Straight talk about curly hair

I may have to get a perm.

I say this because I've just read about a behavioral study that aired recently on "Good Morning America." The bottom line of this odd study is that people perceive people with curly hair as more confident, independent and trustworthy.

Researchers found that employers are more likely to hire a woman with curly hair than a woman with straight hair. A "Good Morning America" reporter even put the notion to the test, meeting with job recruiters, disguised once with curly hair and once with straight locks. As a curly-headed woman recruiters described her as being more "intelligent, articulate and displaying a higher level of confidence" than when she mirrored the interview but only altered her hairstyle to straight.

The study also suggested that people with curly hair are thought of as "low maintenance," self-starters and go-getters.

Here we go again, judging a book by its cover. I've gotten along perfectly well in this world with my straight hair, with a couple of exceptions.

Right before my third-grade photo, my mother gave me a perm that made me look like some little old grandmother. Mom adored the picture; I abhorred it. Come to think of it, my mother was always trying to give me perms. Maybe she knew something I didn't.

Was I more of a self-starter and go-getter with curly hair? Hmmmm.

I rather enjoyed the 1970s, when straight hair ruled and you could jump out of bed, run a comb through your long locks and be on your way. I remember girls going to great lengths in college to straighten their hair by ironing it.

I did succumb to short, curly hair in the '80s, but, hey, it was the '80s. I can't be held responsible for a culture that lauded curly, frizzy, wild big hair for the better part of a decade. Thank goodness we had the gaudy clothes and enormous earrings to match our wild hair.

Not to be outdone, I took to the Internet to look for research about the attributes of people with straight hair. I didn't find any study per se, but I did find a Web site called bobstraighthair.com that claimed "straight-haired women have more fun." Since I'm a blonde (blondes have more fun) with straight hair, I must really be having a blast.

Bob, who calls himself as "the most experienced stylist in hair straightening," works in Beverly Hills and promotes "hot new straightening techniques" developed by the straight-haired Japanese. You go, Bob.

Hair is, of course, our crowning glory, and most of us spend way too much time in front of the mirror trying to figure out how not to have a "bad hair day." We dye it, curl it, straighten it, slick it back, pouf it up, even twist it into dreadlocks, all in the quest to look good.

Most of us (baby boomers at least) remember the theme song from "Hair," the rock musical that became a successful movie adaptation in 1979 - "Flow it, show it, long as God can grow it, my hair…"

I wonder if I still have those curlers from the '80s?

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com