Had to reply as no else has yet...
LOVE those "go stand in front of the fireplace" pictures. I have those.

First! Now I'm going to go read....

Dang it, not first....

LMAO... (and i'm first!)))

So far I see nothing that seems that bad....even the flat top looks neat and tidy. I can't wait until tomorrows pictures are up.

dang, cyber seconds, i wasn't first! This is so funny, I totally can relate to your hair horrors. But at the time, I thought my hair was cool...

Aw..come on now...you are a cutie! And BRAVE...I wouldn't dare pull out all my pics...No one would ever visit my blog again!

I covet the bunny slippers.

And through it all your eyes and smile shine through whatever you did to the top of your head.

You are an inspiration...but I am, of course, LMAO!

I had that dress, OMG.

Side Parted Mohawk Bob... I have to see this!! *L*

I wonder if I even have any pics of when I was younger to post on my blog...

I am seriously laughing my ass off. All of your t-shirts. Had them. What the hell were we thinking.

BTW - Your brother. Killing me. The mustache...the mullet...the sunglasses...the skinny tie....I'm dying here!!!!

I am actually impressed with your flat-top! Even though it was the 80s, I have to imagine that flat-tops in the South were a little avant-garde. Always a fashion leader, Laurie.

Call me crazy, but you look pretty cute in all those pictures (with the possible exception of the mullet). I like the dress too!

Fellow child of the '80s here. :)

That striped monstrosity of a dress- I had it in yellow! It was soooo flattering!

Could it be possible? Did I have a twin in the 80s living in a different town? Cause girl, your pictures look just LIKE mine!!! :) But did you have the hot pink spandex pants with white swirlies and matching but opposite white long top with pink swirlies? Huh? Didja?

Hey, you were a cheerleader!

While the hair is quite scary, you sure rocked that cheerleader uniform! Hot legs baby! :-)

I can hardly wait for the next installment! I am loving it! :)

You were a cheerleader? I am sorry, but I can never speak to you again.

You totally need to get a grip. You are beautiful...and you WERE beautiful. Don't forget, it was the 80's after all. We ALL had she-mullets. Your dress and hair reflect the time period. And I think your eyebrows looked fine. I much prefer the natural look to the overtweezed ones. But even with overtweezed brows, you're still beautiful. And your writing is awesome and so funny. I love reading your blog.

We've all been there, sweetie. Been. There.

I'm impressed, though, that you did not succumb to the "Chrissie". Perhaps that late-70's do was reserved just for girls of my generation (about six years older).

i went through the hot pink phase. i'm not sure why; it's not normally my color. ever.

ditto mullet.

ditto punk. i realized later in life it's more punk to not conform to the ecoutraments of the movement. or whatever it was.

Darlin', with the exception of the side part mohawk, for which I reserve judgement, you have shown us nothing but a catalog of 80s hair and fashion. We ALL looked like that, or worse. You were the cool girl who FOUND the Madonna earrings. With my sad bangs-inhibiting cowlick and my Catholic school uniform, I wished I was you. But then the Wall o Bangs came along, and OH HOW THEY ENVIED MY COWLICK! Straight Up Mall Bangs, oh yeah.

Oh, all right, maybe I can. But what Marcy said. In the 80s (for all of which I was at least theoretically a grownup, having barely survived the Geek Years) I had the side bangs, the curly perm, the wavy perm, and the Richard Simmons Special total disaster perm. All of which is why I now find a certain comfort in the predictability of The Bun.

you know, as bad as you describe these hair horrors, we all looked like that. and so, i bet you were the cat's pajamas.

well i never had a she-mullet. i was still wearing the braids.

OMG, all this hair agony and you're NOT EVEN IN HIGH SCHOOL YET! I love it!

Bated breath for the next instalment: it gets bigger, doesn't it?

Hil.Ari.Ous.

You're being a little hard on yourself; the she-mullet isn't that bad! In fact, I remember the Brady Bunch mom wore something like that, only they called it "the shag" then.
Mullet documentary:
http://www.atomfilms.com/landing/landingIndex.jsp?id=atom_1357

The dress, though, horizontal stripes at the hem . . . hooo-eeee. I had one that looked as though it had been made from a hand-me-down Mexican tablecloth. Ouch.

Hee.

The 'chick had Prince / Purple Rain hair in high school...shaved almost bare nekkid on one side, long & curly on the other.

Oh, and the eyeliner. Lots and LOTS of eyeliner.

Also had the permed, Sun-In thing going on in middle school.

Lawd, the pain of it. . .

I had a pair of those bunny slippers too! Sadly, I was in college when I wore mine. I think that they were much more acceptable on someone in their early teens. Oh well, young at heart, and all that...

Purple Nikes and the Sun-in hair! I never had the guts to go get it cut like Grace Jones tho.

OMG, tears of laughter are streaming down my face. Don't get me wrong - not laughing AT you, just sharing the EXACT same memories and fashion!! Strange to see the exact same clothes that were in Texas were also all the way up in the Great White North! Maybe I'll do my own Hairstory and dedicate it to you :)

Ah, the she-mullet. I, too, proudly sported one -- both permeed and straight. Those were rockin' times! (How could nobody see that we'd be made fun of in years to come?!?!?!?! Why didn't anyone stop us!?!?!?!)

Grace Jones? I loved her!

Ya'll are so cute. I am suddenly so thankful there are no photos of me during the teen years. Yes, that really is my story. /nods

Oh My! You have told my hair story! All of it! You left out the Dorothy Hamill Wedge though. I also had a bob with the left side cut up to my mid ear, and it gradually got lower until the right side was at my shoulder - now that is SCARY! And I had no clue why I didn't get a single comment that fabulous hair choice back in the day.

Girl, where in Texas are you from? (Couldn't help noticing the Texan Till I Die sticker on the fridge). You looked like all the girls I admired in school in Fort Worth--my hair was so stubbornly stick-straight I could never get it to do anything so dramatic. And a cheerleader too? High school aristocracy. "We got spirit, can't you see, we're the class of '83!"

I swear, I had the exact same hairstyles in the 80s, except for the sun-in. I had blonde naturally curly hair, but did decide that it would be a good idea to PERM the whole thing. Hello poodle! It was awful. What were we thinking?

I also had the side wave...and the sun-in! But I'm a brunette, and I really liked the orangish hue of my hair!

You are making me crack up so much that surely the people in my office think I have gone looney.

I have a sun-in incident photo too. Turned my hair bright orange it did. Turned out it was just in time for school photo day.

My senior/prom photos include me with an asymmetrical bob with a white streak on a bit of the bangs. (Did I spell asymmetrical right?)

I need to hunt down a scanner and post some of those huh?

I had the striped dress in ORANGE AND BROWN with a slim little naugahyde belt and gold-tone buckle. And the permed she-mullet. Yessiree. I also had the Dorthy Hamil, Babbleabble. Sorry to see that missing from this Hairstory, too.

Didn't rock the cool pink star earrings, but I DID have the fingerless lace gloves. Niiiice.

I kinda like the Grace Jones look, though Grace would have burned that dress, and maybe you should have as well. But I am NOT TALKING, because I had the shades-of-blue version of that dress. I really did. And wore it in public, on the two occasions when my mother said (very loudly) that I was not permitted to wear jeans to this event. (One was a wedding, one was a performance of "The Nutcracker.") It was a horrible shades-of-blue striped-in-all-directions dress, and I did not even have a cool Grace Jones haircut to go with it. I had a very uncool Mike Brady haircut.

Laurie, you're too cute! Tell me your brother isn't going to get hotter in the pictures yet to come; I don't think my heart can take it. :)

this is absolutely amazing. i feel your pain. your descriptions are awesome. the flashbacks are horrible. it's too realistic. i think i need to sit down...wait...i'm sitting already...

OH MY GOD! I totally had that SAME rainbow shirt!!! just got chills on the flashback. I actually snorted over here, thanks for the pics, LOVE them

Whoa, yup, your brother's hot!

What happened to your knitting life?

I just have to tell you, I pretty much laugh out loud every time I read your blog. Thankfully I avoided the horror of '80s hair, but I don't think growing up in the 90s was much better...

You don't even begin to look mockable. Well, except for that cheerleader sheeyat. You have perfect eyebrows. Me and the Wee Monkey would pay cash money to have eyebrows naturally that nice.

I am not brave enough to post my "hairstory" for the world to see. I had the misfortune of being an 80-90's youth. I got the worst of both worlds, I had the wall o'bangs and the miles of nasty unwashed grunge hair.

Your brother totally has that bad boy in detention look going for him!

Hey!!! I had that very dress!!!! I was so excited when I found it; it was exactly what I had in my mind that I wanted!!!!

And!

I created the side bob mohawk, pretty sure. So you owe me royalties. Or I owe you some significant portion of your high school years.......

I'm slightly younger than you, but I also sported the she mullet. I can blame that on my Mom, though. And I'm forever grateful that I could never master the closer-to-God bang style. Can you post current pics of high school hunk brother?

We laughed, we cried...

You think that was bad, imagine going through all the mid-70's/80's hair stuff in the first 10-12 years of your 'career'. As in graduate in '73, move back to the city alone, totally remake yourself. Oy. Gevalt. Heck, I didn't discover a really good hairstyle until my late 30's. *Very* late 30's. And while Toni perms were horrific, even worse were the ones from the beauty college downtown when I was a kid. ;) Poodle-poodle!

Oh, you think you looked bad, huh? I weighed about 30 lbs in junior high, had a bad permed mullet, and I may not have had braces, but I had to wear those big upside-down glasses, and they were THIS THICK!!

Belss your heart Aunt Purl.

I can't be the only person who is having a "JEM! Is TRULY OUTRAGEOUS!" moment here, can I? This whole post takes me back, oh yes it does. The only thing more frightening than the Wall O' Bangs was the Failed Wall O' Bangs (my wall fell again and again way before the Berlin one did) with the ubiquitous pony tail so tight, I may never EVER need a face lift.

You know, as you acknowledged yourself, you were well within normal range for the 80's. By those standards you were really cute! It's just in hindsight that standards have changed. But hey, we don't go for 18-inch corseted waists nowadays either.

And your eyebrows were fine. Sheesh.

how can you call this "the ugly years"? You are so beautiful and were back then too!!! Ummm, no offense, but maybe you need glasses! Hee hee!

What? No acid washed jeans??

Or leggings with big shirt worn over them and fashionable pin from The Limited at your throat?

Love you Purl!

All I have to say is "Holy shit someone else had the smae stripy dress." Oh God the 80s were bad weren't they?

C

Can't wait for the side bob mohawk. I think I had a variation on every on eof your 'dos. I went into Regis with a picture of John Taylor when I was in 7th grade and had my hair cut like that. Oh the horror! Perhaps the worst was my attempt at what we now call the Flock of Seagulls Haircut. Ugh! Burn those pictures!

My mom had the same haircut as you in the pic with the purple nikes. LOL

Signed,
she who wishes to remain anonymous in case her mom reads this.

You were unbearably cute, as evidenced by the unselfconscious smile. Be grateful that the Dorothy Hamill wedge came and went about the time you were born. Oh no, wait, my in-laws still have them.

WHY HATE ON THE 80S?

I'm totally serious. The 80s were AMAZING.

Laurie, you are one amazingly brave hair-soul. Says a lot about your inner character.

Well, and your outer follicles.

You going to bring these pictures to your hair dresser? You MUST!

I SWEAR TO GOD - we have had parallel hair-universes!

Of course... I'm sure being the same age and growing up in the same earthly stratosphere has something to do with it.
Yes -- I DID have a mullet. I DID have a nasty run in with Sun-In. I did I did I did! Side part? Yep!
However... just before the wall-of-bangs could fully take effect, I moved to Laguna Beach... where people "just didn't do that sort of thing". Thankfully.

Aw, heck- I had those shirts. And the she-mullet! yoiks...

I had the striped dress, but mine was in lovely Easter egg pastels. I was once filmed for TV while wearing it. And hair? A truly disastrous poodle perm. When I walked out the stylist said to my husband, "Doesn't she look great?" And he said, "Well, I guess it will grow out..."

Ohmygawd the Awning-Striped Dress of the '80s, which I could not even blame on poor pre-teen fashion choices ..... nooooooooo, I was a fully employed and married adult so I had no excuse!

Laurie you are SO brave to bare your hair choices to the world. Except for the One Awful Robert Plant Perm mentioned in yesterday's comments (actually I looked more like Jimmy Page), I have always had stick-straight boring hair, but fear not, I could equally embarrass myself with clothing because I was actually pointing at the ceiling from dance floors in the '70s across from dates in bug-eyed yellow sunglasses and powder blue jackets, while drinking gimlets and strawberry daiquiris.

And to date myself even further -- I just got back from Walgreen's where they were playing the soundtrack from BILLY JACK on the music system, and I had a moment of perfect, total recall of singing "One Tin Soldier" along with three friends (in four part harmony) while another friend played acoustic guitar and did the "oooh's," for the 9th grade talent show when the only thing remarkable about my hair was that I could sit on it, but I made up for lack of hair tackiness with orange and white striped bell-bottomed pants.

Cotton candy, anyone?

ROTFLMAO, you brave, funny girl!

Dez

How did you manage to sneak those pictures of me and my hair out of my house?

girl... love those photos!!! Man.. didn't we grow up in some bad times.. ROFL!

Color me crazy, but I think you looked
adorable in bangs, and still would.
Longish, wispy ones. Side parted.

Oh. My. God. I cannot stop laughing and thinking about all the clothes and hairstories while I was growing up in the 70's and 80's. Especially when Farah Fawcett hit it big, oh and Bo Derek on the beach with the braids, all the girls wanted to be her. Fortuantely I was so uncool and geeky that I never had those hair styles unfortunately, I had the really nasty, ugly ones.

I have a picture of myself that looks like every one of these! And, I actually had the dress in your picture with the flat-top. I had my grandmother make it with me one night out of pink and white stripes. I absolutely HAD to have it for my 8th grade graduation!

we had similar hair tragedies....just trainwrecks and the like.
love the star earrings, grrrrlll!!

It's getting better and better all the time! Can't wait for the next installment. :)

"the side-parted mohawk bob." ..what could possibly go wrong?

i await the day you rant about the people who comment before they read just to say "first" oh.. oh yes i do.

Oh girl...these pictures could so be me. We are pretty close to the same age I think and I especially love the purple nike's...I of course, had a pair too.

this is SO much fun... if I had a scanner I'd scare up some photos to share, maybe I will be brave and take some to the computer lab on campus. *Snort* yeah I can see the looks from the barely adults now!

Oh the horror of it all!

you are a hoot, love your blog. the best anywhere. actually the only one I have faithfully read. none of the others I have read hold my interest. more cats please!!!!

Ahhh, what a great trip down memory lane this was, thanks so much for sharing these pics of yours with us! I think we must be quite close in age as I certainly remember this style - I didn't look much different for a long time ;) Gosh - the 80s were a scream, weren't they?

Aaaah *twitch* flashbacks... I think you were pretty cute! Imagine having all of the above plus bottle-bottom-thick glasses AND a totally flat chest. Actually I still have those, but my hair is better.

ROFL - Grace Jones White Girl!!!!!!!! hahahahaha
At least when you reached the age of 12 you didn't suddenly gain 67 pounds and have your mother insist on a Dorothy Hamill cut that accentuated the FATNESS of your cheeks!!!!!!!!!!! AAAAARRGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!! stupid mother mean mean hate hate

Oh...I had a similar Sun-In experiment, except it turned my DARK BROWN ALMOST BLACK hair to orange. Orange, which I didn't cover up. I just left it orange (thinking it was blonde) and went to school that way.

Funny stuff BTW.

I don't care what your hair looked like. I would NOT have had enough nerve to talk to you in high school.

wow, your brother at that era really is hot! reminds me of David Bowie!

Neil,

I would have talked to her, she just would have told me to go take a hike. All cheerleaders did that! LOL

I've never been back to a High School Reunion, don't even care to go. Most would be shocked to see the nerdy, goofy kid has owned his own business for 19 years come December!

Save the Cheerleader, save the world.

girl - you and I could have been twins. When I did the crazy short dooo I was supposed to me my hot flame at the movies and I walked by him and he didn't recognize me - but once he did - he thought I LOOKED HOT!
You did too!
You kill me - just kill me.
Holly

Love it. Hil-arious. Oh my god, this totally made my day, what a super awesome story!

CAP,
You are completely and udderly adorable in each and every picture. Love the hair, love the brows, love the braces....thanks for bringing a smile to my face nearly every day. Happy Thanksgiving!

Well, I'm with most of the commenters. Been there, done that :-)

Sun-In on dark brown curly hair, followed closely by a Rave perm. Think fish-belly white skin, orange hair, Diana Ross long hair, finger in the light socket. Unfortunately, I didn't have the brains to cut it off. The STYLIST said that "Roots were in".

Thank gawd I found the Band Dept. so that I wasn't a total pariah. ;-)

Have we gotten to the argyle, swirled or striped pantyhose yet? Ankle straps on high, clunky heels? Gunne Sax dresses?

That was NOT a bad sun-in incident. My best friend in junior high (who had brown hair) put sun-in once and her hair turned orange. We're talking Halloween, jack-o-lantern orange. And there was nothing they could do but let it grow out, so you can imagine how that looked after a few months. :P

That dress...that striped monstrosity of a dress...I had one too, in pink and gray...oh the horror of it all.

Wow! So cute! Be glad that you didn't channel the mid-late 80's glam rock. I did. I straighted my curly hair with a STEAM IRON! dyed it jet black, and copied every outfit Nikki Sixx had. Oh. My. God. Motley Crue, the New York Dolls, Hanoi Rocks... What was I thinking???

Minus the cool brother and baby brother and plus one younger sister: I have every single one of those pictures and every single one of those dreadful haircuts. Frightening, really, how we thought we were individuals back then. . . . the she-mullet still gives me the hives when I look at myself (green mohair round-necked sweater and all)

You didn't have any ugly years...