Wacky Hair Day doesn't top history's bad hair days

Schooling is a great thing. It gives you a chance to show off your wacky hair.

At least that's what happened at Becca's and Bailey's elementary school, where Friday was Spirit Day and Wacky Hair Day all rolled into one.

Throw on a shirt sporting the school district's Tiger mascot and tease your hair to death, and you too can fit right in with the elementary school kids.

It's great to have a day when kids can paint their hair, sculpt it into a hair ball and generally look like poster children for a hairstylists' convention.

As a dad, I've got limited styling ability. I leave the brushing and ponytail techniques to Joni. As a mom, she's good at it. She can get out the tangles and even the bubble gum and send them to school looking well-groomed.

I, on the other hand, have trouble combing their hair, much less getting rid of rat's nests and other assorted hair woes.

Becca can put her hair in a ponytail in no time. At age 9, she knows better than to ask me to help.

Bailey is only 5. But she too would rather comb her own hair that let me tackle the job.

Of course, all bets are off on Wacky Hair Day, when the goal is to let your hair down or at least send it spiraling out of control.

Marge Simpson would be right at home.

Wacky hair isn't new. People have cut, braided and dyed their hair since prehistoric times. Professional hairdressers have been around since the 1700s.

In ancient Egypt, men and women shaved their heads for cleanliness and relief from the heat. It also got them jobs as extras in Hollywood movies.

In ancient Greece and Rome, fashionable men frizzed their hair and powdered it with gold dust to look like Donald Trump. Many women bleached their hair blond.

The Angles and the Saxons died their hair blue, green and orange, making every day seem like Halloween. The Gauls, who lived in France and refused to speak English even then, colored their hair red.

Women wore many hairstyles during the Renaissance, which began in Italy and spread throughout Europe after the Middle Ages and prior to the old ages. Some women wore long braids that fell to their knees, causing concern among plant safety officers.

Men wore short or shoulder-length hair. King Henry VIII of England ordered his countrymen to wear short hair, a clear fashion statement for those hanging around the castle with Richard Burton.

Hair was a matter of pride and war.

During the English Civil War in the 1600s, the Puritan opponents of King Charles I were called roundheads because their hair was cut close to their heads. The king's supporters were the cavaliers, who wore their hair long and sang rock 'n' roll songs.

A lot of people wore wigs so they wouldn't look like Mr. Clean.

In the early 1900s, a German hairdresser invented the permanent wave, which has since caught on at baseball games. The style allowed people to permanently preserve their hair even as their bodies fell apart. A permanent wave took up to 12 hours and cost hundreds of dollars, which left little time for women to go shopping.

Thankfully, that's changed. Now a person can get his or her hair styled in short order and still have money left over for Pretzel Bites.

Of course, if we had a few more Wacky Hair Days, we could really let our hair down and have money left over for a pizza.

As for Wacky Hair Day at school, it wasn't so wacky after all. Not when you compare it to history's bad hair days.

Mark Bliss is a staff writer for the Southeast Missourian.