What was I thinking?

What was I thinking....

I was just having a conversation with Christy about the crazy stuff we did as teens. What started this was something that happened today. See, my daughter is really into the pop music scene now. Yeah shes only seven. But to hear her tell it, with hand on the hip, shes almost eight. Well in two months she will be. Kid, believe me, you dont want to start the stuff of trying to be older now. It catches up to you. No, dont roll your eyes at me. It WILL catch up to you. Enjoy it while you can.

Today we went to the mall with my father. Entertaining as usual but something struck me. Her birthday is coming up and soon. What will I get for her. Shes really big on Hannah Montana. Everyone else on Disney as well. Nothing to do with Mickey though. Its all the teen stuff. Shes even reading BOP magazine. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I did the same thing. But Im not telling who.

So anywho, last night I bought her the new Hannah Montana CD set and put it away for her birthday. But simply cant just get her that. So I saw that KMart has all the Hannah Montana bedding on sale. I put the comforter, sheet set and another fuzzy blanket on layway. I had to. It was about $100 total. Yeah, imagine that. I dont even have bedding that expensive.

So during this conversation, we took a stroll down memory lane. What a scary trip that was. We talked about the hair and the clothes and all the wild stuff we did. I remember being in elementary school and the biggest thing for me then was horses. I had three of them so I pretty much dressed the part. Jeans and boots. I also went to a rural school too. But when 5th grade was over, I moved to the 'burbs and somehow got caught up in a whirlwind of hellish fashion trends. The first week of school in one of the ore prestige areas was completely terrifying and crazy. I learned that jeans and boots no longer existed. Its now monogramed sweaters and turtle necks with tight Jordashe jeans. Oh and on Wednesdays, the girls wore their riding outfits because that was the day they all went riding after school in a club thing. I went once. Are you for real? I know how to ride english style but this made me sick. I prefer riding western thank you. Much more easier on the back.

Anywho, time goes on. I end up in a school thats more my style. Instead of being in the upper class, Im now back to the middle class. So six months of hell was enough for me. Not that I couldnt fit in, because I did fairly well at it, I wasnt comfortable with it. But this also opened alot more doors for trends. Im in a mixed dimension here. There is punk, metal, preppy and geek all in one place. Which ever I chose will be acceptable. Well I chose metal. What? You dont think that Im a heavy metal chick? Ahhh, thats because you havent seen me that way. I lost the big hair about seven years ago. Yeah it took me that long to put away my can of hairspray and the hair pick that make it all stand up. That hairpick must have been able to walk on its own. It was so sticky with hairspray. What was I thinking?

So thinking back on the fact that my daughter is into the current teen scene, it got me thinking to my own. The music now isnt too bad. I listen to it. But then again, music is a huge part of my life. So yeah, Im up an up to date mom. However, my mom wasnt. Im sure I scared her a few times with the stuff I was blasting through the house. Im sure I gave her a few heartattacks when I dressed to go out. I think back on those outfits and I think I scare myself. For school, I pretty much wore tight jeans and the spike heeled boots. You wouldnt catch me wearing Members Only. Oh no. That was a no-no in my closet. Although I do know what that all is and I had some friends that wore it. I wasnt in any particular clique. I hung out with just about everyone. But I do have a few people on here that know me in person and knew me in person then. You know who you are. He he he.

But then there comes the big hair. This was not an easy task. I think the worst part of it was waking up in the morning and your head is still the same as it was when you went to bed. This shit didnt move. A gust of wind was no match for AquaNet in the light blue can or Rave No.4. And if your hair did get messed up in your sleep, it was hell and high water to get that crap out of it. Funny thing is though, I never used mousse. What the hell was that stuff anyway? It just made my hair even more stickier. Goopy stuff that comes out like shaving cream should not be placed on the head unless you expect something weird to happen.

So the first step is to go into the shower and wash your hair like three times to get all that crap out. And dont forget to condition your hair at least twice. If you dont, then all the perms and hairspray will literally eat it off. Oh dont forget the perms. You HAD to have one to be able to get this right. I think what scared me the most was that the guys during this ear had bigger hair than the chicks did. And they wore more makeup. Freaky I know. But remember that we drooled over them. And some of us still do. Im not saying names. You know who you are. And the guys wore jeans so tight you could see... oh never mind. Lost my train of thought there for a second.

Anywho, now that you are done with the shower. What? No Im not going to finish telling you everything I did in there. I shaved my legs. Happy now? Bah... Shut up. Im not telling you so stop begging. lolol. So anywho, before I was interupted, you have to start with the makeup. CoverGirl eyeliner in the little red pencils was the choice. But you had to melt the tips before using. The black stuff went on easier if you did. I had to explain this to my mom of why I needed a lighter. And I kept it in my makeup bag. Shhhh. I had another in my purse for other things. More makeup I swear. I had to do touch ups during the day.

So now you have the makeup thing going. And dont forget the pink blush. Now comes the hair. I have straight hair. There in nothing going to happen to it if I didnt do all that crap first. It just doesnt go the way you want it to. And that way was up. I have baby fine hair but I have alot of it. So it pretty much was just flat and straight. So off to the salons for perms. This killed my hair. Which is why I had to soak it in conditioner all the time. Anyways, you towel dry your hair and now it looks like someone put you through electric shock therapy. Its everywhere. You now have two choices, let it dry like this and spray it up that way or you took a brush to it and a blow dryer and pray for the best. I chose a blow dryer because I was too lazy and slept later in the mornings. I didnt have time to let it dry on its own.

After its dry and somewhat styled, you took a curling iron to it. You didnt curl it though. You seperated the top into rows all the way back. During this process, you lifted the hair straight up and then sprayed it. After all the rows were done, you then picked it all out. Only the top had a small curl in it so that when it was picked out, it curled torwards the back and sides. What a friggin' process this was. Took hours to get it all done. But you cant leave a hair out of place.

Now comes the time to get dressed. This was yet another process. Jeans. Skin tight jeans. Ones that you put on wet and let dry to your skin. You were lucky that you could sit down without your legs busting out straight in front of you. But you had to make sure that you put your shoes on first before you pulled them up. If you didnt, you would be in deep trouble trying to do so. You cant bend over. There is no way, no how to do this any other way. Its why 80s sports cars had the seat so low to the floor because you just cant sit in an upright position. Your legs have to extend in front of you. But now comes the hard part. Zipping them up. You had to lay flat on your back on your bed to be able to do so. You sucked in your breath and prayed that you didnt catch skin in the zipper. And to think that we make fun of women in the 1800s for wearing corsets. We cant breathe in tight jeans.

So now you are ready for the scene. Dont forget your jean or leather jacket. And dont forget to roll the sleeves up to mid forearm. And you have to have some sort of design on them. I had patches of various bands or I drew them on with colored markers. Or someone else drew something on them. And there was even a time we wore a bandana wrapped around the knee or over the cuff of the boot.

Now you are in school. There is a trick to keeping this look all day. You had to sit at your desk with a compact mirror to make sure you still had on all that makeup. Even at lunch time, you usually washed it off and added a new coat of it. But you never had to redo your hair. You simply ducked into the bathroom and just stood there. Everyone else in there was fixing their hair and you would catch the mist while standing behind someone else that was at the mirror. Worked perfectly. But the trick was that you had to be able to see in there. The room was clouded over with smoke and hairspray. Its a wonder that no one caught fire. That room and the ones surrounding it would have and should have exploded into the next town.

You wouldnt be caught riding a bus either. That was a no-no. Everyone had cars. And even a numbered parking spot. This and the smoking area had to be approved by your parents. And little stickers were placed on you student ID card. But..... yes this is a but...I was in the AV club that did this service. I myself and alot of friends had these stickers without parental approval. Seems funny how the freshmen were also allowed into the senior lounge huh? Ahhh the joys of that.

Its funny how I can look back on all this and think of how the hell I survived it. I know there are still a few of my friends that still havent quite let go of this era. Hell, even the stores are selling 80s stuff again. But it seems to be that bright colored stuff worn by those that wee into the whole punk and pop scene. Flash backs of WHAM scare me. I didnt like them then and I damn sure wont like them now.

But one trend is still out there. The studded belts and arm bands. I wore them. Sometimes four or five belts at a time. These were not worn to hold your pants up. They did that on their own. But you wore them hanging loose over your hips. Some crossed and some didnt. Depeneded on what you wore with them. Im sure that I gave my mom a hell of a scare when I went out to hang with friends or to concerts. You can look up these looks by just googling the bands that were popular then. I would do it myself but I may have too many flashbacks. I would also add some of the things we did for fun but that would only get me into trouble. I swear I was a good girl.