It’s all about the hair.
When I was about to start high school, which where I lived meant 10th grade, I went into a Supercuts type of salon and asked for a mohawk.
The woman there couldn’t bring herself to give me a mohawk. I don’t know why I expected a salon to give me one. I was rather disappointed with what I ended up with. Here’s my 10th grade yearbook picture (scanned from the yearbook):
I look like a boy.
I was going to take you through a chronological evolution of my hair styles from high school, but I honestly can’t remember what order these pics should be in. Here’s my best guess.
This was a haircut I got by a kid at my school:
His name was Julius. He was the cutest guy. Really small, he was Filipino, and he wore his hair about like mine in this picture. He used to wear his mom’s silk pajamas to school. They were black with huge white polka dots on them. His dad had this huge stereo system, with speakers that were abut four feet tall. His dad had a big reggae record collection. I used to go over to his house, lay on the floor between those giant speakers, and listen to Yelloman.
I also used to give people haircuts. I don’t know why. I guess it was because we had a pair of hair clippers. This is me giving Daniel a haircut. This is later, though, when I was a senior and I think he was home from college on Christmas break.
I have other pictures of me and my friend who was in beauty school dying my boyfriend’s mohawk bright magenta, but I won’t post those.
Eventually my hair just got bigger and bigger. I kept ratting it up big, Robert Smith-style. At one point I started ratting up the top and leaving the sides down. It was sort of a mushroom or hour-glass shape:
Before school started my friend Jennifer and I used to go hang out in the library at school with my older brother Willy and his friends—which included Daniel. Willy claims the first time I wore my hair like that to school, we went into the library, and when Daniel saw me, he fell off his chair.
I used to wear a lot of vintage clothes. Most were old clothes of my dad’s, like a ski sweater from the 60s:
That’s my grandma, me, my bro Willy in the back, my little brother Danny, and my grandpa. Note the shelf of records next to my grandpa. 
My grandma gave me some old dresses from the 50s, too, that I wore occasionally. What I remember most about them was how well tailored they were. They fit so much better than any other dresses I’ve ever worn (to this day).
In the above photo, I’m wearing an old top of my mom’s from the 60s. Can you tell? Not sure why I’m carrying an extension cord. But don’t you love our mint green kitchen? Not to mention the big, big hair.
At some point, I wore it in a bob, which an undercut that was shaved. I used to shave different things into it—I think at first I shaved in “U2″ and a peace symbol. Here I am, getting ready for junior prom, when my undercut just had criss-crossing lines:
You couldn’t see the shaved part unless I pulled my hair back into a ponytail.
I think this next one is one of the last times I ratted my hair up. It took me an hour to achieve this. And lots and lots of Aquanet hairspray. And when it rained? Yep. All caved in. (And we lived in Seattle. It rained all the time.)
It’s a photo my brother took and we developed and printed at home in our cellar darkroom. I say “cellar” because that’s what it was. A spooky, dark, damp, cobwebby cellar. Like something from a horror movie.
By my senior year I’d toned it down a lot. Here’s me and my bro Willy:
Yes, that’s a spinning wheel behind the couch. We had sheep for awhile and my mom would spin the wool into yarn. I did it sometimes, too—it was fun.
And one of my senior pictures:
I didn’t actually intend to do a post all about my teen hairdos, I was just going to focus on all the pics I have of Daniel from back then. But it’s hard to resist mushroom cloud hair pictures. I guess if you’ve got it, you’ve got to flaunt it.
October 22nd, 2008 at 1:23 pm
I have LOVED these last posts! It is so fun to see you and Daniel “back in the day.” I’m all about reminiscing and looking at old photos; stuff like this just makes me happy. Not sure why. I guess memories –even the bad ones –are what we get to take with us everywhere, so I like to air them out every once in a while.
Loved your hair; and your junior prom dress. That’s one awesome sleeve!
October 22nd, 2008 at 1:56 pm
You should see what my boyfriend wore to that prom. I don’t want to post his picture on the Internet though.
I love how in my senior portrait I have my fist under my chin, just like Deb had Uncle Rico do in Napoleon Dynamite.
October 22nd, 2008 at 2:34 pm
Holy hair Susan!! I think it’s awesome you had no inhibitions about doing that.
October 22nd, 2008 at 4:23 pm
These are awesome pictures! Ive loved going down memory lane with you!
October 22nd, 2008 at 5:10 pm
So much hair of awesomeness!
I had the underneath part of my hair shaved in high school for awhile, too, but never had any cool designs in it.
Cute Sr. pic, fist under chin and all.
October 22nd, 2008 at 6:58 pm
These posts with the old photos have been great. That mushroom hairdo looks like so much work.
October 22nd, 2008 at 8:52 pm
can’t wait for part iv.
October 26th, 2008 at 9:16 am
i think the woman at the salon(i always thought it was a guy that cut your hair that day) wouldn’t give you a real mohawk because they knew you didn’t have your parents permission. as i recall mom’s exact words were “we’ll never go there again!” and then for the next week she looked like her only daughter had died and you had to tell her “it’s only a phase mom!”
the story about daniel that i remember is that you had always worn your hair vertical, but then one day you wore it down along the edges so it almost had a “hat” look. it was then that daniel literally fell out of his chair when you walked in.
October 26th, 2008 at 4:41 pm
I remember telling Mom it was only a phase, but I thought that was over the safety pin in my ear.
November 2nd, 2008 at 8:59 am
my pop is a barber. when Cyndi Lauper was huge, i wanted a waffle cut. he wouldn’t give it to me. i think i was eight. i eventually resigned myself to the fact that Pop would never give me the haircuts i wanted, so I just gave them to myself or had friends do it. i shaved the sides of my head and was careful to leave my hair DOWN when i was around my parents, but Mom eventually caught on. The look on her face as she tenderly tucked my hair behind my ear and then realized what i had done… i still remember it.
i should do a hair history post. i have had some doozies.
November 2nd, 2008 at 9:01 am
oh, and that b&w of you with the cross – my Daniel used to have hair just like that. i love to tell people at church that when we met, he had a horizontal mohawk and i had pink hair with purple highlights.
November 2nd, 2008 at 2:26 pm
You should totally do a hair history post. I’d love to see it. It’s not often you find Mormons who had/have wild hair!
January 26th, 2009 at 10:30 am
I think you look great with a bob haircut it just suits you so well. Was your bob cuts done at a salon. It says you did haircuts you had clippers. I was just wondering why you had hairclippers. Im interested in haircut stories from the past. Coleen would love to hear your stories if your father was a barber did you ever go to his shop?
January 26th, 2009 at 11:20 am
John: Which Coleen do you mean? (I know a couple.) My dad always wore his hair buzzed and we had hair clippers at home. I’d buzz his hair for him often.
January 26th, 2009 at 11:47 am
The one above where it says her pop was a barber it would be interesting to hear her haircut stories too. Is your hair bobbed these days its a super haircut.
January 26th, 2009 at 1:22 pm
Oh, ha. Didn’t see Colleen’s comment when I posted mine. No I don’t have a bob right now.