Hair Styles

Hair Styles 

1. Close-cropped head, cut so close to the scalp that the patches of gray are like a light stain —George Garrett
2. Hair … almost as if ironed in place —H. E. Bates
3. Hair … brushed straight back —like he was wearing a hairpiece or as though a small black beaver was lying on top of his skull —Donald McCaig
4. Hair … cropped so short in back that he looked like a Marine in boot camp —Jonathan Valin
5. (Her chestnut) hair, cut short, closed about her neck like a choker —Arthur A. Cohen
6. Hair hanging down, straight, as if it were cut out of wood and painted —Rumer Godden

   This is slightly modified from the dialect spoken by a character in Godden’s story No More Indians: ‘outa’ and ‘hangin’ instead of ‘out of’ and ‘hanging.’

7. Hair hanging … like a brush across his forehead —Ella Leffland
8. Hair hanging like seaweed —John Updike
9. Hair … hanging loose down to her shoulders, like a child’s unbound for a party —Eudora Welty
10. Hair … lay on her forehead like a ruffled crest —James Joyce
11. Hair parted from the middle of her forehead like the two panels of a curtain —Saul Bellow
12. Hair pulled back tight as if to punish it —Marge Piercy
13. Hair … razor cut and blow-dried and sprayed so firmly into place that he looked like he was wearing a helmet —Robert B. Parker
14. Hair, so tightly braided it felt stitched on, showing her bare scalp like little seams all over her skull —Helen Hudson
15. Hair that grew long and thick around his face like ivy round a window —Helen Hudson
16. Hair..twisted like a pastry into a knot —Patricia Henley
17. Hair was cut close to his scalp, like freshly mowed grass —Daphne Merkin
18. (Her white) hair was so permanently waved and arranged that it looked like concrete —Noël Coward
19. Her white hair … stood high above her face like a chef’s cap —Nancy Huddleston Packer
20. His hair … covered half his forehead like a bowl —Reynolds Price
21. His hair … cut short as that of a monk, seemed like a barber-college special —Thomas McGuane
22. His shiny brown hair was razor cut, wrapped like a scarf around his ears —Jonathan Valin
23. Pale fluffy hair whipped up beautifully on the top of her head like confectioner’s cream —Elizabeth Bowen
24. Parted it [her hair] evenly, like the curtains of a neat house —Saul Bellow
25. Short-cropped hair hugging her head like a bangle bracelet —Arthur A. Cohen
26. Straight hair, cut like a little train to a point at the nape of her neck —Eudora Welty
27. Wore her hair away from her forehead, like a cloud which a little wind in May peels off finely —Elizabeth Barrett Browning
28. Wore her hair nearly to her waist, in long pastel strands like the trailing branches of a weeping willow —Harvey Swados
29. Wore it [hair] as though he’d have thought it indecent exposure to have allowed anyone to catch even a glimpse of his eyebrows, his ears, or the back of his neck —George Bagby