Lynnwood Outdoes Itself With Big, B-A-A-A-D Hair -- For Bouffant Buffs, It's Pouf, Rat, Tease And Spray

LYNNWOOD - You knew you were in the right place.

There in the parking lot outside East Side Mario's restaurant stood a lanky guy in black leather pants with platinum hair that nearly reached down to his bottom.

It was pouffy hair of the sort usually seen on small, ribbon-headed, yippy poodles.

It was big hair and, of course, it had to be found here. You were in Lynnwood after all.

Sniff, sniff. Smell the Aqua Net?

"You know, Lynnwood: big hair, blue eye shadow, Camaros," explained local restaurateur Jeff Wingate.

Indeed. Say what you might about this city, but those who live here, or like Wingate, happen to work here, swear there's no other place so into big hair - not even Kent.

Which is why Wingate and Michael Dean, who runs the Michael Dean Salon, organized last night's third annual Big Hair Contest at East Side Mario's. The event, which included a raffle and auction, also raised $3,300 for the National Leukemia Society.

"Every place has a reputation. It's kind of like Bellevue," explained Suzanne Tuffs, 32. "Bellevue people are," - she smiled - "you know, more stuck up.

"Seattle's reputation is that it's more grunge. Capitol Hill: punk rockers, gay, lesbian. And then there's Lynnwood: big hair!"

Thirty-two people - homemakers, cooks, bank tellers, a blackjack dealer - signed up for the contest. There were two categories: real hair and not-so-real hair. First prize in each category was a "day of beauty" at a Seattle salon.

Not surprisingly, the big winners both hail from Lynnwood: Lori White (not-so-real hair) and Juliette Haines.

Contestants, who paid a $10 entry fee, had the option of doing their own coiffeur or having a stylist do the hair-raising honors.

"It's all about backcombing," explained stylist Monique Derry. Backcombing is the same as teasing or ratting hair.

She used about a quarter can of hair spray on each head she did along with her special backcombing comb. "Extra teeth."

She transformed Leslie Milton's long, blond tresses into hair that looked like it had jumped off Rod Stewart's scalp.

"Oh," Milton said, looking at her hair in a hand mirror. "This is big!"

Contestants said the big hair reminded them of the '80s, when everyone wore their hair big.

"Especially the Lynnwood girls," said Jackie Webb of Marysville. "They sprayed it stiff, sticking up, and out to the sides."

Webb sat in one chair. Her mother Debbie Webb sat in the chair next to her. Mother and daughter do a lot of things together: shop, go to Christian music concerts and, last night, get big hair.

"I thought it'd be a lot of fun," Debbie Webb said, "because you can always wash it out and I don't think we know anyone here."

She looked at her daughter.

"Do we?"