IDAHO FALLS — Suzie Barrera blows through a medium-size, pink bottle of Suave hair spray in 21/2 weeks if she raises her hair daily, backcombing for 10 minutes before smoothing her mane to a rounded mound crowning her 4-foot-11 frame.
"I guess I feel a little bit better about myself, a little more confident that I don't look like a mop head," Barrera said of her hair.
The look gets Barrera noticed wherever she goes, at the grocery store, church and her jobs at the Gold's Gym and as a deputy civil clerk at the Bonneville County Courthouse.
"Everyone's always making fun of my hair and saying, 'Do you have your Bumpit in today?'" she said. "Every day something is said about my hair."
The fascination Barrera's hair attracts is easy to understand after a glance at local hairdos. When it comes to coiffures, bigger is better in Idaho Falls, from stacked short cuts to bumps in the back of longer hairstyles.
While searching big hair online reveals Bumpits, teasing tutorials and a Las Vegas wig styling company catering to cross-dressers, big hair in Idaho Falls means volume. The style is characterized by a poof on the top of the head achieved by painstaking ratting and teasing.
"You've got to have the bump. I personally think it's attractive," said Carolyn Olsen, a Vogue Beauty College student who has lived in Idaho Falls for 20 years. "It's just pretty. A woman's hair is a crown of glory."
The origin of the trend is difficult to pinpoint. Some say it is a sign of '80s fashion revival, while others credit the style to Idaho's southern neighbor.
"I think it's more of a Utah thing," said Barrera, who recalls her Brigham Young University-Idaho classmates dubbing the style "Utah hair."
Liquid Hair Salon hairstylist Amber Trumble studied in Salt Lake City, "home of the big hair."
"(Big hair has) definitely been here for a while," Trumble said. "Idaho takes a little bit of time to get through the trends."
Brian Young, an Idaho Falls hairstylist and salon owner, said he never encountered the local trend in his training or time with celebrity hairstylists in California, where the hair bump was more of a joke.
"You're not going to find it in any fashion magazine," Young said. "(Big hair styles are) just kind of things that have taken hold in rural America."
Sierra Burns, a senior at Skyline High School and also a Vogue student, prefers the volume of teasing her hair, though she said combing it out is not fun. Like Barrera, she believes amplified hair instills confidence.
"Flat hair is definitely not in," Burns said. "People come in here (and) their hair is just flat and you give it the volume and you can see (their) confidence."
While big hair's prevalence perplexes some and inspires others to reach greater hair heights, the deeply rooted local style is tough to shake.
"I can't honestly say why it's popular. When I go to church, you notice it works through the families (mother to daughter)," Young said. "It's extremely difficult to move on from a style that you feel good about."
Barrera swore off the poof for her New Year's resolution, worried her lengthy mane was hurt by daily ratting and hair spraying.
"I feel like my hair is damaged, and I want to kind of give it a break," she said. "You save a little bit of time and I'm on the same bottle of hair spray."
She abstained from the style for a while but has gone back to backcombing occasionally in recent weeks. The comments and comparisons to big-haired reality television star Snooki continue but don't faze Barrera.
"It just entertains me, I guess," she said. "(The observations) can get mean as in teasing and sarcastic. ... If they don't like my hair, that's their problem."
Bump it up?
Bumpits have been the subject of jokes and intrigue since infomercials for the plastic hair enhancers hit the airwaves.
The toothed accessory, shaped like an upside-down smile, comes in several sizes, including mini and "Hollywood," to volumize everything from ponytails to bangs from "flat to fabulous," as one manufacturer's website advertises.
Bumpit tutorials on YouTube recommend a combination of ratting and hair spraying and even sporting multiple Bumpits for the best look.