Tonight when I checked my Girl from the Ghetto email I had the following email from a complete stranger.
I just loved Jen’s email and had to share it with all of you. Now, from time to time I get other teenagers emailing me about all sorts of things, help with personal problems and such, but this one by far is my favorite:
And, as a refresher, here is the picture she is referring to, which you can also view the original post titled
Some of my 80s and 90s fashions
(If you know how to add links, please comment .. I still can’t figure it out!)
On Tue, Jun 24, 2008 at 4:44 PM, jen wrote:
I came to your website because I was doing a blog
search on ’80s hair’ and ‘big hair’ because a local
friends are looking for BIG hairstyles and BIG bangs
I’m 16 and don’t have a lot of to draw on in this
dept!
Despite alot of results there aren’t really a lot of
photos of this hairstyle (maybe people are too
ashamed!!) I’m sending this email to people who have
put up “big hair” pictures of themselves in hopes
you’ll give us a little help! And to be honest, your “mc
If you have a couple minutes I’d really appreciate it
if you could share some tips getting really huge hair!
We came up with a few questions we’re asking:
HOW did you do it? The pics we’ve seen, 80 hair
absolutely defies gravity!
How long did it take you everyday to get ready?
I’m so low maintenance I couldn’t even imagine!!)
What kind, and how much hairspray did that take?
not how big was the biggest!?
Did your hair ‘wilt’ during the day?
Or was it totally stiff from hairspray?
Really any big-hair hints/stories/tips you could write
us would be really appreciated!
Thanks
Jen
p.s. Did this hairstyle have a name (or was it just
“big hair”?
How about makeup What went really well w/ this style?
Finally, my friend Jill (who smokes) wants to know If
with all that hairspray did you ever hear of anyones
hair catching on fire? (She does have a point!!lol)
Thanks again!!
And here was my response:
Jen,
I love that you are asking me all of this. You are too funny!
Back in the 80s I used either Aqua Net or White Rain Hairspray, and you must use the spray aerosol kind, not the pump liquid. I dried my hair with a regular blow dryer, upside down, then curled my hair with a 3/4 inch curling iron. But, I also had a spiral perm back then, so perhaps you can buy a spiral curling iron now and experiment. After all of this I begun to rat (Back combed) my bangs and the top 1/3 of my hair. I used a regular small-toothed comb to rat my hair. All of this took about 2 hours. If you included makeup and ironing clothes getting dressed and a shower it took me 3 hours … I would get up at 5 am to go to school by 8 am. Crazy, right? I also used to rat my hair out at the side next to my cheeks to give my hair that wide effect. And I used just a ton of hairspray!
I had the second biggest hair in my graduating class … (Darn it!) but only because the other girl’s hair was much thicker than mine. I always referred to my hairstyle as big hair, although everyone else back in the old days called it Mall Hair or Mall Bangs. My hair would wilt about after a couple of hours, and I would get this weird part on top of my head, like a split in the part. And my hair was very stiff and unnatural feelings.
I wore semi-subtle make-up in the 80s … lots of beige and browns but a lot of my friends wore blue eye shadow and/or blue eyeliner. And we didn’t use lip liner back then, just lipstick that was too bright. Bright Pink was very popular.
And, sadly, I had a friend whose hair did catch on fire … she did the 80s ratted hair thing for a Halloween party I had a few years back and passed out on a bunch of candles out on my balcony and her head caught on fire. she had to cut a lot of her hair off the next day … it was funny and scary as hell and my whole house smelt like burnt hair … so tell your friend to be careful!
Good luck and if you remember, I’d love to see a picture of your hair!
I hope this helps,
The Girl From The Ghetto
That is definitely big hair. I sort of had big hair but it did it on it’s own. I had very curly, very thick hair that I put no time into. I washed it and it did what it wanted which was mostly a sort of Afro type thing.My daughter had Mall bangs for a short time when she was in the 7th or 8th grade. But it was too much trouble for her to bother with. We are lazy hair people. I’ve never worn make-up ever. My daughter does. Too much trouble for me. But you sure were a cutie in all those pictures you’ve been posting.
By: joanharvest on June 25, 2008
at 12:15 PM
It’s great… all of this hair stuff is great: the photo, the hair, the email from Jen, your answer, and especially, the story of the fire. A la Michael Jackson.. remember that? Ha ha ha.
By: Elaine on June 25, 2008
at 12:15 PM
omg…that is great.
We always called that hairdo the “Pouf”
I love that somebody tracked you down like that.
(And to make sure I dont ever miss a post like this, you’re goin’ on my blogroll!)
By: The Vinyl Villager on June 25, 2008
at 3:36 PM
Joan – You crack me up! And, I know your telling the truth, because I’ve seen your pictures of your afro hair. And, I still wish I was a cutie …
Elaine – That hair catching fire story was fantastic … I may say more around Halloween time when I do my Halloween stories and former costumes … You sure missed 3 of the best Halloween parties! Oh, I miss the days of living in a house and being able to through parties that wild and fun!
Vinyl Villager – Thanks for adding me to the blogroll!
By: thegirlfromtheghetto on June 25, 2008
at 6:51 PM
OH my god, that is hysterical. I love that this girl found you and wrote such a detailed email with all those questions and how sweet were you to answer her. Oh, how I remember the big hair days and how glad am I that they are over.
WC
By: writerchick on June 25, 2008
at 8:31 PM
Writer Chick – I kind of miss big hair … but don’t tell anyone, hee hee …
By: thegirlfromtheghetto on June 25, 2008
at 9:54 PM
I love your hair—but I really love the shirt. The “2000″ really cracks me up. So FUTURISTIC!!!
By: Jen C on June 26, 2008
at 10:16 AM
Jen – OMG, I never realized it said 2000 on it, good catch!
By: thegirlfromtheghetto on June 26, 2008
at 12:32 PM
Awesome 80s hair! I tried to do the cool bangs, but always failed miserably. I also always had WAY too much hairspray too.
I caught my hair on fire back then! Yes, I’m one of those… It was Christmas Eve and I had gotten back from church (hair all super hair-sprayed per normal.) The electricity was off so we had candles on the tables. My sister knocked one over, so I leaned over to pick it up and my hair fell over another candle… WOOSH!!! Up in flames! Luckily, my brother jumped across the table and put it out with his hands before it spread very far.
Burnt hair stinks!
By: Dube on June 29, 2008
at 10:32 PM
[...] http://thegirlfromtheghetto.wordpress.com/2008/06/24/in-response-to-my-mc-hammer-hair-email/ [...]
By: I Had Big 80s Hair « The Girl from the Ghetto on April 19, 2009
at 7:40 PM
hahahahah! This post is old but I just found it and find it HILARIOUS!!!
Way to school the new generation in how it was done!
By: Amanda Blog and Kiss on August 24, 2009
at 10:04 AM
Amanda, thanks for commenting on this hidden gem. I love when people ask for my help and opinion in matter other than health stuff. I am cracking up rereading this post myself!
By: thegirlfromtheghetto on August 25, 2009
at 6:23 PM