With a leading Bollywood actor in the news again, both for a super-successfully-touching movie about a dyslexic child, as also for his newest hairdo, I couldn’t help but think about the various hairstyles that have come and gone (some for the better).
Remember the totally-forgettable hairstyle that an actor, known foremost for his bare-chested inclination, made famous? The entire world and its brother decided to copy the hairdo, resulting in a planet on the brink of mass no-vision, what with the locks perpetually falling over the “experimenter’s” eyes. That was one style I was happy to see fade into oblivion…
Now, my memory is not my sharpest feature (I have been told), so obviously, it’s gonna be a tad unfair of you to expect me to remember the names of all the hairdos. But lemme just try my hand to dish out some sarcasm about how some people take the term “letting their hair down,” much too literally…
So, we had a “Rachel” haircut, and a Dido haircut – styles that many women decided to perpetuate. Fair enough. Then the bee-hives, the poker-straight, the bouncy locks, the mushrooms – okay. And then came the assault of the “Spiked” warriors. First made popular by punks, spikes spawned an entire generation of ten-year olds plus, who would gladly shell out a fortune on mousse (and I don’t mean the chocolate one), gel (the extra-strong hold one), hair spray, hair wax – and all to get that “spike”-y look – one that would put needles to shame, and make anyone in the vicinity of a kilometer of the “spiked”-guy, think twice before touching them.
You also have the crew-cut, made tremendously cool more than a couple of decades back, by the then oh-so-hot Tom Cruise (in Top Gun), but which has now been relegated to getting sported by balding, pot-bellied, tobacco-chewing, middle-aged men. Now I am all for the feel-good youth factor bit, but hey, one look at these sorts, and I bet you will also just gape at their confidence, which they seem to have in sheer abundance.
The gelled-look, if done in a toned-down manner, looks engaging enough. But there are those who swear by the I-have-gel-will-slather-it-all-on-today-itself syndrome. So, what might have looked like an appealing picture makes the person look like an omelette having a bad oily day, and ensuring that there is always a satisfied rolling-their-eyes-and-laughing-uncontrollably audience. The tissues come in handy too – to stuff into the mouth to mute the guffaws…
The braided look, getting adopted by some “experimental” men, looks like it could hurt one. Just imagine – one of these braided sorts going to a watering-hole, one that boasts of grunge metal. Post a few spirits, these souls decide to give head banging a shot. Surprise surprise – the once cramped dance floor, empties as if by magic. NOTE: Bouncers not even needed.
Everytime I see a guy with dreadlocks, I am tempted to say two things:
a) Dude, you aint Bob Marley / Lenny Kravitz
b) Do u ever wash your hair? (eyes rolling)
(While the first, I can still pull-off, I'm loath to use the second, certain that it borders on the offensive, and will earn me a disdainful look or two).
The Mohawk (also known as a Mohican), made a global feature by a blonde soccer player, reminds me of a cross between a parakeet and a bald eagle. Fortunately, this style hasn’t permeated into our country. Had it been, it was guaranteed to keep the onlookers in splits.
The mullet (where one keeps the hair short in front, and long at the back), made famous by Michael Bolton and Phil Collins, seems to a hot favorite at my workplace, where men of all ages consider it the equivalent of cool, not realizing that they just remind one of erstwhile rulers who have lost their kingdoms, but were allowed to keep their long-ish hair. Go on people, trim it all over. Believe me, you’ll look and feel better, what with that unwanted junk off your head…
I could probably go on and on, except that this blog post is assuming gargantuan proportions. So before I feel I’m getting into your hair (pun intended), let me pull up over here.
Meanwhile, if you have any hair-related stories / comments, you know where to “trim” and send them.
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