who of high school were wearing them – remember the high waist and how they looked on your bum? And that button fly, we were all an expert at the button fly.
Look at this picture I found on the internet…she even has them rolled up. This is gold.
So I was pretty tragic back in school. Who am I kidding I am still pretty tragic now, I just don’t have a permed fringe. Are you picturing it in your head…..dead straight hair at the back with a massive permed fringe at the front, I am nearly rolling around on the floor in laughter just thinking about it.
Were you a dorky kid?
Remember rolling your Levi 501’s up – how did anyone ever think this was actually cool?
Am I the ONLY person in this world who has ever just permed their fringe? God I hope I am….for your sake!
Please check out Fat Mum Slim, she is pretty cool.
Oh please could we have a pic of the permed fringe? We were all dorky! Our year 12 pic was recently put up on fb – fringes galore, dreadful. The standout trend for us was…to wear your jeans tucked in to your explorer socks and desert boots! I am laughing and cringing as I type this. I think pimples and no boobs was standard back then – come to think of it, not much has changed for me 30 years later!
ps Oh and how I LOVED my 501’s!
O god, jeans tucked into socks…….never! We used to tuck our track pants into our socks, but never our jeans…..o this is going from bad to worse, ha ha ha!
Thought that would give you a laugh in return Miss Chardy!
I’m gonna need a photo of that hair-do or it never happened! How funny!
O it is beyond disgusting Chantelle and bloody funny!!!! At least I can laugh about it. I truly don’t think I could bring myself to put the photo out there, ha ha ha. Thanks for the blogging motivation.
I remember how cool Levi 501s were as well, and yes I had a pair and thought I looked pretty trendy. In 1993 I was in year 12 and turning 18 and I had the one and only perm I have ever had in my life which I had done the year before! It turns out that my hair perms really well, so the result was big hair of 1980s proportions. Not just the fringe though, the whole frizzy head! I don’t ever remember tucking jeans into socks, hahaha! I do remember BIG socks though, acres of fabric bunched around your ankles continuing half way up your calf like leg warmers, hilarious.
Ha ha ha, I am laughing out loud Messynessie!!!! O yes, the socks were big, the perms were big and the shoulder pads were huge.
Oh miss chardy this post just made me laugh so much! I am remembering your permed fringe! Your fellow skinny blonde school friend also ended up a lovely strawberry shade and had the Damo haircut, what were we thinking?!
God i thought I was the only uncool one, I do remember your haircut but you must have pulled it off better than me! What were we thinking INDEED!!!!
By 1993 I had made it to Uni and suddenly got much cooler (in my head at least).
Prior to that I had rocked 501s. Cuffed obviously. White socks and black brogues were my footwear of choice. Still have the 501s at the top of the wardrobe with a few old evening dresses – tried them on the other day, they do still fit but much more of a skintight look than that slight paper baggy effect they use to have….
I also rocked a full perm at high school. I thought I was pretty special. Like Messynessie my hair permed almost too well and I got a massive 80s hair do. I also had a few shiny taffeta ball dresses which had a lot going on.
I do wonder if we are going to look back at current fashion and say “why all the skinny jeans?”
Take care Miss Chardy.
Ha ha ha, did your taffeta dresses have “rosette’s” on them? And what about puff sleeves? Too funny and so tragic.
No puffed sleeves. Definitely a rosette or three though.
Of course there were rosettes!