Life has done a 180 for me lately. I used to be somewhat a woman of leisure, but I have been writing for the past couple of years. Well, I’ve been writing since I was a young child, but “writing for a living” as an adult, I would not recommend it – there’s a reason they talk of “impoverished creatives”.
However, it did allow me the time to get to the hairdresser fairly regularly, and get my nails and eyebrows done when I’d saved a bit of money or had a friend throw me a bone/freebie.
But now I’ve started my new radio show, Polly on Today FM, a side effect has been that I’m looking particularly haggard and ragged. I seem to have zero time in the day for my usual maintenance and tarting up.
I looked at myself in the mirror of my hotel room this week and thought, “Maybe it’s time to cut off my long dark hair and go short for the first time in 20 years.”
The last time I wore my hair short, I looked awful. Oh, that I was gamine like Audrey Hepburn, punky-pretty like Pink or super-stunning and symmetrical like Halley Berry. No, with short hair, I look like Jay Leno or a rugby front-row forward.
When it comes to the “ageing Radio diva Polly Gillespie reckons the rules of feminism aren’t Black Or White gracefully” jive, some of us choose to go grey, cut our hair, resist Botox, and/or forgo SNS nails and a coochie wax, which I celebrate.
But when I’ve got Michael Jackson on a bad day staring back at me in the bathroom – apparently, I literally am the Man In The Mirror – I just don’t think I’m ready to let go of my hair colouring, blowdries and waxing.
Surely the true intention and joy of feminism is that we women can age any way we bloody well like, without judgement.
If someone wants to go image minimalist, cut back and relax, then bravo! If others of us want to run about to beauty appointments, hanging on to the long hair and lashes, bravo to them too.
Don’t let anyone tell you that you need to try harder or tone it down. I’d just suggest you don’t ‘When I’ve got Michael Jackson staring back at me, I literally am The Man In The Mirror’ do what I’ve done of late and go for something in between.
It’s been my life-long dream to achieve a Nigella Lawson look, but I think I’ve ended up more like Godzilla instead.
“I must find time to get my hair done and maybe score a wee stab of Botox,” I say to myself as I moonwalk out of the bathroom.
Be sure to check out Polly’s new radio show from 8pm weeknights on Today FM.
