ROLE MODELS | SOCIETAL PRESSURES
“It’s only pretty recently that I’ve begun to feel attractive. It began when my hair started turning silver. I was never a painted lady. I've always felt totally natural though. A group of us used to hike, exercise and walk together, and this young woman came up to me and said, 'When I get to be your age, I want to be just like you!' At first I gave her a hard time about calling me an old lady, but isn't that what it's all about? Being our best and having something to give to others? It made me really happy that she could see me as a role model."
“Nanny had this farm in San Pedro, California, a little south of L.A. She had chickens and raised corn. I saw her slaughter a chicken once. Yeah! And she had gray hair. And I loved her. She was like a monument to me."
"My role models were true to themselves, however that manifests. Many of them let their hairstyle evolve with them.”
“My mother was completely white by the time she was 33. She loved her hair. It made her stand out in our little town. She was my role model for my hair. The color of my mother's hair was moonlight. And she never colored it. Back then, only bad girls did that."
“There was a lady who just stopped me and said, 'I want to let you know, I think your hair is so beautiful.' She was probably a twenty-something-year-old-woman with red, funky, crazy hair. These kids play with their hair so much, all the different colors and styles. She used her hair as an accessory, as an extension of herself. That she commented on it, kind of felt good. Yeah, I have made a choice about how you're viewing me."