High Hopes.(hairstyling)(Editorial)

Byline: Linda Wells, Editor in Chief

When hair mousse arrived on these shores from France, I was working in the beauty department at Vogue. We were giddy about the stuff; it was as irresistible as Reddi-Wip and powerful enough to make hair defy gravity. This was the perfect product for the '80s, the decade of linebacker-wide shoulder pads, earrings the size of dinner plates, and Motley Crue. Hair simply had to be big, and mousse was the medium. As we opened the first precious cans, we examined them carefully, then wrapped each one in tissue paper and ferried them to a photographer's studio. There, models posed in velvet dresses (with shoulder pads), with big globs of mousse on their heads. The pictures were brilliant.

I was an early adopter. For much of the decade, I started the morning with a shot of mousse and ended the evening with my bangs still aloft. My motto was "The higher, the better."

That was the only time I embraced truly silly hair, and in some ways I miss it. Silly hair is a lot more fun than tasteful hair, even if, ten years later, it makes you want to tear up every incriminating snapshot. When I saw You Don't Mess With the Zohan (yes, I did--with four ...