High Tide, Higher Hair begins where the wind stops. Every mermaid in it has been styled by the ocean, paid in pearls by whoever was closest, and checked her reflection in a mirror that somebody else is holding. The hair is enormous. The face is done. The rock has never looked so much like a salon chair.
Volume, courtesy of the weather
Big Hair Energy perches on a buoy under a magenta mane that takes up most of the picture, cocktail in hand, with High Tide, Higher Hair written beside it as a plain statement of fact. Mermaid Hair Chaos shrugs on a rock under a wild dark cloud of it with the words Mermaid Hair Happens. Tangled But Thriving leans on a buoy holding a wooden sign that welcomes you to the Tangle Zone, and Tangled & Unbothered has an octopus wound entirely into her hair and a glass of wine in her hand, her only comment being that he got himself into this. Beach Hair Boundaries holds a brush at a dock post while a crab reaches up, and Don't Touch The Mermaid Hair is the whole policy. Protect The Blowout puts a hand up to a large pink jellyfish drifting toward a fresh set of curls. Not the hair.
Pearls, straight from the source
Nobody here bought a pearl. Big Pearl Energy holds one up at a dock post and tells the lobster That's Adorable, and Two Pearls, One Rock has two friends comparing theirs, which is going to take a while. Pearl Bribes Accepted hugs a piling while a lobster holds his offering up from the water and a gull supervises from the post, and Pay In Pearls leans off her rock to make a trade. Not Today, Guppy holds a pink pearl to the light while a small fish wonders whether that one was his, and Certified Treasure Snob inspects one against the sky with a seagull waiting on the verdict.
Full face on a rock
Full Face, Open Water floats in the shallows with a lipstick in one hand and a tray of cosmetics drifting beside her, and Lipstick Before Fish holds an actual fish up to eye level with the other hand still doing her mouth. Octopus Mirror Check holds her own mirror while an octopus behind her manages the brushes, and Room Service, Mirror Included has him holding the mirror and a cocktail at once, which is the correct number of things. Octopus Glam Squad puts him on top of her head with a hair dryer and a comb both going.
For the woman whose hair has a weather report
She checks the wind before she checks the time. Her sister's jewelry comes with a story, and the story involves a lobster. Find the one wearing her hair, or her pearls, and hand it over knowing the compliment is already on its way. The jellyfish, for the record, was told no, and the blowout survived.
Written by Mari Bennett. Thanks for reading.