The Big Bangs Theory

Fewer things identify a decade more than the hairstyles of that given era: 1930s Finger Waves, 1940s Glam Pin Curls, 1950s Chignon, 1960s Beehive, 1970s Farrah Waves, 1980s Top Knot(which has made a roaring comeback!) and finally, the reason we’re all here…

1990s FEATHERED BANGS.

Now we’re talkin…

Ah, the sweet days of teasing bangs and perming locks. Hours of time! Gallons of hairspray! Curling irons and combing and teasing, oh my!

As young teenagers trying to navigate our way to finding our identity and style, we did what most young people do — we looked to movie stars and magazines to tell us what was cool; Sarah Jessica Parker in Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, DJ Tanner on Full House, Ashley Banks on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Kelly Kapowski in Saved By The Bell, (this was slightly pre-“Rachel” era), Janet Jackson, Debbie Gibson, Tiffany and Whitney!

The ’90s also brought about perms, crimpers and banana clips. So much hair, so little time. Being a teenage girl is no joke.

I look back at pictures of myself and think, how did my mother let me leave the house like that? How did any of our mothers? I suppose they knew from their days as teenagers in the ’60s that following the fads is a rite of passage, creates a sense of connection and belonging during what can feel like lonely and confusing teenage years and, that telling a teenager what to do, wear and how to style their hair is… pointless.

I actually remember my bangs being so shellacked in hairspray it withstood Canadian winter days with sleet, snow and below freezing temperatures. All us girls thought the colder the better because it set the hairspray! I don’t think it dawned on any of us to NOT tease our bangs to the high heavens… can you imagine the horror of showing up to school with a pair of cleanly cut side swept bangs or heaven forbid, no bangs. No bangs?! No BANGS??

Then you’d be… DIFFERENT! No, no way. Tease it up, high, higher, highest! And we did. To belong, to be part of the group, to delay our own identities screaming to come out.

The ironic thing?

Not less than two years later… we had all grown our bangs out.

Because that’s the thing about fads, they come and go, have their time and then move on to the next. And like every experience we go through, good and bad, high and low, teased or side swept, there’s a comfort and appreciation in knowing nothing is permanent.

Except the internet, that shit lasts forever.

Love,

Grace