HAIR!

Sorry for the delay I will have a couple of really great blog posts  for you over the next week or so including a review of a fantastic new book by Lee Harrington (one of our own Femmes Guide bloggers), as well as a preview of Johnny Blazes solo show “wo(n)man show” which will be up at the WOW Cafe here in NYC next month. Johnny and I met performing together with The Femme Show a couple of years ago and I’m so excited to see this newest work!

i’m working on this blog while my wonderful partner  (seriously the best butch in the world who just got pink on hir hands just for me   )bleaches the roots of my little pink streaks in the back of my head. Here’s a picture that shows the pink on one side.

In my younger and punker days my hair was dyed into a rainbow of colors. This coincided with my living as a butch and then as an FTM all sorts of short punky cuts to accompany the variety of colors that streaked the bathroom tubs of the various houses and apartments I lived in during those years. When I came out as femme I had bi-hawks and dyed them hot pink (chemical burning my scalp in the process) and was in heaven. At that time, claiming my identity through the way I styled my hair felt important. When I came out as femme I pretty immediately started wishing my hair was long again too. The pink bi-hawks pulled into little pigtails with glittering hair clips in them satisfied me for a while but then I knew the time had come to start growing, and believe me it took a long time. Growing my hair out took me about 2.5-3 years. During that time there were months I couldn’t stand looking in a mirror because the growth was so awkward (made more awkward by the fact i refused to cut my bi-hawks when I started growing because it would have meant shaving all my hair). Now, 4 years later I can pretty safely say that my hair is considered “long” by most anyone who sees it, and thanks to some pretty aggressive trimming a few years ago all of the damaged parts from the bi-hawks are long cut out. Although my hair had grown a lot there still felt like there was something missing, I knew that I wanted….no, I needed to be pink. Not all pink, just a little touch in places, and for my birthday (last may) I got my wish.

Since the spring I’ve been rocking two little pink streaks in the back of my head and loving them! For me, hair has been an important signifier both to myself and to the world about my identity as femme. Having long hair makes me feel more femme.  and the pink streaks are really the icing on the cupcake that is my life is a femme

I don’t know any femme that doesn’t have a story about hair (two artists i performed with in  The Femme Show had entire performance pieces dedicated to their relationships around their hair). There are femmes I know who feel most powerful in their identity when their heads are shaved, for others it’s with wigs and hair extensions (those were my saviors through some rough months of hair growth). I’m rocking my gray streak in my bangs (had it since high school) while I know other femmes who wouldn’t be caught dead with gray hair. What about you? Do you have a story about your hair? Is it part of how you conceptualize your gender?

Last 5 posts by Sassafras

• One Freak Show! - March 6th, 2010
• K.D. Lang at the Olympics *fans my femme self* - February 13th, 2010
• Sacred Kink - February 13th, 2010
• The Big Book of Sex Toys - February 8th, 2010
• Femme Conference 2010 - January 24th, 2010