I’ve always been semi-irritated, semi-amused by celebrity photos shoots that make a big fuss about their subjects being sans fards — wearing no makeup. Maybe it’s because I work for myself, and most days I don’t wear any makeup (or even much in the way of clothing). I see myself bare-faced all the time, so I don’t need to take a picture of it.
That said, I did wind up taking a sans fards photo yesterday — one that was much better than the typical front-facing-camera, double-chinned surprise shot — while I made numerous attempts to get this photo of my natural hair texture.
I was taking the hair photo because I have an appointment for a keratin hair-straightening treatment and whenever I tell people that I do that — and that in between keratins, I use a flat iron — they always ask, “Why? Your hair is perfectly straight!” Nope! As you can see, my hair is wavy, and wavy is unpredictable. If I leave my hair wavy, I can wind up with five different hairstyles in one day, depending on the humidity of the space I’m in. I like my hair to be consistently straight, like one of my hair icons …
… or consistently curly, like it was after a perm in 1995. This is still my favorite ‘do ever.
Anyway, the photo below is both sans fards and sans keratin, but it’s not #NoFilter because — as a decades-older man once helpfully reminded me — I’m no spring chicken anymore.
The right side of my hair is wavier, but, if you follow me on my personal Instagram, you’ve probably noticed that my right side is like the dark side of the moon. You know it’s there — you just never see it.
I believe that the last time I went through a big natural-hair phase was in 2005.
Vintage Ossie Clark dress in 2005.
Looking back at photos from that year …
Another vintage Ossie Clark dress in 2005.
… makes me want to passionately kiss my flat iron!
The vintage Ossie Clark dress from the first 2005 photo on another day that year. I was just trying on the striped sweater for fun.
Sorry, hair guru Keith Carpenter, but you’re not going to convince me to go natural again. Keep trying, though!