Skip To Content
  • Viral badge

55 Things Only ’90s Teenage Girls Can Understand

If these things don't bring back warm, fuzzy memories, then you can talk to the hand, because the face ain't listening!

1. You cried when Sassy (the GREATEST magazine ever) folded.

2. The smell of Sunflowers.

3. When someone says "the Noxzema girl," you know who they're talking about.

4. How Jared Leto will always be Jordan Catalano.

5. Wearing Naturistics lip balm or LipSmackers at school...

6. ...Wet 'n' Wild lipstick for party time...

7. ...and vampy blue lipstick when you were feeling risqué/going through your goth phase.

8. Being either Team Brenda or Team Kelly.

9. You had beeper codes perfected.

10. Having a ton of chokers to go with every outfit.

11. Knowing that the "Fashion Club" was the original Mean Girls.

12. Using Sun-In to "highlight" your hair on the sly...and then having it only turn your hair orange.

13. Or, for the angsty alterna-teen, using Manic Panic...

14. ...or Kool-Aid to dye your hair.

15. The excitement of getting home and finding the new dELiA*s catalog waiting for you.

YoU aRe g0NnA LoOk s0 kEwL iN yOur NeW caMo mAxidReSs!!

16. Boys who smelled like a mixture of sweat and Cool Water — or sweat and Drakkar Noir.

17. Being obsessed with this movie...

18. ...until this movie came out.

19. Four words: Teen Spirit, Caribbean Cool.

20. When it came to shoes...the chunkier, the better.

21. Carrying a lunchbox as a purse.

22. Having an allegiance to either L.A. Looks or Dep.

23. Playing cassingles on your badass boombox — which you also used to tape songs off the radio.

24. Tori, Alanis, and Fiona were your angsty goddesses.

You carefully read over the lyrics in the CD liner notes — because they told the story of YOUR LIFE.

25. How Hard Candy "Sky" nail polish made you feel dreamy and ethereal...

26. ...and Urban Decay polish made you feel so edgy.

27. That Brad Pitt has never been sexier then when he starred in Legends of the Fall.

You just wanted to run your fingers through his hair.

28. How Contempo Casuals, 5-7-9, Merry Go Round, and Wet Seal were your first stops on trips to the mall.

29. These were your hair icons:

30. How Winona Ryder was the coolest girl ever.

31. Caboodles were your most prized possession.

32. You wished you had a best friend like Ricky Vasquez — and style like Angela & Rayanne's.

You totally begged your mom to let you dye your hair the same color as Claire Danes'.

33. When you hear "rave wear," these slammin' looks come to mind:

34. You had one too many necklaces made from a grain of rice with your name on it (which you probably ordered from the back of YM).

35. How SnackWells was the "healthy" alternative.

36. The torture of wearing bodysuits with those horrible snaps on the crotch.

This is problematic for so many reasons.

37. Watching these over and over again and being able to recite them by heart.

You still cry whenever you see the scene in My Girl where Vada cries out, "And where are his glasses? He can't see without his glasses!"

38. You understand what "He's such a Baldwin!" means.

39. How super-cool and stylish you felt wearing slip dresses with baby tees underneath.

40. That little bit of joy you felt every time you read the Snapple fact on the back of the bottle cap.

41. The excitement of getting the photos developed from your disposable camera, then ripping up and throwing away the photos you didn't like of yourself.

42. The huge crush you had on Brendan Fraser after seeing Encino Man.

43. Thinking baggy clothes + flannel = the best look in the history of the world.

44. How Dr. Martens (especially the Mary Janes) go with any outfit.

And work for any occasion: school, party, formal dance...

45. How CK One was the COOLEST fragrance ever.

46. These were the soundtracks to your life:

47. And this was the ultimate accessory.

48. Spraying yourself with cucumber melon body spray — which you kept in the fridge on hot days.

49. Wondering what the hell was inside Madonna's Sex book.

50. The moment of shock when Dr. Kimberly Shaw removed her wig on Melrose Place.

51. You thought TLC were such badasses for wearing condoms on their clothes (and if you were a younger teen at the time, you maybe were confused and thought they were fried eggs).

52. Spending endless hours at sleepovers playing these:

You can still hear that robotic Mall Madness voice: "Sale. At the. Jewelry store."

53. The chills the opening scene in Scream gave you. Also, the shock that they killed Drew Barrymore in the beginning of the movie!

54. You always imagined your adult relationships would be like the ones on Friends.

55. You spent way too much time crafting the perfect away message...in purple and Comic Sans font, of course.