Southern Fashion

It was amazing, like nothing we’d ever seen. You didn’t want to stare but you had to. You couldn’t hear a word she was saying. It was like Steve Martin’s nose in Roxanne. You just had to look. It was “An indescribable wonder” (Kevin Henke). The children stared in awe. It was truly, BIG HAIR.

We were in an expensive store in the men's fine clothing, looking for suitable replacements for the luggage my husband forgot at home when we were approached by this very kind Sales Associate, who was, for the record, very tastefully dressed. It was the coif that really threw us.

I found this picture on a site called Beauty and the Bouffant. I had to edit it a little to match our vision. And the woman we were talking to had hers in almost a Mohawk sort of bouffant with wings out to the sides, but this is really, really close. This hairstyle is definitely not something we would see every day around these parts. But just in case you think I’m being unduly harsh or judgmental, we do have lots of the dreaded Mullet in so many shapes and sizes they cannot be summed up with a picture. Why would I mention just one woman out of all the rest in Chattanooga? Because she is not one woman. Her sisteren are everywhere. Maybe the heat makes women feel they have to get the hair off their necks and a ponytail just won’t do. Maybe the smell of hairspray is more attractive in humid climates. Maybe there is a deep, socio-psychological reason for the need to enlarge ones head to gigantic proportions. I just don’t know!