Deep Cut

Well, it was just a matter of time.

After a life of mostly fortunate experiences, my luck ran out and it happened.

I got a bad haircut.

Goodbye long hair!

Now, don't get me wrong. I've had some ridiculous looking hair before. Usually because I picked a style based on trend and not because it would actually look good on me. Or the stylist would give me something completely different than what I wanted.  So did it look good? No.  But it also didn't look like my hair got caught in a weed wacker.

It all started when I decided it was time to cut my hair. I haven't had a haircut in almost 4 years because I grow my hair and donate it.* I was completely happy with the stylist that cut it the last time. In fact, several months later I went back to her to get it cut even shorter. Both times she did a fantastic job.

So the reasonable thing to do would be to go back to the person I was happy with, right?

But no.

I was about to call (seriously had the number written on a post-it note) when I happened upon a salon I've heard about before and I decide to try that place. Because why go to a place that you know you'll like when you can take a gamble?

I called, made the appointment and then realized I didn't ask how much they charge. I called back and I promise you, the woman sounded almost embarrassed to tell me. And she should have been - it was outrageously expensive.

So I called my top fashionista friend, the guru of all things beauty, just to make sure I wasn't out of touch or just being cheap. She confirmed it was a little high and suggested I go to her girl.

For a fleeting minute I thought about keeping the appointment, just to see what a haircut that expensive would be like...but I couldn't do it.

So I call her girl.

One cut. That's all it took for me to know something was wrong.

She chopped my ponytail off and I remember thinking it felt really short - like too close to my head.  It immediately made me nervous. But I thought maybe I was just being paranoid and it was probably just the immediate shock of going from hair down my back to WHAM, now it's gone.

The more she cut, the less it looked like what I wanted. And I was worried. But I pushed my concerns right out of my head. After all, I had done everything I was suppose to - I brought a picture.  I told her exactly why I liked the cut in the picture.  I told her exactly what I wanted. And my friend's hair always looks so cute - this lady knows exactly what she's doing. She's the expert.

She's chopping and chopping. And that's exactly what it was - chopping, not cutting. She held my hair upside down between her fingers and just kind of jabbed at it with the shears - like a sword fight. All the while telling me about her time working on New York's Fashion Week. See, she is an expert.

When she was done I didn't like it. At all. I was trying hard to stay positive and give it a minute. I thought I just needed to go home and restyle it - a trick that has worked for me countless other times. In fact, I was in such a rush to get out and mess with it that I forgot to give them my coupon when I checked out. So not only did I pay and tip for something I didn't like - I cheated myself out of saving $25!

I got home, stuck my head under the faucet and tried to do something with it. And it wasn't happening. There was nothing I could do. No matter what it literally looked like my hair had gotten caught in a blender. At high speed. Choppy, chunky and just...weird.

Then I looked at the back. HOLY COW! My hair is stacked! In case you don't know - stacked in a style where the hair is essentially layered up and it requires short, short, short hair.  In fact, my neck hair (gorilla girl!) was showing. I'm convinced she didn't shave my neck because she didn't want me to know how short it was in the back.

So I called the girl I should have called originally and got it fixed the next day.  She tried to save as much length as she could but she had to cut even more to get it to look decent. Still not great but she could only do so much...

This is what I ended up with. You would appreciate it so much more
if you could see the before picture!

She was super sweet though because she cut me a deal on her price, since I had "already been through so much". And I don't want this to sound ungrateful, because it's absolutely awesome that she discounted it but I've been through some stuff, some real stuff and haircuts, no matter how bad, will never be included on that list.

Anyone besides me find it ironic (and kind of sickening) that I ended up paying more than the really expensive haircut that I cancelled?

Oh well, guess I can't expect to be lucky all the time...

M decided to donate with me. So proud of her heart!

*I don't donate to Locks of Love. I have nothing against that organization, they have an admirable mission statement but there is a huge misconception that they provide wigs to cancer patients. I'm not saying they don't, because they do. But that isn't their primary focus so it's more difficult for a cancer patient to get a wig from them than it is from other organization that focus specifically on cancer patients. That happens to be a cause that is near and dear to my heart so I donate to Pantene Beautiful Lengths.  Click here to find out more about the program.