P.A.Q. Volume 2

I am pleasantly surprised to find that people have been commending me on my hair post. I was actually pretty reluctant to post it, but sometimes I forget just how interesting I am to absolutely everyone. I said I'd talk about my social life next, but that was a bitter lie told by a cruel, deceitful man.

Q: Where did you get [item of clothing]?

A: 90% of the time the answer to this question is H&M. The reason why is a little circuitous: I started getting this question a couple of years ago, and realized that nearly every damn time it was being asked by someone who liked something I'd bought from H&M. So, naturally, I started shopping more at H&M. A lot more. Like, if I say I'm going clothes shopping, that's where I'm going.

It's not that I don't like variety; the other 10% of clothes people tell me are nice is almost exclusively from Express. In fact, I desperately wish my wardrobe was more mixed but I am really not a great shopper. I find it difficult to find clothes for myself without getting overwhelmed either by too much choice or lack of choice and just going home.

Here's the thing. I goddamn love fashion. It is, as far as I'm concerned, an art like any other, and that's how I approach it. I think the coming and going of trends is really interesting, and I also think guys get the total shaft when it comes to clothing because women have a billion options and we have a handful of styles to choose from and most of them look dumb.

That's besides the point, though. I think it's amazing that people can dress in so many different ways. I used to dress like a skater, although I have not once skated on my life. Mostly I just looked good in baggy clothes, and skater companies have cool logos.

My first couple years of college, however, I ended up losing roughly 40 pounds. That's a pretty big change, and makes fashionably baggy clothes look like potato sacks. So I embarked on a Phil Level Up Initiative (not what I had it named back then, but I've forgotten) to redo my look (this is also when my hair grew out and started to curl for the first time), and a big part of this was refining my wardrobe. As I did this, people started to comment on it. Now, in 2009 going on 2010, I get complimented on my clothes pretty often, which means either a whole lot of people are trying to not make me know I look like a bloody fop or I'm actually dressing pretty nice.

I would say my style is very bipolar. I like to either be classy as shit or rocked out and crazy, but I'm way too self-conscious to really go as far as I'd like in either direction. The truth is I feel like I don't go anywhere where I can really do it; I'd feel like an idiot going to UConn looking all fly (though I still do it occasionally) and I'm not edgy enough nor do I go anywhere cool enough to wear lots of rocker stuff.

So mostly I occupy a gray area between the two, and wear increasingly more purple as I realize that everything I own in that color is my favorite garment of that type. I actually have to actively resist it because I'd honestly be fine wearing purple and black for the rest of my life.

It could be said I used this question as an excuse to springboard into a discussion on my feelings of fashion at large. It could be said. But it wont.

You've been warned.

P.A.Q. Volume 1

P.A.Q. Volume 1

What is P.A.Q., you may ask?

OBVIOUSLY it means Philquently Asked Questions. There's a lot of things that I get asked ALL THE TIME and I usually don't get a chance to answer them completely because A.) I don't think to or B.) The full answer isn't that interesting.

So here, for the people who are probably least likely to ask me these things because they already know me, is the P.A.Q.

This project will probably make me look vain as hell, I know the average person doesn't want to hear about my hair or social life, but then again I keep getting asked about them so here we are.

The two most common questions first:

Q: LIKE OMG IS YOUR HAIR REAL?!

A: For the love of god YES. This is an incredibly quick and efficient way to make me become very self-conscious on the spot. Who wants to be asked this? And what 22 year old Greek male is gonna wear a got dang weave? Seriously.

Q: LIKE OMG DOES YOUR HAIR JUST DO THAT?!

A: Okay this question seems the same but is a thousand times less offensive. Here's the skinny:

My hair is naturally this curly. It is also naturally dry as all HELL and if I don't put anything in it it becomes a frizzy, tangled mess. My hair may seem fantastic but it's actually really, really horrible. It is almost impossible to deal with and frankly I think about cutting it all off several times a day. I can't go outside my house without a shower because when I sleep it gets all messed the hell up, and not in that charming bedhead way you straight-hairs get.

Older women tell me all the time they wish they had my hair but goddamnit I'm a guy I don't want to spend my whole life trying to tame this thing. It may seem glamorous and awesome on its good days but it is, for the most part, more trouble than it's worth.

But for those who are interested, this is what I do. A lot of it may seem weird but is based on a routine developed for curly hair. I cannot tell you how much things like abandoning shampoo and not using a towel on my head have made my hair look better:

1.) Shower, only use conditioner, shampoo maybe once every few weeks or if my scalp is feeling dry.
2.) Wring hair out and blot hair with a t-shirt (it sounds lame as hell but towels destroy curly hair)
3.) Re-wet hair a little because parts of it are literally completely dry coming out of the shower
4.) Rake through some sort of cream or gel

"Some sort" can be anything. Most products I think are awesome stop working well after a while, I have yet to find anything I really, reallllly like. Generally my hair responds to thick cream-products (gay joke goes here) best.

5.) Most products make hair hard as they dry, so a couple of hours later I have to scrunch it which makes it look like it's supposed to (this is kind of a universal curly thing, lots of people claim to have ways to stop it but I've yet to find anything that worked while actually keeping my hair from frizzing out uncontrollably)


This is, perhaps, the gayest post anyone has ever made. It works out well that it's almost exclusively jealous women who ask me because I can go into detail with them that I wouldn't with dudes, probably. It seems like way more than it is: I probably only spend a few minutes actually styling my hair.

And the fact is, I get asked about it all the damn time. To be perfectly honest there are days when I think my hair rocks but most of the time I can't begin to understand why people bring it up so often.

Anyway, I wish I had straight hair. People get offended when I say this like I'm throwing away some gift, but as I said earlier it's more trouble than it's worth and I would kill for hair I didn't have to fight with.


There, don't you already know more about me than you ever wanted? The P.A.Q. will undoubtedly be my undoing.

NEXT VOLUME: school and social life