How hair defines us

Lately I've been thinking about how hair defines us.

Yesterday I got my hair cut and when I got home Uwe exclaimed, "It's too short!" We had a good laugh about it because he always says that when I get my hair cut. I think he would be happy if I never cut my hair and it was dragging on the floor behind me, because he's never complained of it being too long. =)

Astrid's hair is growing but it's still short enough where people confuse her for being a little boy. I get, "Oh he's so cute. What's his name? How old is he?" all the time when we're out. You know that once she has her hair in pigtails no one will make that mistake anymore.

My hair has been all different lengths and styles and colors, but except for the traumatic haircut years when I was a kid (that's another story), my hair has always been relatively long.

Here is a photo from a Wig Out party in 2002. (Everyone is wearing a wig.) I'm wearing the yellow afro wig, and that's my real hair under it. You can see my hair was pretty long back then, down to the middle of my back. (Yes, that is Uwe under that frosted Kajagoogoo wig.) And here is my hair today, which comes to my shoulders.

There's a photographer who has an exhibit out that spans 35 years in which he took photographs of his wife and her sisters each year from 1973, standing in the same position. It's fascinating to see how the women aged and to see how their hair changed as they got older. There was an article about the photographer and his work in a back edition of "O" magazine. I'll have to look for it. So if you're interested, check back and I'll update this post with the photographer's name and the name of his exhibit and where it's being shown.I can't wait for Astrid's hair to grow longer so I can braid it and style it.

As for my own hair, I try to imagine how my hair will change and look as I get older.