"Bad Hair Day"

[Geoff Miller]

I submitted this question to an internal Sun newsgroup the other day and
got no response. I'm not certain whether alt.usage.english or alt.-
folklore.urban would be the proper place for this, but I have to start
somewhere.

Does anyone know the origin of the expression "bad hair day?" All of a
sudden I'm encountering this figure of speech very frequently.

Geoff

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-
Geoff Miller + + + + + + + + Sun Microsystems
geo...@purplehaze.Corp.Sun.COM + + + + + + + + Menlo Park, California
-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

[rt...@uno.edu]

On The Origins of "Bad Hair Day"

This phrase may or may not have its origin in advertising but it has
subsequently found its place there.

The phrase refers to a day when no hair would set right. It was often used
in reference to something I came to refer to as the "stiffened frontal
bang facade," a hair tierra set in place with blow drier, hair spray and
teasing comb. The heights these can sometimes reach is quite ridiculous.
Its origins were explored in an article by a friend of mine entitled
"The Big Bang Theory."

R.T. Stodghill

[April N. Powell]

rt...@uno.edu wrote:
: On The Origins of "Bad Hair Day"

: R.T. Stodghill

The phenomenon mentioned above is one with which I am also familiar. I
grew up in an area of West Virginia where such hairstyles are quite
popular. We always used to refer to the tall, teased bangs as
"joke-catchers" (kept the joke from going over one's head). A friend
from Idaho whom I met in college informed me that her circle of high
school friends had dubbed the style of bangs the "Utah Claw". Poof.

April Powell

[Cindy Hall]

In article o...@jethro.Corp.Sun.COM, geo...@purplehaze.Corp.Sun.COM (Geoff Miller) writes:
>
> Does anyone know the origin of the expression "bad hair day?" All of a
> sudden I'm encountering this figure of speech very frequently.
>

Do not know of origin, but I remember Mary Tyler Moore having a bad
hair day. Her hair just wouldn't behave that day, and everything else
that could go wrong did, too. Murphy's Law reigned that day.

That's my earliest recollection of it, an episode from 1970-something.
Do we credit Norman Lear?

[Cindy Hall]

Do not know of origin, but I remember Mary Tyler Moore having a bad
hair day. Her hair just wouldn't behave that day, and everything else
that could go wrong did, too.

That's my earliest memory of it, an episode from 1970-something.