Here I am at 16 -- with my spiral perm and big 80s hair. (it goes without saying my mother didn't know what I was up to -- which, if I remember correctly, was partying somewhere along Lake Erie with some guys from east Erie who had beer...yes, it's amazing I made it to adulthood).

I've been thinking a lot about hair lately. Blame it on Sirius channel 23's Hair Nation -- a station dedicated to the Hair Bands of the '80s. Ever since I hooked up my Sirius radio, I've been tooling around town blasting the music of my youth (and, yes, you should all be thankful it's winter and that prevents me from rolling down my windows) -- Stryper, Ratt, Scorpions, Bon Jovi, Dokken, White Snake, Quiet Riot, Motley Crue, Ozzy and, of course, Kiss.

It was hard for me to grow up in the Hair Nation because I was born with thin, fine blondish hair that has just enough body in it to annoy the heck out of me. I spent years fussing with my hair...driving around with the windows up....fretting raindrops and wind.

Here's another fun photo -- totally 80s (I've blurred the poor boys face to protect the innocent). Check out the white beads, the shoulder-pads in the jacket, the white purse, the socks pulled up over my pegged jeans and the collar of my shirt turned up. A real fashion plate, eh?

When I lost a lot of weight a decade ago, I ditched the hair, too. I cut it all off as part of the complete transformation -- it was a whole new Heather. I was downsizing, in every way possible.

Life is easier with short hair. I can be ready to go anywhere -- from shower to car -- in a 1/2 hour. It takes about 3 minutes to dry my hair and 2 months to use a bottle of hairspray. I always have my car windows open in the summer (A/C is for wimps) and I walk at lunch whenever possible -- even if there are gale force winds.

The downside of short hair -- it gets boring, of course. You can't use cute hair accessories and you have to get haircuts more frequently. To me, though, the convenience of short hair far outweighs the bad.

And, yet, at least once a year, I get an urge to grow it out again. I see my running friends with their cute ponytails hanging out of their hats or another friend with her thick, dark shoulder-length bob and think..maybe I should grow my hair out again. I can seldom stick it out for more than a few months before I realize that I'm never going to have thick, dark bob-quality hair or a big, thick ponytail and that my hair is coming in just as I remembered it -- thin, blondish and not quite straight.

Keeping it short is the only way to maintain control.

Which reminds me, I need to call for a haircut.