Last Saturday evening, I happened to be sitting outside as several cars driven by teenagers were leaving the neighborhood to go out. The windows were down with the radio / stereo blaring so loud until I'm not sure how they could concentrate. Then I remembered I did the same thing as a teen. I was convinced it made me look cool. I also wore as much black eyeliner as I could get by with thinking it made my 16 year old self look 21. What memories do you have of things you did in your teens which made you think you looked cooler or older?
I went thru stages of trying to look a cooler older guy. At first I was a "surfer".. even tho I had never ridden a surf board.. Dyed my hair blonde, wore Hawaiian type shirts and tied a small wooden surfboard around my neck. My constant companion was a transistor radio and my top songs were of course The Beach Boys. My next morph was as a "rocker" slick back dark dyed hair, dark gothic like clothes and black pinklewicker shoes. I never really fitted into this mode as I did not own or ride a motorcycle. I pretty much adopted it to be as cool as my mates.
@Bess Barber "What memories do you have of things you did in your teens which made you think you looked cooler or older?" Taught myself how to cheaply "soup-up" my car. Built my own supercharger (didn't work). Developed a reputation though for being very able with engines. Put a hot cam in my friend's little Ford; he could do nothing for himself, I felt good about myself and the developed abilities. Then, I wrecked my car, 1955 Mercury my Dad had bought new. Fixed it enough to get to work daily. Ordered a brand-new Mustang the summer they were introduced; August, 1964, took 5 weeks to get it. That car took us cross-country on our honeymoon, July, 1965, made many trips out West with never a hiccup, until 1972, when we left Chicago for good. The number and strangeness of the many events occurring in our lives between 1965 and 1972 would fill a volume of writing. Frank
Wearing your hair in the Ducktail style was popular with high school boys who wanted to look cool. It was called a "DA". (duck's ass) I wore the style long after high school. As for cars, I dropped 2nd gear in my '36 ford during a drag race, and replaced the transmission with one I bought at an auto wrecking yard for eight bucks! I took the transmission out of a wrecked Ford and installed it myself. Fords from 1932 to 1948 were all the same mechanically, and easy and inexpensive to work on. Hal
I honestly can't remember ever wanting to be an adult before I was one, but that's an awfully short period of time, so maybe I forgot.
Well I smothered me face in milk, 'cos I heard Cleopatra did it. The only problem was I forgot to wash it off rushing to get the bus for work. As I sat on the bus people were looking at me and I thought, the milk must be working then …… oh my, the smell of the milk hit me (I'm fully awake now) rushed to the bathroom to wash it off and put me Patsy face on Which consisted of Pan stick, black eyes and white lipstick … ………….
I didn't want to look older but my age and certainly cooler which was extremely difficult, though. As a teen, besides longer hair, it was all about clothes such as worn-out Levi's jeans, preferably the 507 with a red or orange tab ideally to go with a T-shirt and a genuine US-Army parka or field jacket. That's basically all you needed to be accepted by almost everybody. And that was hard enough, almost impossible. If you didn't have relatives of the same age who'd send you stuff or visit you so that you could strip them, you'd have problems being accepted. Finally, I got the Levi's but never had a genuine US parka or field jacket which I'd have killed someone for. Yet all in vain anyway... You'd also need to have a motorbike but since my elder brother killed himself and his girlfriend in an accident with it, I had to swear to my mother not to buy one. So, no girls, no parties as I said earlier on. My elder brother belonged to the Elvis generation and also styled himself with a duck's tail whereas we belonged to the beat generation (Beatles, Beach Boys and the like). As a twenty-something it became more relaxed in every respect.
I never wanted to look older but I did like to dress cool, an afro and an army jacket which I drew 'Just call me Dujii' on the back (the title of one of my favorite bands' cuts which wasn't well known) I liked being different. I was told many times that I favored Angela Davis (a political activist) back during high school even with my eyeglasses on.
Loved your post @Von Jones and you're still a cool lady I was 15 with my 'Cleopatra milk face' so I can be excused - and learnt that day to apply the milk the night before !
Why thank you Patsy. Just yesterday my oldest son told me his neighbor thought I was his sister, whew, what a compliment.
@ Von Jones When I was in high school, I could never figure out how the girls slept in their Afro and it poof back out the next day without a dent. I never had the courage to ask anyone and didn't have a clue about 'the afro pick'.
Most of the time the afro never poofs back out that's where the afro pick comes into play. Same basics as a hair comb but for an afro. It's used to comb through, lift and shape the afro. Here's a good video on Youtube
I had a pair of wide leg pants and some very tall shoes that I wore at 16 or 17 that made me look a size or two smaller than I actually was. Didn't look cooler or older. Every time I wore them, which was way too often, I was surprised at how different I looked than in my other clothes.
I'm surprised - I'd have thought the opposite affect - I know a tailored leg works, that skims rather than hugs
I suppose I felt all grown up in high school, but I don't remember. I was in the drum and bugle corps and we wore our uniforms to school on Fridays during the football season. I loved walking down the halls in my white leather boots with the taps on the bottom.