Reflecting on Anne Shirley's hair (and mine)

The Canadian Broadcast Corporation’s adaptation of Anne of Green Gables played a central role in my childhood. After her place of residence and the fact that her name is spelled with an ‘e,’ Anne Shirley's red hair is one of her most defining features. According to Gilbert Blythe, it’s the color of "carrots." According to Anne, it’s the one thing she "can’t imagine away."

Her hair goes through its own journey in the first film — from long braids, to an unfortunate green, to a stylish bob thanks to the unfortunate green. But in the second film, appropriately titled Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel, she debuts a hairstyle I could never quite wrap my head around. The bouffant.

Whether she’s teaching, writing her novel, dancing by herself, picking apples, charming the Pringles, walking Diana down the aisle, rejecting proposals or talking about kindred spirits, Anne's hair remains in a giant poof. Sometimes she adds a hat.

Why is her hair so poofy? Why does she constantly where it the same way? What happened to her stylish bob (cut under tragic circumstances) from the first movie? Why does it look the craziest in the scene where Gilbert tries to propose? Often I found myself wanting to reach through the TV screen to just pat it down a little bit.

Thanks to bad timing and quarantine, May marked the two year anniversary of my last haircut, and my brown locks are longer than ever before. Every morning, I gather my hair and wrap it into a top knot that by the noon gets messier, as I tug at it throughout the day, and transforms into a slightly more put together version of Anne Shirley's Sequel hair.

Like Anne, as a child, I battled my own hair wars. While I liked the brown color, my curls provided a constant annoyance. I straightened them. I styled them. I used a curling iron. I straightened them and then used a curling iron. I got bangs. Until I reached my 20s, I could never quite get my hair to look the way I wanted it to.

Over the last year and a half, I haven’t had much choice in the matter. With my hair longer than it’s ever been, my longest layers now just about reach my waist, I’ve finally been able to attempt hair styles that I could never have achieved before. I can wear French braids that don’t completely fall apart. I can wear a high ponytail that doesn’t look stupid. And of course, the dream of all dreams, I can pull my hair into a true top knot.

Now that I can actually go get a haircut, I find myself torn. Do I want to go back to my standard, short, summer style? Or should I continue channeling Anne, imagining that I'm strolling on the beaches of Prince Edward Island, when I'm actually walking around the suburbs?

Whatever I decide, thanks to Anne, my quarantine hair has certainly given me lots of scope for the imagination.