Went to the hairdresser on Friday with the question in my mind I always have: should I get a fringe? An ongoing dilemma, clearly! It's a question everyone woman asks themselves at some point. As I approached the hairdressers, armed with my photos of Zooey Deschanel looking flawless with a fringe, I felt myself losing my nerve. By the time I got in there, I'd gone from declaring "Cut me a fringe!" to whimpering "I was going to ask for a fringe but I think I've changed my mind." At this point, my hairdresser usually proceeds to agree my face is the wrong shape for a fringe and to cut the usual long limp layers.
This time, the hairdresser stated if I wanted a fringe it'd be best to keep my hair fairly long and started showing me the length. I was so grateful that she hadn't instantly shot the idea down I felt renewed confidence. She cut the fringe and almost immeadiatly I thought, "I've made a mistake, get me home so I can swish it to the side and pretend this never happened." I looked nothing like Zooey deschanel. I literally looked the same as I did at age seven, with the same haircut and the same chubby cheeks. It is so unfair that all examples of haircuts for women to copy are modelled on insanely thin and attractive models and invariably we take in the photo saying to the hairdresser "make me look like this." What happens is we end up looking like that, but with our own less-impressive face. Of course a haircut won't make us instantly look like Scarlett johansson or Jennifer Anniston, but for ten minutes we really believe it will. And we have to watch the whole thing awkwardly in the mirror trying not to make it obvious that we despise our own reflection. This is why I hate going to the hairdressers.
After getting home I decided to leave the fringe alone till the boyfriend got home, so we could both have a good laugh before it disappeared forever. In the time it took him to get home, I felt it growing on me. I've decided to leave it, until I see an awful photo and decide to change it back. I give it about two weeks.
To fringe or not to fringe, that is the question? (My students are studying Romeo and Juliet at the moment!).
I was reading over some old blog posts today, and stumbled across this post, and it got me thinking: should I go for it, and have a full on Zooey Deschanel fringe?
I just have a slightly fatter face than Zooey, but the good thing is, if it doesn't work on me I can simply brush it to the side and wait for it to grow. Fringes aren't too hard to hide if they turn out a disaster.
Being a teacher does affect my hair choices slightly - I can't be too experimental and turn up to work with pink hair, but also - my students are the harshest critics. There's always a couple of teenagers in the group willing to give you their opinion on what you're wearing or how you look today. It keeps me on my toes but does mean I often have to think twice about my outfit choices. Seeing what some other bloggers wear to work makes me jealous, but I know my students would leap on anything vaguely unusual. Not that I don't change it up a big - I don't mind been the kooky teacher that wears ditsy dresses and boots. I just don't wanna be the slutty teacher with my skirt up my bum and my boobs hanging out.
I think I'm going to go for it, and ask for a fringe. It's a low-risk decision that may not pay off, but wouldn't be a massive disaster regardless. It also would give my hair a fresh look while still being long and wavy. It might even make my waves look vaguely less chaotic or more planned.
I love the show New Girl starring Zooey Deschanel. It's quirky and adorable, and very easy to watch. However, watching it, I started to get a funny feeling. Like looking in the mirror. Wait... that's my life!
Numerous friends have also said to me "you're Jess from New Girl" confirming my suspicions. Have the producers secretly been tailing me? Here are the reasons why I have concluded New Girl is me.
1. I moved to a new town, I am a 'New Girl'.
Ok, this isn't evidence on it's own, but it's a start. But wait, there's more...
2. I live with 3 boys.
When I moved in, it was two boys and a girl, but she moved out and was replaced with another male. The rapport between us is bordering on the kind of rapport Jess has with her housemates, although I'm not quite as good friends. However...
3. I lived with Schmidt.
I had a housemate who was Schmidt. My friend loves New Girl, and recently met him, and said "He's Schmidt". He used to walk in my room with his shirt unbuttoned and say "what are we doing tonight then?". He was into the ladies, but secretly wanted a girlfriend. He is confident and cocky, but underneath has a good heart. Plus he looks a lot like Schmidt. Unfortunately my landlord kicked him out for sleeping with one of her friends.... the kind of thing Schmidt might do!
4. I am a teacher
Ok, Jess taught in a comprehensive school, I teach in a college, but come on! I also make weird little jokes and do little dances for my classes. I recently tried to teach them this... but they ended up just watching me do it on my own. Acceptable for junior school, a bit weird in a college.
5. I sing everything.
Well not everything, but now and then a little song creeps in. It's fricking weiiiiiiiiiiiiiirrrrrrddddd. Like the time I went on a boat trip with my friends and insisted on singing this the whole time. I like to think I added another dimension to the experience.
6. I wear embarrasing pyjamas.
And I don't give a damn.
7. I look a bit like her.
I don't want to put a photo up on this blog so my students find it and start quoting bits while I'm teaching and send me into some sort of breakdown, but I have long brown hair that is slightly curly, vintage- cutesy style, and I'm fairly little. I'm also a big fan of the dark eyeliner look and have been championing it for years. Zooey is undeniably much prettier than me, but there are some similarities. My ex even said to me "you look like the girl out of hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy" before I even knew who she was.
We are also leg-twins. She's thin with slightly stocky legs, I'm thin with slightly stocky legs. We wear short skirts anyway, cos we're cool right.
8. I'm fairly awkward in social situations.
I'm mostly pretty confident, but I often feel a bit stupid, and have been known to put my foot in my mouth more than a few times (the worst being when I implied my colleague was a bit of a slag without meaning to). Not something I want to share with Jess, but unfortunately I do.
Therefore, I conclude, I AM JESS. What to do about it? Carry on buying cutesy outfits and making a fool of myself? Done.
I'm bored of my hair. It's long, it's chaotic, and it's dry. I love having long hair, so I don't want a drastic short cut. I toyed with the idea of getting a Zooey Deschanel fringe, but I know for a fact it just won't suit my face. So how do you change your hair without changing the style? Dye it.
It's pretty bad condition, I'm not sure why. I look after it, try not to straighten it every day, don't use a hairdryer and put conditioning treatments in it. I've got exactly my Mum's hair though, coarse and dry, unlucky for us. I don't want to run my hair by dying it, and it's so dark I'll have to bleach it first, so I'm going to try just dying the ends. I was thinking of going a funky colour for the next few weeks, then I can cut it off, or dye it back, before I go back to teaching in September.
I bought some blonde dye today, but I'm going to wait till I've got a nice colour to go over it before I do it. The bleached hair might come out orange considering how dark my hair is. I had a look in Boots today, but they only have boring colours, so I've had a look on Beeunique, the go-to site for crazy hair colours. I'm thinking a fairly bright red, as red falls into the realm of 'normal' hair colours, although I'm slightly tempted by a bright pink. I'm thinking this pink dye or this red dye.
I'll try to post some photos when I do it. I heard from a friend you use little elastic bobbles and put them where you want the colour to start, and just paint it on up to the bobble. I bought some bobbles on ebay not long ago so I'm all set.
I'm hoping it will look something like this fellow blogger's gorgeous locks... here (and below)
My friend did my hair at work today and took a photo (please ignore the state of my desk). I think she's done a good job, and it's super cute. You can do the same by braiding the side of your hair in a french plait, mess it up by teasing hair out of it, and then tying your hair in a messy bun. She also did some fancy twisting at some point, but I'm not sure when.
Waiting for the boyfriend to bring my Chinese food. Yum!
