The Awkward Stick Was Thrown Javelin Style

Studies have shown that the “awkward stage” is officially over. Girls no longer go through this awful transition period. You know that stage during adolescence where your outer appearance is, well, awkward.

Okay, so there really wasn’t a study done on this. It is purely one of my recent observations. I am basing this off of sightings at the mall, pictures on the internet, a middle school volley ball game I attended and lastly on my own two nieces who have managed to steer clear of the awkward stage.

I was always under the assumption that every girl must go through a mandatory “awkward stage.” I certainly know that’s how it was back in my day. The awkward stick hit every girl I knew. Some got whacked harder than others but at least everyone got a few taps.

Apparently, the awkward stick was thrown javelin style straight at me because I present to you my most unfortunate look ever:

My 7th grade picture

Keep in mind this is a school picture, so I can only assume that I was alerted to the fact that they would be snapping a photo of me so therefore meaning that this look was the cream of the crop as far as what I could achieve appearance wise. At least you can kind of overlook the bad hairdo by the size of those spectacles.

If I remember correctly I believe I cut my own hair during this time period. I did this because I had absolutely no idea what to do with it. You see, I didn’t always have curly hair. I had some curls when I was little and then it went stick straight when I was in 1st grade. You can see that picture here. After that it started to get some wave to it.

My 4th grade picture

My 5th grade picture

My 6th grade picture

For some reason after 6th grade my hair got crazy curly and the first picture I showcased was a prime example. Instead of applying mouse or gel to my hair, I would just snip off fly-away curls. Apparently, I had a lot of fly-aways.

By 8th grade, things were getting a little better:

My 8th grade picture

I had discovered mousse and left the years of wacky glasses behind by getting contacts.

Unfortunately, this wasn’t the end of my awkward stage. The summer after 8th grade I doused my hair in Sun-In in order to achieve the sun-bleached blonde hair that was advertised on the commercial. After hours of laying in the sun slathered in baby oil and my hair drenched in Sun-In the only thing I achieved was a terrible burn and bright orange hair. I am sorry to report I have no pictures of this to share with you. I think I may have successfully destroyed all evidence of this period.

I think I may have successfully got things turned around when I was 17 years old and began reading Seventeen magazine and got myself acquainted with all of the latest fashions, makeup and hair tips.

I blame the internet, You-Tube tutorials and hundreds of new and improved skin care and hair care products for phasing out the “awkward stage” in this present time. Girls today have so much information at their fingertips. All the girls I’ve seen recently, that fall into this age category, have beautiful, shiny hair. They have good fashion sense. They keep their make-up to a pretty lip gloss and some mascara.

I am happy for these girls and yet I feel bad for them.

They will have nothing to look back on and laugh at when they get older!