August 28th, 2021 @ 1:25 am

touching on the last post…  i just read a guy’s zine i recently purchased and he mentioned about people who wear band merch being “a signifier for teenagers and a way of finding people like yourself”.  howeverrrrrrr, i’m still stuck on this – adults can still do this too.  i think we should be able to.  i mean, i still go to shows, and i like talking to people and finding new friends with that interest.  some of us haven’t outgrown the subculture we blossomed our social lives in, or the music.

a lot of my friends were getting married and having kids, so i need to replace them with other people since apparently that life automatically = no more going to shows.  i am not married and absolutely do not want to have children (at least the natural way, and even then, the window is closing and i don’t feel ready financially, but i digress…), so that does not stop my desire to go to shows and have fun.

he didn’t touch on it the pissed off way that i would, mainly bc he was talking in the past tense, but i just wanted to clarify and add to the last post, since i just sounded like a large asshole (which i am, and i don’t regret what i said, i just wanted to add to it).

***

if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s probably a duck.  if i see someone with crazy dyed hair and a specific band shirt, one would think i found someone in my subculture to befriend.  i am not saying i’m not friends with plenty of non-punk/alt folks – I AM…  sports folks, preppy folks, emo folks, parental folks, old folks, etc. – but if i see someone with a misfits or joy division shirt (popular examples of exploitation of *eDgY fAsHuN* or the ol’ “i just liked the design”), i want them to know wtf it is.  if i talk to them, i want them to have an opinion about glenn, the M25 lineup days, graves, samhain/danzig and what they thought of the reunion shows.  i want someone to talk to about the different versions of “ceremony” and songs other than “love will tear us apart” THAT ISN’T EVEN FUCKING ON UNKNOWN PLEASURES.

i wanted to add slayer tees into this mix, but i feel so betrayed finding out tom araya is a practicing catholic that i just can’t even with them anymore.  it was as bad as finding out robert smith’s favorite season is the summer while reading lol tolhurst’s book about the cure.

THE SUMMER?!  WHAT IN THE ACTUAL FUCK?
(it’s supposed to be autumn, duh.)

anyway, this is how we build friendships in my subculture.  when a person is wearing these things and not knowing what they are, it’s misleading and annoying.  it legit takes two seconds to google what a shirt means.  if you can’t understand that, you are a bonehead.

August 14th, 2021 @ 11:57 pm

i just got an email from a disgruntled reader of the old URC blog via comment… and lolololol!

i disabled the blog when the pandemic started bc i wasn’t doing events and i wasn’t updating it all that often (in shocking news).  anyways, the post was about how much i loathe the lame influencer terms the internet and IG has given us like “mermaid hair”, and was also about how annoying, try-hard poser/”edgy” goons that dye their hair punk colours are.

actually, tbh, it was more complaining about the term mermaid hair more than just straight up bashing people left right and sideways.  mermaids don’t actually have fun coloured hair.  in fact, MERMAIDS AREN’T REAL.  that’s besides the point.  any movies i’ve ever seen with mermaids, mermaids on tv, mermaids in cartoons, in books, etc. all have natural hair colours.  do a google image search!  all the images aside from corny/modern day influencers is all normal hair colours.

anyways, i made someone mad (wahhhhhhhhhhhhh!)… here’s the hysterical/defensive comment i received on it (IN ALL CAPS!):

“SPEAKING OUT THIS WAY FOR A SUBCULTURE BUILT ON NOT CARING WHAT OTHER PEOPLE THINK SEEMS VERY HYPOCRITICAL. IT’S JUST A TERM TO DESCRIBE A CERTAIN COLOR METHOD WHICH MANY PEOPLE WHO LIKE TO DYE THEIR HAIR WEIRD COLORS TRY. PUNK PEOPLE ARE NOT THE ONLY PEOPLE WHO USE UNNATURAL HAIR COLORS AND CALLING YOURSELF A PUNK/ THINKING YOU’RE A BADASS WON’T SAVE YOU FROM REALITY. POSERS ARE PEOPLE WHO TRY TO TELL OTHER PEOPLE HOW TO THINK AND BELITTLE PEOPLE FOR THEIR PERSONAL OPINIONS.”

***

first off, mermaid hair is not a method – it’s an umbrella term and hashtag that colorists use to spread a specific coloring trend, so her argument is absolutely stupid.  secondly, my post was simply pointing out that a) mermaids do not have rainbow hair and b) a street punk gal with a pink chelsea cut probably can’t and wouldn’t want to socially relate to a chick that uses a damn curling iron on her new, blown out, healthy pastel pink and lavender hair.

hey, you know what… maybe i’m wrong, maybe crust punks would love to socialize with girls that primarily shop at zara and listen to tay swift, wtf do i know?

anyways, ignoring the poor, angry grammar displayed there, all i can really conclude FROM THIS VERY ANGRY AND DEFENSIVE COMMENT is that either this person does hair (“fashun hurr”) or is one of the basic betches that likes to dye their hair “fashion colours” and doesn’t apply to an alternative subculture.

i didn’t bother approving it bc my blog is disabled, but i just don’t have the patience to go back and forth with online, butt-hurt goons via email.  i do have this person’s IP address/location (in good ol north carolina)… maybe i’ll just block her.  the less morons, the better.

regarding her comment whining about a subculture built on not caring what other people think:  i hate to break it to her, but punk is dead.  it’s been dead… and by the time it got to me coming up with it in the early 90s, it was dead and buried and hanging on in some weird ghost shell of itself.  alls i know is that the 70s/80s punks might not have cared (they were an entirely different breed), but the 90s absolutely cared.  there’s a reason the word poser exists, and it sure as shit aint me.  where do you think i learned the term from?  i didn’t make that shit up… i learned it in the 90s.

manic panic started in the 70s and was most likely the go-to for ages.  punk people are absolutely the only people aside from rad new wave people or goths of the 80s that dyed their hair crazy colours, up until just about a decade ago.  metal heads didn’t even do it back then.  in fact, i rarely even had raver friends that dyed their hair weird colours on the regs in the 90s/early 00s.  sure, they did pop up every now and again but for the most part, it was regular ol hair hues.  I’M TALKING NYC RAVERS…  the only other time anyone saw rainbow hair were either on the goth/vampire kids, on wigs, or rad chicks of colour donning red or dark purple.  so yeah, *this bAdAsS pOsEr* def recalls reality a lot better than whoever this ding dong is.

also: i love belittling posers that try to look like something they’re not and will absolutely do it whenever possible.  i will never outgrow this shit, it’s embedded into my brain.  why try to be something you’re not?  if you’re not authentic, wtf do you have in life?  just bc i struck a nerve, doesn’t mean you have to reach out to a person like an unhinged nut.  spewing that shit to me just made me giggle.  i am a cranky, piece of shit, punk new yorker…

go suck wind, lol.

July 26th, 2021 @ 11:37 pm

have you ever felt a surge of creativity but don’t know where tf to put it?

that’s been me all week.

• i have 6 inches of virgin hair i’m trying to grow out for color correction and i’m dying to bleach my entire head and dye it all greens vs my usual split, but i’ll never be able to match up my bum ass hair to my virgin hair.  i don’t have the patience to do it all myself.
• i have been putting off building or buying a new lightbox for my jewelry, but i have new stuff that i made.
• i’ve needed to do my nails for like two weeks, but i keep finding things are getting in the way.  working out, hair wash day, going out, watching sports, making jewelry…
• i’ve been meaning to make some new wallpapers, and i’ve only churned out like 10 in the last month.
• i’ve been looking through my computer at old websites/graphic design and it makes me miss building out those types of layouts/making that type of art.  i barely even collage anymore…
• i’ve been meaning to start acrylic pouring, and i just don’t, bc do i need ANOTHER hobby?

i’ve also been meaning to hang out/meet up with like 15 of my peoples, and between the stress of oscar’s health and the most disgusting soup bowl summer weather, i’ve been a hermit.

i mean, i don’t really feel like being around most people bc of this damn pandemic not being over.  i don’t care if i’m vaccinated, who knows who is bringing this damn delta variant around.  i keep having people i know that are traveling… and no offense, but i don’t have an interest with co-mingling with anyone who has gone to florida in the last 6 months [barf].

i really wish public places, venues and arenas kept up with the whole segregating unvaccinated folks.  make a universal vaccine app for proof already…  when i went to a ranger game this year, they scanned in my excelsior pass and i strolled right in, no prob.  it’s not a big deal.  it pisses me off that we’re not using it bc i went to my first mets game this year a few weeks ago, and noooooooobody was wearing masks.  i don’t believe in this honor system shit.  they had vaxed and unvaxed folks mixed – they lifted the segregated area for the unvaxed…  like, if you want to act like an ignorant goon, you should be treated like one.  the kiddos should have been shoved into a quarantine corner by themselves.

a bunch of my friends and i have tickets to go see dropkick/rancid in a few weeks and i’m like UGH, ew.  how am i supposed to wear a mask in a punk pit in the middle of the summer (it’s outside)?  i wish they were requiring vaccinations to get in…  blegh.

even going to the grocery store/target/etc. people are walking around with no masks on… it’s disgusting.  these fucking idiots are making me so anxious.  i feel like this shit is never gonna go away.

October 15th, 2020 @ 5:21 pm

i hate the color red.
i hate red hair.
i hate hot pink hair…

unsure how i got there… but it’s now back to purple/blue, lol.  it was a good month-long run. #neveragain

August 9th, 2020 @ 10:17 pm

i’m like 5 or 6 washes in from last i complained on july 15th, about my latest adventure in hair dye (lunar tides).  that probably sounds super gross, but i rarely wash my hair.  it’s curly… it’s just how we roll.

also: i had the shingles on my scalp, so i didn’t want to fuck with it with any shampoo or conditioner.  i’ve been doing bonding treatments, so i didn’t want that to irritate it, either.

it is stilllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll fucking running when i rinse my hair.

SIX WASHES LATER.

i’ve been using arctic fox for over two years now, it doesn’t do this.

i just wanted to put it on record.

July 15th, 2020 @ 11:28 pm

since i’ve only used lunar tides hair dye once, i guess it’s unfair of me to only complain about it… BUT after watching tons of videos before committing to buying 4 jars of it, i expected the most glorious dye experience EVARRRRRR.

let me just tell you what went wrong here.
(i don’t want to offend the makers, either. they’re doing a great job! it’s just not for me…)

1. i don’t know why, but the side i dye my hair green on (i have split green/black hair) – i broke out into like 16 small whiteheads behind my ear where the dye was sitting near the roots.  this has never happened to be before with any other dyes over the years.  i’m assuming it may have been sunflower oil? either way, probably just a ME issue.  it did NOT happen on the black side, and i hadn’t dyed that side at all during this session.

2. the fragrance.

every youtuber was like “OMG BEST SMELL EVARRRRR”! i got so hyped…

it smells like the deep conditioner that comes with drugstore box dye… yuck.  i was actually super pissed for the next few days because i couldn’t get the smell out of my hair.  i rarely used the deep conditioner that comes with box dye when i was actually using box dye.  it’s especially terrible compared to the grapealicious smelling arctic fox dye.

3. the rinsing

it was like neverending dye falling out during rinsing.  this is the main reason i love arctic fox… barely any comes out when you rinse.

i’d also just like to point out here, that one chick on youtube was all “arctic fox bleeds all over my pillow cases” and i think she also mentioned the dyes bleeding on shirts…  i’ve been using AF for two years and that has NEVER happened to me.  i’ve also mainly only used dark colours, so i don’t know why she had that issue (i mainly use black, black/green mixed, dark blue, dark purple, dark purple/black).  maybe she didn’t rinse properly?

i give it 3 out of 5 stars

– the colour was beautiful (positive)
– came in a jar (positive)
– company is woman-run (positive)
– the smell (negative)
– the dye running (negative)

on the positive side, i really liked one of the colours i bought.  i did the dark teal over faded green hair and it came out beautiful.  the fading is nice, too.

* * *

i’d also just like to bitch openly about the other two hair colours i habitually use:

manic panic and arctic fox.

MP:

a) the last few jars i purchased from ricky’s (RIP) stores – the dyes must been old.  they smelled weird, and barely worked (specifically i remember voodoo blue smelling like straight up band-aids – more than one jar over time, too, and mystic heather smelling like stale dye).  i have been using MP for YEARS and only came across them being like that via ricky’s stores.  i dunno wtf the deal was…
b) i can’t stand celebrities they endorse.  like, you made it so many years without selling out, suddenly we’re showcasing kylie jenner? FOH.
c) they need more colors.

AF:

a) bottles vs. jars – i haaaaaaaaaaate bottles of dye vs being in the jar. if arctic fox were in jars, they’d be my go-to.
b) when AF dye sits, it gets like, solid-ish?  i have to run it under hot water for it to come out of the bottle cap sometimes.  i find that horribly annoying.
c) i wish they had more color options.  i can and do create custom mixes, but i’d rather just have them done for me.

* * *

anyways, i hope this honest saga in “fashion” hair dye helps SOMEBODY out there.

July 6th, 2019 @ 5:32 pm

if in case info about dyed hair aint yo thang…  this post aint for you.

if you don’t mind, please proceed.

read more…

January 24th, 2018 @ 12:52 pm

instagram bombards me with makeup artists and mermaid hair (cringe) accounts all day, erryday.  i sometimes get really inspired to follow one here and there, but i honestly get bored of them easily.  there are only so many teal or piss-yellow haired selfies i can look at per day.  i think the alternative hair just takes over as a personality, and i don’t even look at the makeup for inspiration anymore.  in fact, any account that’s just focused on one thing usually gets an unfollow pretty quickly.

as with everything shoved in your face in 2017, i realized how dumb these posts/accounts are making people.  because of social media, women are holding themselves to this ridiculous standard that people are really that perfect, easily and often.  that’s bullshit, and as much as people may enjoy applying makeup or dying their hair (guilty), it catches up to them when they have dedicated accounts.  there are plenty of articles online where these girls come clean about the pressures.  it’s like a pride thing for people not to admit that it’s not easy or annoying.

i’d like to help people that don’t know this type of stuff.
let me break the reality down for you:

read more…

September 26th, 2013 @ 10:51 am

i don’t know what to do with my hair!!!

i want to go red again (all over) and dye the front/left or maybe the entire front section/bangs teal, and i’ll probably do the tips black, that’s how i had it the last time.

BUT then again, i just bleached the front/left section and now it’s just waiting for something.  more bleach?  a colour?  right now it’s my natural dark brown all over with the front/left and half of my bangs bleached, with some old green showing through, so it’s minty…  i was bleaching my bangs so that i could get all of the summer blue out, and i was going to do enchanted forest again.  lie locks has been pulling at my heart strings though.

do dark green and fluorescent purple go together?

of course, why am i even wondering?

then i’m thinking, well if i don’t go red again, should i just go black again?

black, fluorescent purple, white and dark green…

hmm.

July 28th, 2012 @ 8:11 pm

…my week in pictures.

lauren and i decided to get together on thursday night for shopping and some after work drinks. we also decided to do this right before a huge storm brewing over NYC…  this was just moments before shit hit the fan and we ducked into the bowery electric for cover.

read more…

December 1st, 2011 @ 3:58 pm

first off, i hate the term “tween”, but i’m using it because it is an accurate term used via this article…

okay the whole hair removal thing… i 10000000000% agree that tweeny eyebrows should be taken care of… case in point, the image below… my eyebrows were about this FULL from ages 9/10 moving forward, until the ripe age of 16 (when i decided to go behind my mothers back and wax them fuckers down). my mother is always going on and on with “you were so beautiful” and “you were a natural beauty”, but come on… seriously? they were horrible. and once i hit junior high school, them shits should have been taken care of. i mean, junior high school is when all the social shit really kicks in. first kisses, first boyfriends, dances, etc… she couldn’t help me out? even today first thing out of her mouth is shit like “brooke shields eyebrows were full and beautiful”… um, we (unfortunately) aren’t in the 80’s… what was she thinking?!

read more…