There were reactions at three stages of my sponsored haircut: the announcement, the perm, and the final cut.
The reaction to the announcement was generally impressive – nearly £2000 raised for charity so far. The kids at school got really into it, understandably – seeing a teacher with a stupid haircut is worth paying some money for! Friends were superb – mental gifts of up to £100, people who I’d only met twice gave money, some people who I hadn’t seen in years popped up and shoved in a tenner. Brilliant response. The staff at school were mostly disappointing. My department gave generously, as did a handful of others, but most people just didn’t. This disappointed me as I can only put it down to laziness.
The reaction to the perm was hilarious – friends laughed a lot and gave good banter, people were keen to see photos. Kids at school couldn’t believe it – some were literally in tears, some collapsed against walls laughing, some couldn’t speak for minutes. I must admit, I didn’t expect quite such a strong reaction, but was glad to be able to entertain!
The reaction to the final cut was the most interesting. The number of people who have said ‘it looks really good’, ‘it really suits you’, or ‘you look so much younger’, or who have asked if I like it, was astounding. People genuinely think that I care what they think about how I look! I do care about how I look, but I don’t really care about what people think about how I look. Sorry. It worries me how much of a fuss people have made over my physical appearance in the last 10 days or so. Yes, I look different. Get over it. There is no need to keep commenting on it a week later, when you’ve seen me several times that week. I can understand that it looks different, but there is no need to keep saying it. Please find something more interesting about me to comment on. My hair is one of the most uninteresting things about me.
On a hair related note, thanks should go to my former housemate Simon McConway for the idea of having a competition between different hairstyles to raise money, my sister Jenny for taking all the photos, East Durham College for doing the perm for free, and James Rainey for the final cut.
