Hair Habitude

Since the dawn of time (or at least since my hair has been thick enough), I have worn the same style of barrettes: standard Goody metal ones, with two bars. They come in a six pack with two golden, two silvertoned, and two brown. I've always liked the brown.

When I was ten-turning-eleven in fifth grade, the style was to weave thin ribbons all the way down the barrettes, leaving the ends long enough to reach the bottom of one's hair. My favorites were woven with red and navy blue ribbons, which I thought especially becoming.

But these days, my barrettes are plain again, worn one at a time pulling the front hairs back and slightly off-center. I am unable to pin it dead center due to an enormous

cowlick
noun
A projecting tuft of hair on the head that grows in a different direction from the rest of the hair and will not lie flat.
"cowlick." The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. Answers.com 26 Jan. 2006. http://www.answers.com/topic/cowlick