Meaning:
A `bad hair day' originally had a literal meaning - a day on which one's hair
seems unmanageable. The expression's meaning has been extended to mean a day
when everything seems to go wrong.
Background:
The phrase was already well known by that date but not very widely used. In
February 1970: the Michigan newspaper the Lansing State Journal printed:
When your hair gets too expressive it usually results in a condition called
"a bad hair day" ...the only fitting end to a bad hair day is a trip to the
Barbers.
Whether that's where the term was coined isn't certain, although it is a
strong contender. There are many hearsay reports that it is much earlier, but
no hard evidence has emerged to support them.
- www.phrases.org.uk [edited]
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No particular bad hair days stood out, not recently. Time had so whitewashed
memory, a punctured tire, a speed ticket, the daily traffic jam, flops at work,
the pointy-haired boss, sport accidents, etc., that years after, they look
romantic or sometimes even heroic as the sacrifice paving the way.
