2/09/2009

Musings on Haircuts

I just got my hair cut. No, not just one, all of them. Here is my deal: even though I love having a new haircut, I hate the process of getting it done. There's the whole awkward conversation with someone you don't know, but the worst part for me comes when they start styling your hair. But first, the awkward conversation.

Take today for instance: the girl cutting my hair is from Chico, and had been married for just as long as me. We should be able to find things to chat about, right? Well, once we got past how awful Rexburg winters are, and how we both don't know what we're going to do for our 3rd anniversaries, we were out of subjects. So she asks me how long it took me to grow out my hair.

"A year and a few months."

"Wow! That's so fast! And your hair is really thick too. It must be GREAT to have hair like this."

At this point I think, sure, if you exclude the 15 years of childhood where I looked like a wilderbeast because my hair was too crazy to manage, and the literal months of time I have spent straightening and taming, trying to make it look even semi-normal. Of course, this sounds ungrateful (and it is) so I say

"Yeah."

More silence. Then she says

"Okay, let me go get my diffuser."

And now we have come to the point that I most hate, because I never know what to do. I honestly don't know what my problem is, but I find it impossible to tell a stylist "You know what, my hair is really difficult, and I have yet to have a post-haircut style turn out well. I'm just going to leave like this, don't worry about it." I don't have this problem with any other service. I can tell a waiter if I want another fork because the left tine on this one is bent to a 45 degree angle. I feel free to ask the sales associates at Old Navy to fetch me another size or color. But for some reason, I just can't open my mouth to tell my stylist that she is doing my hair wrong, and I would rather she just not mess with it after it's been cut.

Is it because the few times I've been able to say it, the stylists look hurt and confused? Or is it because after the awkward conversation I feel too socially paralyzed to do anything other than sit there slightly embarrassed? It's nothing against them personally, I just have difficult hair. Today when the stylist finished and told me I could put my glasses back on, I knew she was embarrassed by how it turned out. I looked a little like this picture of the dude who plays Dr. Cox, only my hair isn't quite this short.
Oh well. It's not a bad haircut at all. But a diffuser was never meant for Michelle with short hair.

5 comments:

mo mcd said...

I absolutely understand. My haircut is not IN ANY WAY even CLOSE to the "picture" she demanded I find for her, but I still felt awful and awkward trying to get her to cut my bangs the right way. My favorite hair place is no more and I will be sad and have bad hair for awhile. (Until I find a new place)

Lorna said...

you must post a picture!

Andy and Saramarie Bourne said...

I'm so glad I'm not the only one who has awkward conversations with hair stylists! I never know how to explain how I want my hair done. I use to have a roommate in Rexburg, that always knew how to do my hair, it always turned out cute. Now, it never does. One time I took a picture in and even then the stylist totally screwed up my hair. That was also the one time I spoke up to ask her what the heck she was doing. She was giving me an a-line! Not even close. She tried to fix it and it ended up in a mess. I think she just said i was done because she was tired of trying to fix it. So, I ended up with a terrible haircut and never went back to her. There is my story.

Vecchiocane said...

Hmmm, I have had mostly good haircuts since I stopped getting them at home. And with an HG buzz, there just wasn't much time for a conversation to go bad.
The place I get my haircut now has enough different stylists that I sort of have a haircut script that I can use every time because I get a new person every two months (yep, that's about the average interval for me).

Julie said...

michelle, first, your belly is sooo cute! I really enjoy your blog! you are a great writer and are very entertaining! second I'm so glad I can go to my daughter katie to get my hair cut becuse I always felt like that to! but even kate parts my hair on the wrong side everytime she does my hair and I have to remind her! and I always feel funny about being picky but it just really bugs to have you hair parted on the wrong side lol !! anyway I would love to stop and see ya sometime!!! I'm so excited to see what you have been baking all these months!!!! love aunt Julie