A Professor's Hair Diary

I've about given up on my hair experiment for the semester. The problem isn't the hairstyles, it's finding someone to take the pictures.
Grace has moved out, and many mornings, my husband decides to catch a later bus, so he is still in bed when I'm running out the door to work.
It seems selfish to force him out of bed on a chilly morning just to take my picture. I've tried asking the barista at Starbucks to take it if she's not busy, or the secretary in the English Department at school, but it all seems a little ridiculous.
I try taking the picture myself, but it just doesn't work out.

Like the time I tried to do two braids and then pin them up on either side.

I ended up doing one ponytail braid.

Another day I did a loose side braid and took a picture of myself in the classroom after all the students had left.

Monday, I did a ponytail and walked to work. Enjoying some of the lights on the 4-mile trek, but my hair was a real wreck afterwards . Must have been a lot of moisture in the air.

Wednesday I did a high bun that I bobby pinned down. I tried to take a selfie while sitting in the bookstore study area, but I don't think you can even see the bun.

It's all been too much to worry about, perhaps. But I am eventually going to figure out how to do a milkmaid braid, like this:

A Professor's Hair Diary -- Week 5

Four weeks into the semester, I've successfully worn a different hairstyle for each day of class -- that's 14 days out of 45.

My goal is to wear a different hairstyle every day I teach. I'm sharing on Instagram, where you'll find me @runningfan63 and on Twitter @paulitakincer. If you want to hear more about my crazy scheme, you can find the original post on my blog A Professor's Hair Diary.
"Did you get a haircut?" a male student who hadn't been in class for more than a week asked me.
"No, my hair is up," I said, turning around for him to see the back.
And that is as close as I got to a student noticing that I have warn my hair different every day of the semester so far.
On Monday, I wore a bubble ponytail. That's a pony tail with extra ponytail holders so that a bubble of hair is created between each one. Fat braids or ponytails are in this year, so any time you make a braid or a bubble, you are supposed to tug at it to make it fatter.

On Wednesday, I braided the sides and connected them to a braid in the back over my waterfall of wavy hair.

On Friday, I created a braided bun with three braids, each of them pinwheeled next to each other at the nape of my neck. I also twisted the sides before braiding them.

One more week down. I'm almost a third of the way done for the semester.

A Professor's Hair Diary Week 4

Four weeks into the semester, I've successfully worn a different hairstyle for each day of class -- that's 11 days out of 45.

My goal is to wear a different hairstyle every day I teach. I'm sharing on Instagram, where you'll find me @runningfan63 and on Twitter @paulitakincer. If you want to hear more about my crazy scheme, you can find the original post on my blog A Professor's Hair Diary.

"Did you do something different to your hair?" the garrulous student who sits in the front row called out at the same time that another student said,"Your hair looks nice."
Finally, during Week 4, my students had noticed and commented on my hair. Unfortunately, it didn't have anything to do with an elaborate hairstyle,  like the kinds I'd been wearing for four weeks. The comments came the day after I got a haircut and the stylist straightened it.
I would have gotten a comment from a student even if I'd worn my hair the exact same way every day - down and curly.
I do love having my hair straightened though. I felt quite beautiful with my long, flowing locks on the walk home

My hair is generally just below my shoulders when it's curly, but it reaches to the middle of my back, past my shoulder blades when it's straightened. Sometimes I feel like it's choking me at night as strands get wrapped around my throat.
So, after four weeks of hairstyles, my students noticed a difference, but they haven't noticed all the carefully sculpted hairstyles -- a different one every day.
Technically, the comment, "Did you do something different to your hair?" is kind of insulting since I've done something different every day.
Here are the pictures from this week.
Monday I wore a side bun. I rolled the sides and gathered my hair into a bun on the right side of the back of my head.

On Wednesday was the noticeable straight hair.

On Friday, I tried four or five different hairstyles before I ended up just pulling the sides back in a barrette.

That's it for this week's Professor's Hair Diary. Thanks for hanging around. I hope I can stick to it. I may be losing enthusiasm. 

Three Weeks of A Professor's Hair Diary

Three weeks into the semester, I've successfully worn a different hairstyle for each day of class -- that's 8 days out of 45.

My goal is to wear a different hairstyle every day I teach. I'm sharing on Instagram, where you'll find me @runningfan63 and on Twitter @paulitakincer. If you want to hear more about my crazy scheme, you can find the original post on my blog A Professor's Hair Diary. And the first week post at Week 1.
 I thought I'd catch you up on the past two weeks.

Week Two we only had class two days because of Labor Day. 

Grace did this side-braided bun on Wednesday. 

Then on Friday, she twisted the sides and created a rose in the back. 

Next we moved on to Week Three on Monday.

This is a braided headband. 

As I look at all these pictures of my  hair, I realize that parts of it have really gotten redder or lighter from the sun. Never fear, I'm going to the hair stylist next week and she can hopefully rectify that. 

This is the first day I've had to do my hair myself because Grace left for a trip to Dublin and London. I fell back on a traditional French twist. The filter I used on instagram makes it look a little purplish. 

On Friday, I tried a complicated, basket-weave type hairstyle. Because my hair is curly (or because I did it wrong?) it doesn't look the same. Basically I created four pony tails on the back of my head and tucked them through, then separated them and curled them under at the sides. It looks a bit of a mess, doesn't it? 

Here's the original photo of what it should have looked like. 

But  you can see she did it on a mannequin and I don't have mannequin hair. I get my hair cut on Tuesday and since she usually straightens it, I could try this hairstyle again and see if it is more successful. Or would that be cheating to use the same style?

When I finished working on my hair that morning, I felt like I'd had quite a workout. 

After three weeks of different hairstyles, none of my students have noticed or said anything, including four students who had me for class in previous semesters. 

I did have one student who told me she liked my hair when I wore it in the French twist, so at least she noticed something. 

A Professor's Hair Diary -- Week 1

Here I am on the last day of the first week of the semester, having completed three days of classes with three different hairstyles.

My goal is to wear a different hairstyle every day I teach. I'm sharing on Instagram, where you'll find me @runningfan63 and on Twitter @paulitakincer. If you want to hear more about my crazy scheme, you can find the original post on my blog A Professor's Hair Diary. 

I figured that each Friday, I can summarize the hairstyles here on my blog.

I started on Monday simply wearing my hair down and curly. I always straighten my bangs because they drive me crazy. 

On Wednesday, I dragged Grace out of bed and had her give me an upside-down braid that ended in a curly ponytail. The braid was a French braid and might have stood out more if was a reverse French braid, with the hair going under instead of over. Funny thing, that's how my mother learned to braid, so whenever she braided my hair, at my request, she braided it under long before it became popular.

By the time I finished teaching around 2 p.m., my head was aching from the braid pulling on it. I took it down as soon as I got home.

Today, I rousted Grace from bed again and she created a twisted tuck bun. 

None of my students have mentioned my hairstyles, but a student in the elevator gushed about my hair. And several of my colleagues admired today's style, giving me a chance to invite them to follow me on Instagram and Twitter. They immediately began to doubt that I'll be able to find 45 different hairstyles throughout the semester. Time will tell.

Also, Grace downloaded an app to my phone that allowed me to show two pictures simultaneously. I'm definitely learning from this experience.
I'll update you again next week.

A Professor's Hair Diary

A few weeks ago, I came up with the scheme of fixing my hair a different way for every day of the semester.

I teach Monday, Wednesday and Friday at one of my colleges beginning at 8 a.m. I plan to wear my hair down and curly -- natural -- the first day. Then after that I hope to wear a different hairstyle every day.
I'll capture the look on Instagram, which is now connected to my Twitter account, so if you want to follow along, my Instagram account is @runningfan63 and my Twitter account is @paulitakincer.
Grace has set up a Pinterest board with different ideas to try, and my hairstyles should get pretty elaborate quickly because Grace is leaving on Sept. 13. That means I'll only have her here to help me with my hair for a few weeks.
In addition to the challenge of trying to come up with a different hairstyle three times a week for 15 weeks, I wonder how long it will take the students to notice.
One of my teaching friends predicts they will never realize that my hair is different each time I come to class. I say they will.
My students have commented before if I start the semester wearing dresses every day and then switch to pants when it gets colder.
This morning, the day before classes begin, with seven total classes to teach, the whole idea is daunting, but hopefully the hairstyle meme will keep me enthused throughout the semester.