The Stress of Show Choir Hair

Just yesterday, my show choir performed in my high school’s Christmas concert “Cocoa and Carols.” I arrived at school at 10 and left at 5 at night, every hair I saw was getting teased, sweaty costumes where flown everywhere, and the excitement of performing our show was evident in all of our faces, and I realized, it’s officially show choir season.

I absolutely love show choir season, being able to perform your show in front multiple audiences, having bonding time with your show choir members during down time, and of course, seeing your hard work get paid off when you receive a good placement. But of course, there are some parts of show choir where I want to pull out my hair, literally. Figuring out and doing your hair and makeup for show choir has got to be the most stressful part of show choir. Every hair must look exactly the same, it must be out of your face, and all of the girls in your show choir must “like” the hairstyle. For makeup, I think I apply more eye shadow and blush for show choir than I do for pageants! But here’s the question that’s always been nagging me, is it that crucial for us to have the same, perfect hairstyles for show choir?

Last week, my show choir began talking about what our hair should be for this year’s show, many shouted out ideas: ponytail, half up half down, curly, straight, braided, etc. We’ve come to the final consensus that our hairstyle would be, half up half down, curly, a braided front with a small poof in the back, and a hair tie to secure it. Complicated? Yeah, well there’s more; the hair that’s in the ponytail must start from your ears, there’s a barrette that must be on the side of your braid, the poof shouldn’t be more than an inch tall, and don’t use bobby pins, you have to use a ponytail!! There are have been more and more rules and guidelines to do your hair for show choir, that by the time it’s the end of the season, only one or two people are doing everyone’s hair for show choir because they are the only ones who can do it right! Wanna hear the funny part? Hair and makeup aren’t even scored by the judges. The part that I believe has become the most stressful part of show choir doesn’t even matter in our final scoring. So why do we spend so much time finding the perfect hairstyle? Why do we make sure everyone’s hair looks exactly the same? Why do we put so much effort into hair and makeup when it’s not even scored?

Here’s what I think should happen, just pick a simple easy hairstyle, like a half up half down. If some people change the hairstyle slightly, that’s ok. Unless there’s a dramatic difference between someone’s hair and another, then change it. But really, as long as it’s out of your face, hair should never be talked more about. I much rather have stress put on other show choir elements, like spacing. Oh gosh spacing, I’m already getting anxious. Happy show choir season everyone!