I have very thick hair and when they get long, I 
easily feel hot or get irritated at the way they feel at the back of my neck. I don’t like the effect of pulling them into a ponytail, however, because it makes me look like I have short hair, like a guy. So how? I wear pigtails, because it addresses my issue without creating another one. I no longer feel hot and at the same time, my long hair is not hidden from sight. That is why my favorite hairdo in terms of comfort has always been the pigtails.
When I wore them in Makati, one of my neighbors yelled “Shan Cai!” at me. Shan Cai is the name of the main character in the famous Taiwanese drama Meteor Garden. It was the first time that this neighbor of mine ever called me by that name, and I knew that it was not because I had chinky eyes like Shan Cai but because she had also worn pigtails in the TV series. From then on, even though my hair was not in pigtails, that was what he would call me. Eeps.
Today I decided to wear loose low pigtails to go with my Friday casual wear of cotton tee and denim jeans. I thought I was very nondescript. Then one teammate said I was so cute, that I looked like the cartoon character who also has my name, the one with the goats. I jokingly told her, “How do you know that I am not her?” Another one told me, “You dressed up so cute today! Are you going out after work?” And I was thinking, huh? But I’m wearing a very plain, not-for-going-out outfit! It’s the hair, of course. I guess it makes me look like a child, so the word “cute” springs to mind in association with that. Why are pigtails associated with kids anyway? It should be a total fashion do, along with the side ponytail.