"Hair Fiasco!"

Or,

"How I Spent All Day Yesterday Crying Like a Sissy Little Girl"

Good Grief, what a hair fiasco!! I'm back to being "cute" again, but I spent most of yesterday in tears! That's what I get for going with a new (more economical) stylist instead of my normal one, I suppose...

Anywho, the stylist yesterday acted as though she didn't even know how to cut hair! I brought in the picture of Claudette Colbert and explained exactly what I wanted. The first attempt, she just trimmed the ends of my hair and asked if that was what I wanted? Ummmm...no! ACK! When I explained everything again, she looked even more confused and trimmed my hair ends a little more. Then she went to talk to some of the other stylists, who tried to explain to her what a simple haircut it was and how to do it. I should have left right then and there, but I was in such a state of shock I wasn't thinking! On try #3, she MASSACRED my head with horrible layers! The top laid flat because it was too heavy, the middle (due to my abundant natural curl) flipped up and out, and the bottom POOFED out and down. At this point I had spent TWO HOURS in her chair! There had been two stylists working in the booth next to mine, and every now and then they had been casting barely concealed looks of horror my way...I numbly nodded "ok that looks good" in pure shock, paid, walked out to my truck and started crying like a sissy little girl! Ryan, whom I was supposed to meet for lunch an hour ago, was frantic with worry, and had left me several messages asking where I was and if I was ok? I called him to explain, but ended up just crying harder into the phone. When we finally met up near his work, he took one look at my head and said that we needed to have them fix it asap (no kidding, honey!). So he called the salon for me (I was still sobbing uncontrollably) using his best "debt collector" tone and scheduled an appointment with the manager (who is also my normal hair stylist) to fix it the next day (which was today). Painfully funny: the receptionist knew who he was referring to as far as the "very upset customer" without Ryan dropping a single name. I spent the rest of the day with a scarf wrapped around my head, sobbing in our darkened bedroom and gorging on self-pity chocolate cake. I'm not a girly-girly feminine freak, but I have NEVER had an awful experience like that before, and my hair looked so bad it was unbelievable! Amazing how an event like that will just turn you into a weeping mess. I couldn't look in the mirror without bawling! What a blow to your self esteem!

Anywho, today, the manager/stylist ended up repairing as much damage as she could without giving me a pixie cut, but the back still lays rather funky and won't look quite right til my hair grows out and I have it re-cut. *Sigh* She did show me how to do finger waves and pin curls before I left, which I am very excited to style my hair with (that was part of the reason I wanted a "flapper cut"). They didn't charge me for the repair work (thank goodness!). I'm partly mad at myself: I should have gone with my normal stylist in the first place, instead of trying to save a little money on my cut by using one of the other, newer stylists. I just figured it was an easy haircut (it's a short bob, for crying out loud!) and wouldn't be hard for any stylist to do! Boy, I have learned my lesson! Next time I'll fork over the $50 for my usual stylist and never think twice!

Lesson Learned.

Quick Note: My hair is very curly in the pictures - what's funny is that while the stylist DID curl it a bit for me, today was very humid, and my hair has grown "bigger" and more out of control as the day has dragged on...I'm a little worried as to what sort of curly poof I may be sporting come bedtime!

Today was also better in that I found a real score at the thrifty: $7.99 emerald green velvet 1950's strapless party dress! It definitely needs a steam pressing, as the bodice lays funky right now and makes me look like I have torpedo nipples or something when viewed from the side, but it's in great shape otherwise (no holes or tears!). It has a metal zipper in back, and the most fascinating "petticoat" design I have ever seen!!: instead of using a built-in petticoat or lining the skirt with a crinoline fabric, the seamstress used some sort of heavy-weight industrial "foam" is what it looks like to add the stiffness and volume so classic to the 1950s style. I have never seen anything like it, and it makes for a wonderful (and wearable!) study piece. Plus, I am a TOTAL sucker for emerald green, especially velvet, and it matches both of my wedding rings as well as the pair of drippy $5 earrings I scored at an antique store last week. The color doesn't come out well in the pictures because I'm standing in the shade, but it really is the most lovely green color...I also love the little bow in the front of the dress!

P.S. - the bracelet I'm wearing is a $4 thrift store score, and the necklace is a family "heirloom" that my grandmother got for free when she was working at Fedco in CA. On that note, a little side story: I want to scream because apparently she was offered an entire box of D&E Juliana jewelry (retailing now individually anywhere from $250-$2000!) for free, but she only took one necklace because she thought it was "too gaudy." I still have that necklace, but oh! To think she turned away an entire box of them! That could have paid for my college education via Ebay! :P