I also was not allowed to frost my hair, at age 13. So many other girls at my junior high school (now called middle school) were doing it, as were their mothers. Having your hair frosted was all the rage in the mid to late 1970's, and my mother knew that. Her thinking, though, was that she couldn't help it if everybody else looked like a bunch of freaks and weirdos; I was going to look normal even if I were the only one who did! (She never did see the contradiction in this. That is, if I'm the only one looking that way, is it really "normal"? It's the old "Hey, look, my Johnny is the only one in step!" thing.)

I realize "I'm not everybody else's mother" is a valid response, but having my hair frosted as in the *first* picture below would have actually helped me fit in better, rather than creating the bizarre spectacle she was absolutely convinced I would. My hair would have been more mainstream, not less.

For a visual aid, I was going for this kind of look:
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My mother reacted as if I were asking for this:


Which certainly is extreme and probably wouldn't be appropriate for a middle schooler, although I am personally not judging the woman herself.

I suppose issues of fitting in vs. yielding to peer pressure goes beyond mere social chat. Let's see if I can think of other silly rules without diving so deep. After all, it hasn't been an hour yet since I've eaten!