Short Stories From 10 Years Ago – August 5, 2004

Short Stories From 10 Years Ago – August 5, 2004

Yikes – A New Hairdresser

Short Stories From 10 Years Ago – August 5, 2004 – As if buying new glasses wasn’t enough for one day, I thought I’d test my limits and pop off to meet my new hairdresser in the afternoon. I’d asked a few friends for recommendations and my sister-in-law mentioned that Vivien and Eva, of Moby Dick Book Club fame, swore by Ines in The Beaches.

Vivien has been going to her for about seven years and Eva, of the newly converted, has a smart, short , sassy, sexy cut and looks about ten years younger. Finding a good fit with a hairdresser is an important thing and I’ve been in limbo for about a year. I’ve tried two different salons and not been able to find a good connection. After all, this person is in going to be in charge of my luxurious mane, my silken strands – my crowning glory. A gal has to be careful – this is serious business.

I’ve had some good hairdressers since I moved to Toronto, but my experience in the past year hasn’t been great. I find that a lot of hairdressers are less than attentive when listening to my opinion. I know what my hair will and won’t do – I’ve lived with it for years. No matter how short my hair is I’ll never look like Halle Berry. If I’m cropped and blonde – Sharon Stone’s precise look still won’t be mine.

No matter how much I might want a luxurious tangle of long curls like Kim Basinger – it’s just not going to happen. I know that I have two cowlicks, that my hair falls forward from the crown, that it’s flat on one side at the back, that I have lots of healthy hair but it’s incredibly fine and that no matter how much I try I can never duplicate the exact styling my hairdresser has created, when I climb out of the shower the next day.

I don’t like to spend a lot of time fussing in front of a mirror – half an hour from shower to car door is my limit. I’ve had very short, spiky hair for the last four years and I’m tired of it. A month ago I explained this to the woman I’ve been going to for about a year. “I’m trying to grow it out a bit longer”, I said hopefully. “I want a cut with a bit of pizzaz – a little longer, easy to manage, a bit tousled, a little edgy and hip”.

My desires fell on deaf ears. I left the salon with a bouffant reminiscent of Mrs. Cleaver. The Beaver would have recognized me anywhere! He would have cried out, “Mom, it’s me – Theodore”. The next morning, post shower, I had a matronly blunt bob with a straight line cut across the back. I wasn’t ready for this – short and spiky would have been better – at least I recognized that woman.

It was with some trepidation that I climbed the stairs yesterday to meet Ines – the miracle worker, the dream merchant, the woman who was about to create the new me. I liked her immediately. We looked at pictures and talked about my life style and what I could and couldn’t do. I explained my lack of patience with fiddling with my appearance, my attention span – five minutes – and my refusal to surrender to matronly middle age.

An hour later, I sat facing my reflection in the salon mirror. I was a babe – layered, flippy, tousled and fun. Why couldn’t anyone else have done this. It’s easy maintenance, feathered and a far cry from Father Knows Best. I’m still not blonde, as tall as Sharon Stone or as hip as Halle Berry – but I have a great new hair cut with a generous dash of funk. As it grows longer, the cut will be just as much fun – just a bit more tousled.

It’s amazing how an hour appointment with a good stylist can change your appearance. The trick is to find the right person, so look around for people with hair styles you like and the ask who cuts their hair. People enjoy passing along the names of people they like – hairdresser, doctor, dentist and so on and so on!

Book a consultation and then sit back in the chair and relax. Remember – it’s never a good idea to argue with a person who has a weapon, so trust the person with the scissors. You have (almost) nothing to lose and a great new “you” to gain. Change is fun!