Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Fanfic Related Need some input for a possible fic idea.

Boy, I have a totally different perspective. My mom cut my hair short every summer until I was a freshman in high school, so I never had long hair until then. Moreover, my hair grows so slowly that my hair could never get further than mid-back length before the old hairs died. As a result, I usually get tired of the intermediate stages and cut it again. So I can't even imagine feeling traumatized by having my hair cut.

I throw this in, Tank, so you realize that the reaction will depend on the character. As far as it being a forcible act, I think a character like Lois (who almost shrugs off escapes from death--i.e. she doesn't need therapy to deal with it) might compare it to what she had feared would happen (rape, torture) and figure she'd gotten the good end of the bargain. That doesn't mean she wouldn't be mad as hell at whoever did it and make plans to get her revenge as soon as she is free, but, frankly, Lois doesn't get traumatized by stuff that would send the rest of us into therapy for the remainder of our lives. Picture "Return of the Prankster": under that yellow light, Kyle and Victor undressed her and posed her in the middle of the newsroom, and all she did was take Clark's offered jacket and say, "Jimmy, give me back my dress," as she stormed off to plot how to have her revenge on Griffin when they captured him.

Just my 2 cents.

Like Sheila, I don't have the same emotional attachment to my hair as other posters and I agree with her about Lois. I don't think it would be a huge deal to her. If someone did it without her say-so, I think she'd be mad as hell and look out whoever was foolish enough to wield the scissors. But I don't think she'd be affected beyond that. This is someone, I feel, who would grab the scissors herself and chop her hair if it was necessary for a disguise to get that Kerth, and then worry about fixing it later, so I can't visualise her having a devastating emotional reaction to it being cut, per se.

Although I don't have the same emotional attachment to my hair as other posters, I've enjoyed the posts in this thread. All very interesting!

At the moment, I have the opposite response to most of you. I spent all of last year with my fast-growing hair irritating the heck out of me by constantly growing halfway down my back and getting annoying. When my hair annoys me that way, I have the very bad habit of getting to the point where I just grab some scissors and hack off several inches. After about a year of that, I finally got to the point of no return where there was simply no style left. Fortunately, it only takes a phone call to my sister-in-law to sort it out. <g>

She cut it to the nape of my neck a couple of weeks ago, in a Lois bob, and I cannot tell you how good that feels. I don't like my hair very short but I love how I can just wash it at this length and it practically falls into place without even having to blow-dry it. It helps to have a great cut, too, of course.

<happy sigh>

LabRat

One of my darling daughters decided to cut her sister's hair last summer. She was seven at the time and was playing with her dolls. She had them all lined up for haircuts when her 5 yr-old sister got in the line. 5 yr-old wanted to pretend but backed out quickly when she realized the 7 yr-old was really going to do it. There was pushing, screaming and yanking. Since the girls play so loudly and dramatically, James and I didn't notice anything out of place for a long time. It wasn't until I realized that two-year old's braid was missing. (It was her second birthday and the very first time her hair had been braided.)

It took weeks for the family to get over things. Admittedly, it took the longest for me to recover than anyone else. I characterized it as a form of assault. She was held down while something was taken from her.

After the fact it was like reliving it over and over again everytime we went someplace new, since her appearance was noticably changed and everyone commented on it.

I also had a haircut once where the stylist told me that what I asked for was way out-of-date. She proceeded to cut it the way she wanted. (I blame too many cable shows for that kind of attitude.) The hardest thing then was to feel the wind on the back of my neck. It also felt so odd to go to bed at night.


Elisabeth

I was combing my hair this morning when it occured to me that I never answered the original question. When my 5-yr-old had her hair focibly cut she felt very ashamed, even if it wasn't her fault. (Possibly because she had gone along with it for awhile, but then backed out. Possibly she would have felt shamed anyway just because of her temperment.)

My 2-yr-old felt very angry. She didn't understand completely what happened, but it made her mad all the same. At random times for the next ten days or so she would cross her arms and start saying the meanest things she could think of about her sister. (To the unitiated, ten days is a HUGE attention span for a 2-yr-old.)

I grieved, but it wasn't over the loss of the hair persay. It was the fact that she had been wronged and there was no way to make it right. Their hair was cut at the beginning of last July. While my 5-yr-old only had her hair cut from waist-length to halfway down her back, the 2-yr-old would have looked much stranger if we fixed it. So, while it is straighter than it was last summer, it'll be another year before the left side matches the right.

You'd have to talk to James about how he felt. At the time it was obvious he was pretty angry, but I can't say if it was because he was the parent of the victim or because he was the parent of the offender or both.

In short, the responses varied greatly from one person to the next. I suppose it would be similar to any other assault, since a forced haircut is much the same as any other way a woman is overpowered and violated. Remember, it's not always about the hair. Sometimes it's about more than that.


Elisabeth
P.S. Bethy, my hair takes much longer to style at a short length than a moderately long length. I donate it every three years, so in that third year it takes a long time to work with. (It gets too dry and it takes longer to get the knots out.) In that last year, I've found that if I take three minutes to braid it before I go to bed it saves me fifteen to twenty minutes of messing with it in the morning.

Elisabeth,

Aww, your poor girls! My sister was bald until she was two, so people thought she was a boy until she was three. Even in her pink overalls.

You said: My thing with it long is that I don't "stlye" - I use conditioner, brush, blowdry bent over with the hair all hanging down, flip back rightside up, brush, part, go. Then again, when I decide to do a french braid and tuck the end up underneath to look professional...*that* takes forever. But for some reason, the styling involved in drying short (layered, particularly) hair takes me eons and never turns out well.

Hence the desire to avoid post-Season2-Lois haircuts. Until I grow out my shaved head (someday), of course.

Bethy

I like to thank everyone who chimed in on this little exercise. Your input is most appreciated.

I tend to agree with several others that even if Lois' hair is forcebly cut against her will, she'd be able to handle it less 'trauma' then most mere mortals. Still, she is a beautiful woman and she has to be aware of the effect such a circumstance would have on her 'image'.

It seems that most of the comments indicated that the strongest emotions were dealing with the aftermath of the haircut rather than the actual deed. The insecurity over whether or not they still 'looked good' with their new do was the over riding fear.

It's something to think about.

Thanks again.

Tank (who figures he can always just wait until Bethy decides to shave her head and go from there)