Here's some easy protection: Someone says something insulting,or anything you don't like,you
answer in the line of probabilities thus: "That's a
weird hairdo you got", you reply: "Yeah,you COULD be right", or "Yeah,your PROBABLY
right enough." Of course,YOU are the final arbiter
of what's right or not. This is a technique from an
assertiveness point,it's called FOGGING, for as you
know,you can throw a brick or kick the fog,and it
won't hurt it in the least. Practice at home if you
have a tape or digital thingy,make up your own
comments to answer to. Good luck!