Hair Clips

My life is infinitely easier in warm weather, especially in summertime, due in large part to the hair clip. Not the 1980s banana clip (which I am proud to say I NEVER owned, although I did have quite a collection of barrettes and hair bows) that creates a Mohawk-like mane down the back of the head, but a basic claw clip that holds your hair back and up—peacock ends optional. When I can put my hair up, wet or dry, in a clip and go without my hair freezing or my ears risking frost bite (which is not to say I don’t wear ponytails in winter), I can get places on time. Of course it helps when I don't have to decide whether or not to wear tights and which gloves and scarf to wear with which coat and leave enough time to defrost my windows or clear off my car. Still, I like to credit the hair clip.

It makes having long hair in summertime low maintenance, and my blow dryer obsolete. I can go from pool to party in a half-hour or less. I can more easily heed hair care advice and not wash it every day. I can skip hair cuts in the summer because I rarely wear it down. It’s one less thing to worry about.

Sure, I suppose I could cut my hair short, but I wore it short for the first half of my life. When girls in high school, the ones with all the boyfriends, wore Farrah Fawcett hair (Rest in Peace), I had short hair that combed back to a D.A. I cut my hair off in third grade—why did my mother allow me to cut off those thick blond braids?—and wore it short through college. So after wearing my hair short (and sometimes permed—ew!) the first twenty or so years of my life, I have worn my hair in long (straight) styles for the last twenty—including the broadcaster’s bob and the Rachel shag. (In fact, not to brag, but I was the first client my former stylist in Boston coiffed ala Rachel.)

I will continue to wear my hair long because I like it. Because I have nice hair. Because it’s easy.

Oh, how I heart hair clips.