Friday, March 20, 2009

A Hair-raising Experience

Today I went to my wonderfully colorful hair dresser. I've only been to him twice before but he waxes my eyebrows and cuts my hair so I like him. Last time, I was so excited with the slightly funky style he gave me. I got many compliments on it and it was really easy to fix. I was happy to be sitting under his knowledgable scissors once more.

He's not one of those stylists who plops you square in front of the mirror. No, I suppose he likes to surprise you. He's also not one to ask what you'd like to do today or if you just want the "usual". He's an artist... and your hair is his canvas. Now, be quiet and let the man do his work.

I was all too happy to sit and discuss the weather and his new condo and leave my hairdo to his concern. My kids were at home with Theo. I had time to just sit and relax and look forward to how cute I was soon going to be.

He was very, very excited because he got new scissors yesterday. They were very gadgety and had pivoting handles to help him avoid carpal tunnel syndrome. Tools of the trade, tools of the trade! This is a man who loves his profession. I was especially excited when he started gushing about how he "loved" my hair and how he could "make it do anything" and told me how "cutesy" it was.

After an entire bottle of Paul Mitchell's Freeze scrunch spray, he spun me toward the mirror. Wow, it was certainly funky and exciting. WOW! I was giddy with the strangeness of it all. I had once toyed with the idea of cutting off all my hair and going with spikes. But I didn't have the guts to go through with it. And here, I had my dream without any of that fussy decision making process.

There was a problem with this hair. This is not the hair of someone who homeschools her children and uses cloth diapers. This is not the hair of someone who owns ANY of the clothes in my closet. This is certainly not the hair of a first grade Sunday School teacher. I'm going to need a whole new personality to go with my hair. Between my new hair and my new sunglasses, my head has left the rest of my body behind.

I stopped at the grocery on the way home because I had to pick up some things. For the first time in my life, I was turning heads. Don't get me wrong. I've drawn attention to myself before. Wearing a baby on your back in a simple piece of cloth gets you some attention. But people froze when I walked by, stopped reading the labels on their prospective purchases and literally turned to follow me all the way around like those weird eyes that follow your cursor on the screen.

Hannah and her cousin Audrey, were dancing alone together in the living room when I got home. Audrey spun around as she heard me open the door and yelled with two-year-old enthusiasm, "There she...." Then she paused as she looked at me with vague recognition and finally slowly said, "....is...".

My husband laughed. It wasn't one of those mean-hearted laughs. It was more of disbelief and an inability to control himself sort of laughs. It's the guilty, uncontrollable way people laugh sometimes when other people fall. John started talking to me without eye contact but I know when he saw my hair because he just. STOPPED. talking. My sister-in-law said, "John, your mom has cooler hair than you!"

When Theo left to get the grill ready and talked about how he had to make dinner, I said that was good, because girls with hair like this, don't make dinner. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm going to need a tattoo and some leather to go with this hair.


2 comments:

SAHM said...

Looks like a fun hairdo! Sometimes we gals have to make those types of changes! BTW, I love it! My DH even said it looks good.

Carissa said...

Looking good, sister!
So how much hair spray have you invested in for this new do?
I hope to add a little "life" to my hair tomorrow, but my stylist - God love her - isn't that bold. And you know me, I don't like change, so "new" and "adventurous" is not really something we ever discuss.
Maybe I need to visit your stylist and see what he can do with this canvas on my head!