Florida State University - Renegade / Tally Ho Yearbook (Tallahassee, FL)

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24 Student Life

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Photo by Ayanna Luney Larry and Earnestine 23

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Students find image enhancing costly but fun AKINGIT it Photo by Bill Garrett Have you ever faked Seriously, now. Have you ever? On campus, it was not uncommon to run into thousands of students who had done it. Fantasy ? Exaggeration ? Enhancement of the mediocre? Sure, I ' ve faked it. But I don ' t share that kind of information with just anybody, a student who wished to remain anonymous said. Do not think the topic of discussion here is the S - E - X word. Guess again. The controversial, yet very personal issue, was students, mostly women, who disguised their natural selves with artificial hair color, extensions, nail tips student buffs her acrylic nails . This was to assure that there were no air bubbles for a smooth and natural look. riair extensions are one of the many ways which women choose to enhance their appearance. and tropical tans in the height of North Florida winters. On a random day, in a random class, I counted nine people out of 1 7 who either had monster acrylic nails or obviously were suffering from the curse, senior au naturale Tifanny Mordini said. Mordini described the curse as punishment. Three weeks after someone picked a fabulous color at the salon everyone could see that they were being punished with grotesquely dark roots springing from their scalp. And if the curse did not punish fakers enough, incriminating photos surely did. One weekend when I went home, I found a picture of my mom with a frosted blonde afro, Toshia Harper said. She normally had straight, brown hair. She said she was pretty cool then but I couldn ' t help but laughing. Some students had families which were ultra conservative in the 1970 ' s and could not seem to find any blackmail pictures. A personal survey could be conducted daily. At the Union on any Wed., the rainbow assortment of Life Saver-colored hairdos could be seen blooming on the stairs of Moore Auditorium. And at any local gym, brown, bulging biceps and suntanned, blondes could be spotted in the dead of Tallahassee ' s dreary winters. Being a slave to fashion did not come cheaply either. Acrylic nails could cost as much as $35 for a set and had to be filled at least every two weeks for $15. Over a year ' s time, acrylic nails could cost a faker $425! The hair coloring industry made a fortune off victims who paid from $25 to $50 initially. Necessary touch ups were needed every eight weeks or so depending on the color and the touch ups could cost as much as the original coloring. It did not take a mathematician to calculate the big dollar signs in image enhancing tactics. Money is no object when it comes to looking as good as I possibly can, sophomore Dee Jackson said. I do not want a $5 haircut because I am a firm believer that you get what you pay for. Certainly, the idea of faking it was not a new one and all efforts to fake it were not disasters. Marilyn Monroe was a prime example of a mousy Midwesterner gone Hollywood, as her hair changed from brunette to platinum. It was possible to make millions off of charlatan images in the 1990 ' s. Some superstars faking it included Andre Agassi, Madonna and even RuPaul, the seven-foot tall, platinum blonde transsexual pop star. The theme of the decade could have been said by Andre Agassi, Image is everything. By Wendy Diehl Faking It 25