There are days when I wish I had the guts to chop off all my hair.
Hair is work.
I've had many a style over the years and many colours.
I started off in life as a red head.
I had light red hair when I was a baby, then as I got older it became darker, more of a deep auburn than red.
not sure where that came from as my mom is a brunette and my dad is blond.
When I was a kid my mom pretty much kept it long and in ponytails, braids, hair bands and barrettes.
A la Laura Ingalls.
When I was around 12 or 13 I discovered sun in and my girlfriends and I all sported that horrible shade of orangish-blond with the lovely skunk line down our middle part once the highlights grew out after the summer ended.
I remember using my curling iron religiously to get the perfect "sausage rolls" or "feathered look".
we looked ridiculous.
High school my hair wasn't too bad, despite the big puffy bangs at one point.
Oh and a semester or two spent using a crimping iron.
Oh and now that I think about it, a perm may have taken place.
yikes.
Hey it was all about Madonna, Duran Duran, Pretty in Pink & Dynasty back in those days.
But at least I kept my colour it's natural shade of blondish brown and the style was relatively flattering being long and straight (after the perm finally grew out)
It always smelled like Agree shampoo.
Good smelling hair was super important back in those days.
Hell it's still important, but these days I'm more of an Aveda shampure kinda gal.
In my twenties I had various lengths of bobs usually somewhere around my jaw line.
The colour looked fantastic (I briefly dated my colourist) but once I stopped seeing him I had to change salons and had a bunch of unfortunate salon experiences after that.
The moral to that story is don't ever date your hair stylist.
Now that I'm in my thirties I've switched hair salons a bunch of times but have managed to narrow it down to two different places.
The one I can get into at the last minute and I can walk there in 2 minutes.
And the one I go to when I realize that my cut and colour looks bad and needs rescuing.
But for that I need to plan ahead- several weeks as my stylist is in high demand, and I need a sitter to watch Lulu.
But either place, I usually opt for basically the same colour and style.
I guess I know what works for me and my life style.
When I'm inspired I use the flattening iron, but 99% of the time I tend to wear it in a ponytail.
I wash and blow dry it pretty much every day, which has dried the crap out of it, but if I don't, I feel like a grease ball.
But it hardly matters as it looks pretty much the same even if I don't do anything.
I must confess I'm getting tired of highlighting every 10-12 weeks or so.
It can't be healthy.
Not to mention the crazy amount of money spent in the name of vanity.
The mortgage could be paid off by now if it wasn't for my damn hair.
I'd love to go dark, but I've been a blond for so long that I'm not sure that I would like it.
But if blonds have more fun, I'm not sure that I want to be having less fun than I am these days..
I also like the fact that I have the same colour hair as Lulu.
Only hers is beautifully natural.
The point of all this, is that I guess I wish I didn't care.
I wish I could just say screw it and get it all cut off and not care what it looks like.
Why is our hair so important to us (well some of us) and why do we spend so much time and energy (and money) on it?
Why do we feel so obligated to conseal any signs of getting older by colouring it so often? just look at all the shelves of colour at the drugstore- who knew there could be so many shades of blond, brown & red?
"we" meaning most people I know.
well with the exception of a friend of mine who moved to rural B.C. and practically lives on a commune now and cut off all her hair, but even still occasionally uses henna.
Even people who claim not to care, obviously care.
dread locks are really more work than you would think.
so who knows, maybe it's time to let nature run it's course.
Set the dark roots free.
who am I kidding?
I'd better call salon #2, with any luck she might be able to see me sometime in June..
10 comments:
Ahhh hair...the dilemma continues. I am there with you on the sausage rolls, sun-in and constant pony tail. My solution was to chop mine off...and I actually don't regret it! It forced me to have a "style" and it's super easy.
The only time I don't wear a pony tail lately is the two days after a cut (every three months!).
Luckily I never started colouring so I don't know what I'm missing.
OMG Sun in!!! I did that too for two summers! And the crimping! Brought back a lot of memories. Hair honestly is such a pain sometimes, I also wish I could cut it short or shave it off and just wear wigs. Right now my hair is a disaster of curly parts and straight parts; the after effect of pregnancy, so it's up in a ponytail. I honestly wish my hairdresser lived with me.
And guess what, I also had a 5 year relationship with a hairdresser, it was good for the free cuts and colors.
I cut mine really REALLY short (as in Mia Farrow short) and dyed it platinum...love it. Drastic for sure. Short hair costs alot to keep up because the colour must be done more often (mine is done every 8 weeks max) and it must be cut every 4 weeks. I love to have fun with my hair.
Well I don't know if blondes have more fun as I am a dark haired highlighted lowlighted sex goddess.
I NEVER used to spend money on my hair until I became hooked on Marlene. She has become a verb. To go to Marlene is to be 'Marlened'. I have spread the word in the schoolyard. She is an addiction.
I will forgoe food in the house to have money to see her when thinks get skanky at the root line....
Keep having fabulous hair, it is a small perk.
I'm dieing to cut mine off... but too scared to take the jump. Oh, and I'm so jealous that you can last 10-12 weeks between highlighting. I'm at 7-8 right now! ug! The price we pay to be beautiful. haha!
I'm so with you on this. Hair is such a dilemma. I love my hairstylist (I went yesterday! But I had to skip work to go since he was only available on a Wednesday afternoon!) but I struggle with colour. I can't decide. I am a natural brunette, but I can't decide on what I want.
We could all do what Britney did and shave it off. I don't know!!!
Just got my hair cut and highlighted and I swear I feel like a new person. It always feels like too much money, but in the end it is so worth it.
Sun in brings back such fun memories. My sister and I were addicted!
Oh hair. I tried a new salon just yesterday - a mere five weeks after my last cut (and already I'm finding faults). Why must we care so much?
At the very least my blond highlights are almost gone (hey, with a husband creating Gum Blondes, I had to at least give it a try). Until grey becomes a problem I'll keep my natural mousy brown colour...while focusing all my hair angst on the cut. Arghh!
I've actually been going to the same lady for my hair for nine years now - I love her. it's funny, though, I have a whole idfferent attitude about hair, now that I have at one time chopped it from butt-length to a slightly-longer-than-jaw-length bob in one fell swoop. Mailed off an 18-inch ponytail to make a wig for someone. Now it's just hair. Yes, I like it to look good and have a lrage supply of products and hair clips and fasteners, but it's a lot less work, and I'm way more willing to change styles every couple of years, just for something new.
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