'High hair says high morale'

[Kuchen]

The Telegraph's fashion editor, Hilary Mantel, has a piece about updos in the Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/apr/13/high-hair-style-fashion):


Why bother? Because the updo is the most easily inflected of all hairstyles.

The choice of icy over-achievers, it can also be a simple rural haystack or sophisticated and chic. A mere flick, a twitch, turns it from elegant to sexy. Just to gather the hair at the nape of the neck - easily done even by the unambitious - creates an image of serenity that is inspiring in anxious times. When you look at the corps de ballet, you think of grace under pressure, calm self-command; you don't think of the throbbing calves and blistered feet.

There are some things you must see to. Hold firm opinions - with an updo you will be heard when you speak. Practise an enigmatic smile - more suitable than a giggle. Be alert for the right earrings. Discreet studs are probably best. You want nothing to break that lovely upswept line from shoulder to jaw.

The updo gives the young a piquant air of jumbled innocence and experience - the transformation from girl to woman can be achieved in minutes. It lends distinction to older women, focusing attention on lively eyes and distracting from the starburst of lines at their corners. When you put your hair up, you imply that at last you have sorted out where life's pieces go. In an instant, it lifts the exhausting and futile pressure to look ever younger, to regress. The short-necked are flattered, the long-necked become swans.

... An updo makes you carry your head differently, straightens and lengthens your spine. With your bun to balance, you tend to turn your head more slowly, and slow movement is said to be the key to elegance. After all, why toss your valuable brain around?

[dancingbarefoot]

The choice of icy over-achievers

:rollin:

When will people stop trying to identify personality traits based on outward appearance, honestly? :rolleyes:

[Phalaenopsis]

I feel that elegance when I have that big bun on my head :)
It's the same with high heels I guess?

[Lady Verity]

:rollin:

When will people stop trying to identify personality traits based on outward appearance, honestly? :rolleyes:

Nine out of ten icy overachievers approve of this comment. :D

[Stevy]

Thanks for the link! It's cool that someone's saying something nice about updos, though they'll probably be back to describing them as 'boring' or 'grannyish' next month.

[LutraLutra]

Reading the full article (which is quite tongue-in-cheek) I like the bit at the start that's talking about different catwalk shows...

"Lanvin's interpretation comes closest to British Standard Librarian, and is the most achievable and wearable."

Ha! I love it! I often wear my hair in BSL :D

[Kuchen]

Well, if you enjoy fashion and hair dos as a source of makebelieve and role play, then I think it's quite apt. Dress up rather than life's reality :D

[florenonite]

An updo makes you carry your head differently, straightens and lengthens your spine. With your bun to balance, you tend to turn your head more slowly, and slow movement is said to be the key to elegance.

Uh, right. I carry my head the same way whether or not I'm wearing an updo :p

[may1em]

Isn't a good bun one you don't have to balance? If I'm distracted by my hair flopping around, I have to redo it. Certain buns stay put and feel good regardless. The idea is that you forget about your hair - it's out of your way and not bothering you.

Anyway, at least she likes them.

[Shermie Girl]

Amusing article. :D

I like this line, best:


The choice of icy over-achievers :rollin:

Maybe that is why I like to wear my hair up so much. I am icy. :D

[Anje]

Isn't a good bun one you don't have to balance? If I'm distracted by my hair flopping around, I have to redo it. Certain buns stay put and feel good regardless. The idea is that you forget about your hair - it's out of your way and not bothering you.

Anyway, at least she likes them.

That said, when I first started wearing buns, I did notice that they affected how I carry my head, and that the balance of my head was different because the weight was shifted. Now that I wear them all the time, I don't notice it, but if I put the bun in a drastically different place (very high, for example), or wear my hair in a balanced but unusual style like a crown braid, the way my head is weighted feels different. It has little to do with how balanced, secure, or comfortable my updo is, just that the weight distribution is different than what I'm used to. So I imagine that the author's assertions of carrying your head differently and turning it more slowly are true for people who don't normally wear buns.

Maybe the assertions are also true for me, but I don't notice it anymore. :p

[enfys]

But...but...but...

I haven't ever seen a librarian with an updo. And few with long hair. Bah.

I don't consider low buns as up-dos. Maybe it's just me, but it's got to be high, at least mid-back of head, to be up.

I think it's a bit of praise for what we knew all along. I like to think I insipre anxious people.

[akurah]

When I first read the thread title all I could think was "I guess Amy Winehouse never got that memo", since she's kind of down on herself ("morale" wise) and I always see her with a huge, high beehive.

(end hijack) :D

[Kuchen]

Amy did once say that the more insecure she felt, the bigger she made her hair...

[Jeep Girl]

As someone who hardly ever wears their hair up, all I have to say is Underachievers Unite!

Maybe in a minute... gimme a second... all this achieving requires too much effort. :yawn:

[Ponytale]

At work, a couple people have commented on my "grace". I would never have given that word in a description of myself, but I think the unconscious gestalt is there because of a stereotype in the perception of others. Hey--I will take it. I have given off other (much less complementary) gestalts I did not mean to because of my style in the past (heavens--I can only imagine what my image told people about me in the 80s)--ha!

[Stevy]

A friend of mine once referred to 'that whole elegant poise thing you project'. It must be the hair, it's certainly not me. ;)

[myotislucifugus]

I agree, the long hair seems to imply a kind of grace, although I can barely walk in a straight line without tripping... People see what they want to see...

[flapjack]

As someone who has a ton of experience with both 1) giant buns/updos and 2) ballet in my daily life... I've got to say that you might turn your head more slowly doing daily activities with a bun but not ballet, man. Haven't they ever heard of spotting? Turning your head slowly = a nasty fall.


A good bun is one that is both well-balanced and pirroutte-proof. I have this going about 70% of the time. Monday night, I did NOT have this going and my teacher said it looked like I was being attacked by a thick, dark snake attached to my head. Oh boy, haha.

[saracuda]

I'm wearing a ponytail today. I wonder what that says about me.

[flapjack]

I wish I could do ponytails more often. On wet hair, they're great, on dry hair, they make it more tangled than if I just wear it all down. Lame.

[Runzel]

I'm just now learning how to do real buns (those messy scrunchie blobs that had to be redone 5 times a day don't count) and I notice I feel much more poised with a well-done updo. I think the different weight distribution on my head and also the exposed neck causes me to be more mindful of the way I carry myself, and it's possible that my posture improves slightly. I don't know if this effect will last as I become more used to it or not, but it seems like a good thing!