The rationale I heard was: the higher the hair, the closer to God.
He was one that instantly leapt to my mind when I saw this thread.
Wouldn’t ‘bouffant’ be a handy descriptor here?
Same here.
Hair that looks like it spent hour’s being “done”. Plasticky, too much product, just not the way hair actually looks.
JFK had it too.
I have to say that this board is the only place I’ve heard the actual phrase “American hair”. Owlstretchingtime was always banging on about it. But I knew what he meant, and yeah, think John Kerry. Or that sports presenter off the Simpsons. Not Kent Brockman, the one with the crash helmet haircut.
Also known as “Bullet-proof cliff bangs”.
It was breifly actually in style sometime in the 80’s.
Unlike parachute pants, it failed to die and has become the zombie of hair fashion.
Plus, there’s the whole “the higher the hair, the closer to God” vibe. My aunt actually believes that. This made my mother roll her eyes behind my aunt’s back.
We always just called it “Big Hair.” In my family it was considered a redneck, church-going kind of thing. We used a woman from my church as the perfect example. She had hair that required FAA approval.
It pulls focus away from the black, painted-on eyebrows.
So did Stalin. And Queen Elizabeth.
Oh, sorry. We’re supposed to be slagging Americans here. I’ll try to get in the spirit.
I’m Dutch, and once I read a book on “When Dutch, how to adapt to other cultures if you want to do business”.
The book actually recommended that Dutch persons in the southern USA-states who wanted to appear sharp and successfull, would visit an American hairdresser before a meeting with a prospective businesspartners.
American hair just doesn’t come naturally in our rainy, windy country.