Alright, so the other day I was digging through some old boxes in the attic, you know, the kind you haven’t opened in years. Mostly old college stuff, concert ticket stubs, that sort of thing. And then I found it – a stack of old photos from way back when. And man, let me tell you, it wasn’t the clothes that first caught my eye, it was the hair. Seriously, what were we thinking?
That Trip Down Memory Lane
It got me on this whole kick, remembering all those Gen X hairstyles we rocked. Or at least, thought we rocked. I spent a good hour just flipping through those pictures, and then, of course, I had to go online and see if my memory was playing tricks on me. It wasn’t. The evidence is out there, folks.
My first step was just pure recall. I closed my eyes and tried to picture my friends and me back in high school and a little after. It came flooding back:
- The sheer amount of hairspray. I’m pretty sure the ozone layer took a direct hit from my bathroom alone. We were aiming for height, for structure, for defiance against gravity!
- Then there were the perms. Oh, the perms. Some were good, giving that nice wavy, “I just stepped off a beach” look. Others? Well, let’s just say “poodle” comes to mind. I remember my cousin getting one and it was… an experience for all of us.
- Feathering! We all tried it. That involved a lot of careful blow-drying with a round brush, trying to get those perfect wings on either side of your face. I could never quite get mine even. One side would be perfect, the other looked like a confused bird.
- And who could forget the “mall bangs”? Teased up high, forming a perfect wave over the forehead. Required constant attention and a mini can of hairspray in your bag.
The “Research” Phase, If You Can Call It That
After my own memory dump, I did what anyone would do: I started looking up “Gen X hairstyles.” It wasn’t like formal research, more like just browsing and nodding along, saying “Oh yeah, I remember that!” or “Oh God, that one.”
I saw a lot of mentions of “The Rachel,” but for me, that felt a little later, more on the cusp. We were already a bit past the peak crazy hair by then. But before that, the variety was something else. You had the slightly more new wave, spiky stuff for some. Then the grunge thing hit, and suddenly it was all about looking like you hadn’t brushed your hair in days, even if that “effortless” look actually took some effort. Long, maybe a bit greasy, often under a beanie. That was a whole vibe.
I even tried to explain some of these to my kid, who just looked at me with wide eyes. “You put what in your hair?” Yeah, son, we did. And we thought it was cool.
Did I Try to Recreate Any? Heck No. Well, Maybe Mentally.
So, after this deep dive, did I bust out the teasing comb and Aqua Net? Absolutely not. My hair these days is pretty low maintenance, and I intend to keep it that way. But I did stand in front of the mirror for a minute, trying to picture myself with some of those old styles. The mental image was, let’s just say, hilarious. It definitely wouldn’t fly today, at least not on me.
It’s funny, though. Those hairstyles weren’t just about how we looked. They were part of the music we listened to, the movies we watched, the whole attitude of the time. A little bit rebellious, a little bit trying to figure out who we were. It was a form of expression, as cringe as some of it looks now.
So yeah, that was my little adventure into the world of Gen X hair. It was a fun, slightly embarrassing, but mostly fond trip down memory lane. Makes you wonder what people will be saying about today’s trends in 20 or 30 years, right?
