Fringes of behaviour

Here’s a perfectly random question. Why don’t more boys have fringes? And what is the purpose of a fringe? But wait, let me explain why I’m asking it.

I was sat observing a group of boys and girls, they looked pretty similar as they were dressed in a uniform of black trousers and white shirt or blouse. Then I took to looking at their hairstyles while we all waited for a scheduled event to begin.

The girls’ hair was an array of colour, twists, plaits, flicks and lots and lots of fringes. The fringes were so varied: some were the traditional straight down cut just above the eyebrow type of fringe, others were off-centre parting swept behind the opposite ear style and still others defy description. Suffice it to say they fell in the broad category of fringe.

Here is a dictionary definition of a fringe: a border of hair that is cut short and hangs across the forehead.

Then I glanced at a boy. He was walking away from the stage and I saw that he had a short back and sides haircut that looked very smart, then he turned back and he had curtains of hair across his eyes at fascinating geometrical angles that seemed to defy gravity without the use of gel. I was awe struck. He was beautiful, the style suited him. As this vision of intrigue moved before me I saw yet another candidate that sought to defy the dictionary definition of a fringe. The boy wearing it had relatively short hair on one side but, in a variation on the traditional comb-over, he manipulated his luscious ebony locks from behind his left ear to just over his right eyebrow in a forty-five degree angle taper.

It was at this point that I began to question why I hadn’t noticed the lack of fringed boys before. The way these two boys created and styles their hair was just magnificent. They swaggered with style. They were confident and ebullient in every movement.

Switching back to the fringed girls I noticed that they all appeared to bend forwards rather than throw their heads back in the self-assured manner of the boys. My brief (unscientific) observation led me to conclude that boys with fringes are more extroverted while girls similarly adorned appear more reserved. The un-fringed girls behaved more like the fringed boys.

So, the result of this social questioning is another set of questions: why do girls use fringes to hide themselves and why are fringed boys like peacocks?

Of course, P!nk is the exception to this rule!