I brushed it multiple times a day. I was, let's just say, extremely conscious of it. I was a wannabe, but such a forceful wannabe that I convinced a number of people. Because you look and act a certain way, you must be on the right side. I don't mean to be too hard on the self-conscious lapses of my younger self, here.
Teenagers go through things like that.
The harder you're looking for yourself, the more likely you are to guess wrong about where it is. It all part of becoming. But so is casting that off. Which was, of course, a little bit silly. Who we are isn't something we create externally, it's what we're like when that and all other noise can be quieted.