a week ago i scribbled down my thoughts on those women who have inspired my various hair crusades. well, as is inevitable when making any sort of definitive declaration, there were many oversights. while driving back home that evening, the bangles' 'manic monday' came on the radio and it sparked a whole other journey - and a pinch on the arm for having forgotten my earliest hair crush: susanna hoffs, aka the cute one with that sweet-as-sugar voice which i tried desperately hard to mimic as a pre-teen. she had devil-may-care typically 80s hair - permy, big, curly and wild, and while her other bandmates looked like culture club members - and were invariably fairer & blonder - susanna was, for me, revolutionary - a brown-haired girl, petite & olive-skinned... the sort of big sister i never had but whose wardrobe i would have raided. then there was marisa tomei. i've always been drawn to brunettes with deep chocolately eyes and kind smiles, and the fact that she looked so much like my favourite cousin secured her a soft-spot in my heart. i loved her in 'my cousin vinnie', all over-the-top new-yawk drawl and big hair; and 'untamed heart' as the waitress with the heart of gold who falls in love with the damaged Christian Slater [p.s. that dress she wears in the final scene, a flirty little tea-dress with a low back, was on my imaginary wishlist for years. in fact, if i found it now i'd still buy it]. in recent years there have been other fleeting crushes. on rachel bilson's cutesy chic fringe; natasha khan's glossy waves; natalie portman's sleek side-chignons... but my safe place has always been short, straight & sleek - just below chin-length, minus fringes or fussy layers or cool edges [i've had to accept that my face just doesn't work with 'modern', 'trendy', 'cool' or 'grungey']. so, it's always a bit little french school girl, side-parted, a tad longer in the front and shorter in the back - and as for the shiny straightness, nature has nothing to do with it, it's all man-made, thanks to that little south east london salon i tweeted about yesterday - koto, at 233 high street, bromley, whose imported 'straight perm' leaves locks permanently glossy, kink-free and glass-sleek, and wake-up-and-go ready at all times. it's changed my life [and i never use hyperbole] and saves me hours & hours of styling time which i can ill-afford now that i am a working mother. it's not cheap or speedy though [the procedure takes around 5 hours] but £250 seems a snip for hair that tops the chart... and banishes manic monday mornings forever.
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