Hairtastrophe

hairafterA benefit of blogging about daily life is that when crappy things occur, I find myself thinking, at least this will make a good blog post. (Of course, best case scenario is when something crappy happens to Tom because I still get to write about it, but the pain is experienced by someone else!)

Anyhow, this weekend, I lost what seemed like all of my hair in a peluquería disaster. I went to a local salon (walk-in) that had stylists with short hair (important here because the vast majority of women in this country keep their hair very long) to finally get my curly mop styled with an interim cut as I continued to grow it out a bit. (I would say that my locks were falling somewhere between my ears and my shoulders at the time of my ill-fated salon appointment.)

Prior to my cut, I explained to my stylist that I wanted to restore a little shape and movement to my hair, while making it very clear that I was growing it out and desired to keep as much length as possible.

What ensued was a disaster. She cut about 6 to 7 inches off of the top layer of my hair (leaving roughly 2 to 3 inches, which shrinks to nothing when curly). She removed approximately 1 to 2 inches off of the bottom portion of my hair and then thinned out all of the rest in between these two layers. At the end, this debacle culminated in a blow dry that left me with a modern version of an Annette Funicello Beach Blanket Bingo helmet head with flip. (You must look at this picture of Annette here to really have a clear idea of what I endured.)

Hairtastrophe!

Poor Tom, who hates post-haircut fallout, was nervous about my remedy — removing the flip, and indeed the entire lower part of my haircut, with crappy scissors in our bathroom by myself without the benefit of a mirror to see the back of my hair. The result is pictured above. So, yes, I had to pay someone to give me a crappy cut, then go home and remove the rest of my hair myself, but hey, I got a f&*(#ing blog post out of it!

(Just to clarify, I love short hair and have had my own style much lower than this many times in the past…it’s just that I wasn’t planning on having most of my hair removed over the weekend! It’s funny though, I am constantly being reminded of all of the things I like about very short hair — less shampoo, less conditioner, bitchin’ styling products, versatility, easy to swim in, easy to work out with, roll out of bed and look okay, and it grows!)

6 Responses to “Hairtastrophe”

  1. Khara

    Michele-
    I’m like you with my hairstyle. Well, back in September I couldn’t take the shaggy look any longer when in for my cut/color…4 hours later came out with orange hair and a crappie cut. So now, my hubby cuts my hair or I wait until we visit family in the States. I feel your pain.

  2. Michele

    After reading your story, I was very thankful that I brought my own hair dye from the States so I didn’t have to go that route too. I have to admit, I did an LOL at the orange hair. My husband, though, won’t touch my hair. He feels that’s a lose lose sort of proposition — he lives by the axiom, “no good can come from trying to cut your wife’s hair!” Thanks for sharing, it’s nice to know that I’m not alone!

  3. Jennifer

    I think it looks terrific! Really good.

    However, I think Argentine stylists are out to eliminate the hairs of American women… I lost about 8″ to the scissorman when I asked for a trim and style. Feels good on the back of neck in the summer, heat though, right?

  4. Michele

    *laugh* Thank you for the compliment (no doubt I completely needed a haircut). “Trim and a style” is really code for “cut the shit out of my hair because you’ll never see me again, I’m an expat!” Actually, I think we talked about this before, I believe the stylists get excited when someone wants hair cut off since so many of the women here wear their hair quite long.

    8 inches is a lot of hair to lose, but as you say, it grows back!

  5. melissa s.

    it’s adorable!! glad you were able to dodge what sounds to me like a gullet (girl mullet).

    ok i’m caught up. sorry for all the tardy comments. i think barack is coming on leno soon. i’m off!

  6. Michele

    You’re very sweet.

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