Pretty Short

I'm breaking a tradition - writing this Saturday night instead of Sunday morning, as we have rehearsals on a Sunday morning. I've got a part in an upcoming show, a musical called All Shook Up. Its got a plot from Shakespeare and music from Elvis Presley. Its a funny show with glorious gospel-inspired arrangements for the numbers and is heaps of fun to do. More on that in future blogs.
In any case, I have a pre-dinner beer to hand so the writing will probably improve as we go along.
Been thinking about the pressure we have to be pretty all the time. Well, women anyway. Its one of those things that's so all pervading and internalised, its not something we actually talk about or acknowledge. Its just treated as a 'given', to the extent that I've seen women go to ridiculous lengths to stop their partner realising that they're not really blonde, or refusing to leave the house without full makeup.
I've realised this only recently. I got my long-ish blonde hair cut a few months ago and then about a month ago covered my highlights with a wash-out brown colour. The results were enlightening. People commented with more or less enthusiasm, depending on how they felt about it, but suddenly I felt free. Without the hair about my face and shoulders, I started to forget myself. I wasn't constantly reminded of the 'pretty pressure' and it got to feeling like I remembered as a child, when I didn't have any idea that I should look a certain way.
I can go an entire day without checking my hair or even combing it. Feeling the breeze on my neck is brilliant and its washed and dried in minutes.
One interesting reaction to the short cut was the reaction of other women - particularly married women who said 'I'd love to get my hair cut short but my husband won't let me'. What? Sorry? Won't let you? Are you a member of The Bretheren? Or the Wee Frees? Or from the 1950s? What kind of mentality has that as an excuse? If you really want to get your hair cut then do it. If a bloke chucks you because of short hair he wasn't worth it in the first place. Its always a good measure to weed out the wheat from the chaff and a short hair cut is as good a way as any. You're not giving anything up except the duff relationship - the hair will always grow back!
Or is it, as I suspect, that those women, while enjoying the idea of a short hair cut, are actually too frightened to, succumbing to the 'pretty pressure' and using their husbands as an excuse?
Its a good feeling, the short hair, but already it's growing again and I've been asked not to get it cut til after the show finishes in July. So maybe I'll end up with the long blondes again, but its been a lovely excursion to the short side!