Locks and literature

"Oh, give me a head with hair / long, beautiful hair ... Don't ever have to cut it 'cause it stops by itself!" (From the musical Hair)

"Oh, Jo! Your one beauty!" (From Little Women, after Jo sold her hair)

"Based on Google mobility data, every state had substantially fewer visits to transit stations, retail and recreation facilities, workplaces, grocery stores, and pharmacies by the end of March 2020 …" (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/)

For the first 35 or so years of my life, I had long hair. I'd cut it, from time to time (The Beatles made me do it!), and occasionally I tried a perm - that was usually a disaster. Memorably, my Home Economics teacher, Mrs. Wilson, once said I looked like a "wild woman of Borneo." Ngl, it hurt; because the truth does.

As my life got more complicated - 2 kids, Mom living with us, trying to be a graphic designer and a writer and a computer maven and a wife and a dutiful daughter and a halfway-decent mother (Can you please watch the kids? I'm sleeping / grocery shopping / cleaning / going to the bar ...), my hair got shorter. It was just easier.

At one point, it was so short my kids called me "Sinéad O'Connor."

Then came Covid 19. I had planned to get my hair cut after the 1st of the year - yeah. That year.

"I'm gonna grow my hair down to my feet, so strange

"'Til I look like a walking mountain range …" (Bob Dylan, I Shall Be Free No. 10)

Remember how we thought things would go back to normal after 6 months or so? We made movie dates, or plans for dinner out ... then, we thought, maybe things will be normal next spring? Or after flu season? Well, all I wanted was to get my hair cut. I kept devising new ways to get it out of my way; clips, scrunchies, fancy (and plain) rubber bands. I was out of practice with having this much hair. But then … I got interested in seeing how long it would take to "stop by itself."

It turns out, it doesn't take that long, if you're older'n dirt. I used to be great at growing hair; now I'm sorta so-so. It used to be so thick I had to have the hair dresser thin it. Now it's thin and straggly.

That said, it is sort of long. My ponytail is about 14 inches long, but it's seriously thin after about 8 inches. I think I'll let it keep growing. Just to see what happens.

In a book I read, The Light on Farallon Island, the author wrote about a hair receiver - a small jar that thrifty Victorian ladies would put their hair in when they cleaned their brushes. They would then use the hair to stuff pincushions or small pillows for decoration. And, I assume, if they died, their sisters would make mementos, maybe jewelry or pictures made from braided and woven hair.

https://youtu.be/SNhh8c9s-tw?si=99WKKEYh2u-U8wTp has some hair receivers you can look at.

It makes me wish I had clipped some of my mother's hair to keep, although I don't know what I would have done with it. I certainly wouldn't have turned it into jewelry! And, to be honest? I probably would have mislaid it, or thought it was someone else's hair, or just generally gotten creeped out and thrown it away.

Anyway, I expect this will go the way it usually does: I'll get annoyed with dealing with it, and get it cut. Does anybody want some? There should be plenty to go around. We can sell  it on Etsy with our Spanish moss supplies!