Why I Stopped Wearing Babydoll Dresses

Happy day-after-St.-Patty's, everyone! I hope everyone had a safe night and enjoyed themselves. I'm feeling much better than I did as a college student/young grad students on the day after St. Patrick's Day. Maturity FTW!

In college, I went crazy for babydoll dresses. For the first time in my life, the entire fashion world was at my fingertips, by which I mean that I had a brand-new debit card and high-speed internet. I ordered babydolls from Urban Outfitters and Forever 21, and tromped all over campus in knee-high boots, tights, and my array of short jersey dresses. This was definitely a step up for me, fashion-wise: for the first few months of college, I went to class in running shoes and workout clothes, so as to not waste any time between class and the gym. My undergrad advisor actually came out of his office one day during my senior year, while I was working in the student lounge, specifically to tell me that when he first knew me, I dressed like a dork. So babydolls were a major improvement.

This black dress, for example, was a staple from around 2005 or so until I finally retired it in 2008.

Me and Socrates, down by the schoolyard...

How NOT to curl your hair

The topic of today's post is Failure. More specifically, Miserable Hair Failure. I concluded a few months ago that my hair is simply uncurlable. I lived in LA for eight years, and always seriously envied the effortless-looking, bouncy long curls that so many girls in Southern California sport. I had tried a number of times to curl it with a curling iron, but it never quite came out right, and always fell flat almost immediately. For a long time, I blamed it on my ineptitude with a curling iron, but after a good friend (with A+ hair-curling game!) kindly spent an afternoon curling my hair, only to have it revert to form before Jeff could see her handiwork, I figured curls just weren't in the cards for me. It was ok. I'd made my peace.

Then I discovered the world of vintage style blogs, with their wet set pin curls and foam roller tutorials, and began to hope. I spent an afternoon watching hair tutorials on Youtube (a first for me!) and ordered pin curl pins on Amazon. When they arrived, I rewatched this Cherry Dollface tutorial and tried out a few experimental curls. It worked! They stayed in for the entire day. Someday, when it isn't 85 degrees INSIDE my apartment despite wintery OUTDOOR temperatures, I'll do my entire head.

I mean, they stayed curly when I took them out, even if my pinning skills were below grade level.