Overdressed

7th Grade (1978) w/ Mom. This 'do would actually be right in style today.

8th Grade. Mom took some "before" pictures before we cut all my hair off. (She tried to make me "model" but I wasn't very good at it.)

"After." 8th Grade Beta Club Induction. I wore it curled under and pulled back on one side in a look that was befitting of the disco era.

9th Grade (1980). I cut it even shorter in a "Dorothy Hamill." This was the only photo of it I could find, although it obviously is in desperate need of a trim here.

Summer after 9th grade (1981) I permed it. Then I didn't know what to do w/ it so I mostly let it air dry and wore it in an afro. Lovely. I might have warned you that we're about to enter into my most awkward teenage phase.

Later that summer: I grew out the perm a bit and began hot-rolling it. This photo was taken at the mall in New Orleans with my best friend Daisey after we got make-overs at Merle Norman.

10th Grade. Trying to cut out the perm, I went back to the wedge. Ugh.

Junior year (Fall, 1982). God this is BAD. Permed, curled (quite unsuccessfully) and pulled back in barrettes. Every day.

Junior Homecoming.

Spring of Junior Year (1983). Finally - the perm is grown out, the hair is hotrolled and tucked behind my ears.

Homecoming, Senior Year. Feathered, hotrolled. By this point my hair had become thicker and curlier although I didn't really realize that it was curly. I just thought it had these weird kind of waves in the back when I hotrolled it.

Christmas, Senior year (with Daisey). Still faithfully hotrolling, with the back curled under.

Senior Portrait, 1984. Still hotrolling, but now I'm curling the back BACK instead of under. That's why you can't even see it in this photo. Plus, it was pretty short.
Graduation, and I'm trying to keep my hat from falling off the back of my head.

1985 (with Shelley, right) I went even shorter.

Spring 1986 (w/ my brother) I went super short. Linda Dano made this look popular on "Another World" in the 80s. It frustrated me, though, because when I tried to spike it on top, it wouldn't stand up straight no matter how much gel I used.

So I started growing it back out later that year. (On Beale Street, my first trip to Memphis.) (1986. Nice cut-up t-shirt. How fashionable of me.)

And what I discovered, as I just let it grow and didn't do anything to it, was CURLS! To be continued...