The Braid

I've undertaken a couple of writing projects lately, each of which requires me to sit down and look at a Word document for about an hour each day, and every time I do, I suddenly remember all of the things I wanted to do with my day that have nothing to do with writing an essay or article. Similar waves of procrastination used to hit me in college, like when I would find a Beyonce video ten times more entertaining if I had to hand in a chapter of my thesis the next day than if I had nothing else to do.

In the years that I've been chugging out essays by the page, I always fall back into the same procrastinatory habits, by which I mean activities that are only fun when done to put off something else more important. My top two include pretending that I'm going to a fancy event and trying on clothes in my closet until I find an outfit that works, and playing with my hair. I stand in front of my bathroom mirror and brush my hair out until it resembles a hair ball, then I braid it and twist it into a hairstyle fit for Shoshanna or Kirsten, my first American Girl Doll. It's very fun and I always rediscover that I'm better at braiding hair than I thought. When I finally get back to my paper, I ask myself why I haven't dropped everything and gone to beauty school instead.

So, what's the point of this post, you ask? To discuss the merits of braided hair, duh. Actually, not much to discuss here, but a good braid, when not likening its wearer to a pterodactyl, can really pull a lewk together. It's sporty and low-maintenance, and looks especially cool when worn in a non-soccer practice situation. A few braids below, see my Pinterest page for more.

Grammy Hair/Headwear

You guys, we need to talk about two urgent Grammy-related things: Beyoncé's hair and Pharrell's hat.

Beyoncé's hair had all of the ingredients of a perfect lob: it's blunt, naturally curly, and ombre. I think it might replace Meg Ryan's hair in You've Got Mail as the model lob. It kind of has the yield sign thing going on that Mia Thermapolis lamented in her own pre-make over hair in The Princess Diaries, but since it's on Beyoncé's head, it works. It might not for the rest of us. I'm going to try anyway.

Pharrell, meanwhile, showed a whole new side of the chapeau trend. He had two chapeau changes last night, but the one he wore while presenting/accepting awards is worth discussing. I seriously wonder if he apparated into Dumbledore's office and took the Sorting Hat off the wall before coming to the Grammy's. It's hard to tell if the chapeau or the leather Adidas bomber was the focal point for the rest of his outfit, but it doesn't really matter because Pharrell could wear a paper bag and I would a) still worship the ground the he walks on and b) think it looked awesome.

Update: more Grammy thoughts here.

Going Blonde

Sometimes I think about how badly I want to dye my hair blonde. (Context alert: I have olive skin and naturally black/v v dark brown hair). I wanted to go blonde so badly ("I wanted it to be you so badly"--name that movie) during my last week of college that I tore out magazine pictures of blonde hair on similarly dark-featured people and pasted them on my wall. A week later, I found myself in McNally Jackson's magazine section (standing next to Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone and playing it cool, mind you) writing down the names of blonde haired/olive skinned models/muses/whoever I saw in the glossy European fashion magazines that can only be found at the back of the top shelf (you know the ones, they're like $15 each.)

I got really into my dream of going blonde over the summer, threatening my bank account that I would spend my first paycheck on the mother of all dip dyes (sike! I bought these instead). But then I thought, better not. Like rediscovering a long lost love, I recently fell back into my blonde obsession. Part of it was fueled by reading about Into The Gloss's Emily Weiss/The Hills Super Intern and her double process, but I also felt like making a ch-ch-ch-change.

I found myself a little bored and unoccupied the other day during the holiday slug. I had already taken pictures of myself in Photo Booth and virtually tried on Warby Parker glasses, and I was on the prowl for a new narcissistic way to pass the time. I tried to find a virtual hair salon type thang, and I got as far as trying Gwen Stefani's hair on a picture of my face before I decided I had better things to do. Safe to say that Gwen Stefani's hair only looks good on Gwen Stefani, but I still haven't given up on going blonde.

Below: Images from my blonde book. Whatever.