I was all set to start railing on yet another trend in little girl beauty -- hair highlights -- when it dawned on me that I was, what, in 5th grade when my hair was processed for the first time. Not highlights, a crappy perm. And not at a salon, but my mom and a box of Ogilvie.
So messing with girls' hair is nothing new. It's just where it gets messed with -- and the price -- are different. Right? I don't know. I feel like there's more going on here. This story in the NY Times reveals something kind of predatory at worst, distracting at best, for young girls to be going in regularly to be "pampered" and processed and try to live in the world of Hannah Montana and Jamie Lynn Spears.
The owner of a prominent salon told the Times that a quarter of business comes from tweens. The guy teaches seminars on catering to them (give them wireless laptops and DVDs during the hours-long process). He also has a lovely strategy for bringing in new clients.
“I tell stylists to get more involved in school and
community events to reach out to these younger girls,” he said, adding,
“they may not want to think in those terms, but these girls are our
future business.”
This is where I see some distinctions between my disastrous hairstyles of yore and today's professional coloring. Nobody came to school peddaling home perms. No grown-up suggested my thick hair might be more versatile in ringlets. And that's a good thing. My idea. If I had known adults were scrutinizing the way I looked, I would have been even more insecure than I was in those gawky years.
Aw hell, Mr. Salon owner, you and your understudies need to stay away from my kids' school! Do not come in to read to the class and then seek out the best candidates for chunky highlights and a some flat iron work. Do NOT look at my girl with a critical eye! Do not talk to her about her appearance. She's 7. Just don't!
And then there are the parents. Like this mom, who went in to color her grays and wound up totally losing her spine.
Jane Ordway, a real estate broker in New York City, went to the
Sally Hershberger Downtown salon last month to receive highlights,
allowing her daughter to tag along. Ms. Ordway was a little taken aback
when Ruben Colon, who was putting in her highlights, suggested that he
add a swath of burnt orange to the bangs of her daughter, Olivia, 12.
Ms. Ordway eventually acquiesced.
She says she doubts she'd let her daughter do it again, but we all know THAT'S not going to happen. Why didn't she let this guy talk to her daughter like that? She was "taken aback" for Christ's sake! Two hours later she's handing him her credit card!
And then this.
Ouidad, who owns a Manhattan salon where she is also a stylist. “Girls
as young as 10 come in with little support groups of friends who wait
with them hours. And when I turn them into Hannah Montana or whoever
they want, they literally jump and cry and scream,” and their parents
are willing to spend $200 to $400.
And yet Ouidad said she feels conflicted: “I wonder what message we are sending the girls.”
Well, the message has been sent, ma'am, so it's too late to be wondering. When perfect strangers -- I'm thinking the hair stylists/salon owners/and predators looking for business -- say "you'd look great with a swath of burnt orange in your bangs," the girl hearing this understands that her appearance really is a big deal, people do see the imperfections she is seeing, it IS all about how you look.
You know what really isn't a big deal? An 8-year-old's appearance. Not her hair, not her toes, not her non-existent pubes. Not. Im. Portant.
Or am I just not embracing modern girlhood enough?
