disheveled

\dih-SHEV-uld\

adjective

: marked by disorder or disarray

From the Middle English discheveled, this word translates specifically to "with disordered hair." I'll have to remember that next time I use the word to describe my sloppy dress. It's interesting, though, the role of hair in overall countenance. When I was in college so many girls would show up to morning classes (anything before 11 am) half-dressed, and I don't mean half their skin was exposed, I mean they were still mostly in pajamas—oversized RIC sweatshirts, flannel pants, flip-flops (even in winter) or sometimes slippers, a lanyard of keys hanging from the neck, an extra-large cream-drowned iced coffee from Dunkin Donuts, and a Louis Vuitton dangling from the forearm. But the hair, THE HAIR, was always done, always put together, as if that somehow forgave everything else. Perhaps these young women knew the meaning of DISHEVELED, and made the effort to save themselves from that designation by forgoing all other preparations to style the shiny, layered coifs atop their heads.

I don't know.