To Perm or Not to Perm....That is the Question!

I grew up in the 80's.

 What a great era!  

A few items I grew up with: 


Parachute pants
I had some in blue

'Flashdance' sweatshirts
(I wore a tank top underneath mine and it was cut by me)

Jelly shoes 
My sister and I had some like these. 
I also had turquoise jelly pumps! 
I sure wish I'd held on to those...

Biker shorts made of Spandex

Jeans with different color fronts and backs

Acid washed jeans 

Jeans with zippers down the back of the calf. 
I loved mine!

Tapered jeans (Pegged!)


Keds shoes
(I still love Keds)

Head bands

Banana clips

Gunne Sax dresses

These originated  in the 70's I think, but I had a blue one almost identical to this  in the early80's

 

Arcades 
In our town, the arcade consisted of two or three games inside 7-Eleven.


Leg warmers and Nike sneakers

Coca-Cola shirts

Rubix Cubes 

Transformers 

 Trans Ams and other muscle cars

Break Dancing 

 My brother hosted a few break dancing parties.  They were totally awesome!


Phrases like:
"Totally awesome"
  "That's rad!"
"Like, gag me with a spoon"
"Where's the Beef?"
"Whatch you talkin' 'bout, Willis?"
"Like, fer shur!"
"Grody to the max" 
  "Totally psyched"
"Totally tubular" 
"Make my day."
"You're such a spaz."

Ghetto Blasters 
Who can forget those?  I don't think I knew what a ghetto was back then, though.


Atari 
My favorite games were Pacman and Vanguard

 Michael Jackson, Miami Vice (and the clothing style that came with it!),  windbreaker jackets, Wham's  'Choose Life' logo on t-shirts, Vans shoes.

Movies like:
Back to the Future
Ghost Busters
Footloose
Goonies
The Empire Strikes Back
Return of the Jedi
Indiana Jones
Better off Dead
Top Gun
E.T.
Say Anything
Films by John Hughes like:
Uncle Buck
The Great Outdoors
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Christmas Vacation
Mr. Mom

And who could forget the big hair of the 80's?

Even some of the guys got in on this style.
  (I'm so glad that's over!)

I permed my hair from 1985 to 1994.  It's what you did back then.

I still recall the uncertainty I felt when I made the decision to go back to straight.

I was a mother of two and couldn't remember what my natural hair looked like.
But that's not what scared me.
I had grown up in the era of big hair.  Hair with lots of body.  Hair that did not, under any circumstance, lie against your scalp. 
It wouldn't dare.

As a teenager I wouldn't have left my house if my hair was flat or I was out of hairspray.
I lived in Oregon.  Oregon, where it rained a lot and the humidity was constant.
You needed all the help you could get!


Perming also added nice highlights to the hair, slightly lightening the color.  

I guess I should also mention the horrors of bad perms. 

Perms that were left in too long, thus burning and frizzing the hair.
Perms that were too tight, creating the poodle look.
The drying out of the hair, the trying to figure out how to perm the grown out layers.

So many perming considerations and possible catastrophes. 
You were always living life on the edge in the perming years!


And yet, when I see hair like this:

and this:

I begin to sigh and think about getting a perm.

My daughter got one a year or so ago and it was beautiful:

Content copyright © 2010 by Jessa at Graceful Landing

So while I don't want to be one of those women with dated hair, I would like a little more body.
It's not as if I would have the same massively layered hairstyle.

And for the record, when I was young mullets were called bi-levels....and they were cool!
(Not long bi-levels/mullets like Billy Ray Cyrus, of course)

I'll be contemplating my next move.  
In the mean time, I would love to hear your opinions!

Anyone?  Anyone at all?