Monday, July 02, 2007 Baumgart: The Hair clamp By Elisabeth Baumgart
ONE of my close friends, Alsace (no, she’s not a French province), constantly complains about my poor choice of hair accessories. If there is one thing that I’m extremely bad at, it’s picking out hair blings.
I own a hair clamp, one that is rather yellow and out-of-date, and has a crudely drawn Teddy Bear head that’s slowly fading (it actually no longer has its ears). It's supposed to have gold borders, but overtime, it broke off. Needless to say, the clamp is in pretty bad condition.
I had this clamp since I was in fifth grade. And I still wear it to this day.
And this happens to irk my friend. The mere thought of wearing a nine-year-old hair clamp makes her twitch, and the sight of the yellow thing does worse. "That horrible Teddy Bear clamp!” as she puts it.
I’ve worn the clamp to several functions, including formal events. It serves its purpose, holding together my messy hair. Come to think of it, I actually wore the clamp while doing volunteer work during the Asean summit back in December and January.
Well, I never heard a foreign dignitary complain about my poor choice of hair accessories. And as far as I can remember, none of the foreign journalists whom I have assisted made a big media frenzy of the ancient yellow Teddy Bear.
But then again, I have Alsace who is always ready to save me from any fashion disaster and make fun of my poor sense of style.
That’s what friends are for, I would say.
After multiple sightings of the so-called “atrocious” yellow clamp and threats of bodily harm, it was decided that I should buy a new one.
The thing is, I actually like my old, yellow Teddy Bear clamp. I had it since my elementary days, and it’s a wonder that that thing actually survived all these years.
A lot of memories are attached to this old hair accessory. It’s the clamp I wore when I went to the mall with my friends, the clamp I wore to elementary school and high school, and it’s the clamp I wore during my rigorous CAT training. Though it was not allowed those days, I still wore the old thing.
“It’s rather diffi cult to part with something that holds a lot of sentimental value,” I told my friends, once they found out that I owned the outdated clamp for nearly a decade. And besides, I added, I love teddy bears.
They all thought I was cuckoo and demanded that I buy a new clamp–something that didn't come with a bear's head.
With that, I’ve placed my Teddy Bear clamp to rest. As I write this column, the old clamp lies next to my laptop, itching to be used. But I won't.
