I got my hair cut today..

I got my hair cut today..

For years.. ok, we’re talking decades upon decades (I’m VERY Old), I’ve been cutting my own hair.. ‘ahhh, that answers a lot’ I hear many of you say.. thanks..

Anyway, occasionally I’ve gotten a good friend of mine try to ‘patch up’ the spaces I’ve left when my attention wanders and suddenly I actually feel my naked scalp. OOPS.. She’s very patient and just shakes her head and does the best she can with what she has left to work with..

Today on the news, I saw that there were TONS of stylists gathering to earn money for helping those with hair loss from cancer/chemo get hair cuts.. it was called “The Annual Cut-a-thon” and there were more than 100 stylists that participated. All proceeds for the event helped raise money for ‘Couture for Cancer,’ a Florida organization that supplies hair systems (not off the shelf wigs, but specifically and personally fit head gear of real hair for Chemo therapy patients.)

For just a $15 donation, I got a haircut from a Redken Salon Professional, a cookbook and for another $5 I got a raffle ticket.. I didn’t win, but it went to help someone, so I DID win! And I took a couple of cans of soup for the Harry Chapin Food Bank. A very good day!

Anyway, I went, took my cans of soup and $20 and was lead to this great girl. The girl that lead me to her had VERY short hair in the back and longer hair in the front.. of all the hair styles running around, I loved that! So when we got to my stylist, I said, “I WANT HER HAIR!! Ok, but maybe NOT that short in the back.. and no gel or spray, but JUST like hers!” (my guess is that that alone drives stylists nuts, so I was on the right track immediately! Heh. Heh. Heh.)

So, my stylist, Michelle asked, “What salon are you using now?” (she had a stick-on tag right on her left breast that was at eye level every time she was trimming the left side of my hair, so, with nothing else to look at or read, I read her tag. A lot.) (**see Michelle's contact info at bottom of story)

My reply was that I am my own salon. When I get up at 3 a.m. and something is sticking out, I generally just cut it off.. I saw her visibly pale and blanch.. I said, “yeah, I know, girl. Sadly, you’ll be correcting my sleepless nights..” She said that luckily I wanted the back really short and verified that the part where I’d originally been able to see scalp had, indeed, sort of grown out enough to be able to not be noticed now. Whew.. Then I realized that she was thinking about suggesting to me that a law suit would be in order for the shape my hair was in.. if only.. LOL

A stylist standing beside her suddenly started paying attention to my head. I noticed in the mirror that I was holding, watching the progress, that she tightened her lips and looked sympathetically at Michelle. I sighed and just hoped all would be well. Heck, she could only 'sort of' put things in order back there, right?

Then she mentioned I needed coloring. I told her that I blended my own. More paleness of her face.. she was looking rather like a Kabuki dancer by that time. I told her I used a blend of 5 colors from ash blond to bright copper and it blends out as a discontinued color red by “Nice’n’Easy” that I always loved. And that tonight was my ‘maintenance’ evening while watching the American Music Awards. She gulped and said I was very brave..(ha! She has NO idea.. mine are as big as Kansas and made of solid gold! .. ‘Danger is no stranger to me! Cha-cha-cha!’ and I LAUGH in the face of danger.. and stupidity.. ha-ha!)

But anyway, I got a hair style that wasn’t far off from what I usually wear, but it’s short in the back so I can mousse it or spray it and it will stick out, porcupine-like but very hip. I love it! And I gave her my card to contact me, incase she changes salons, and will actually hunt her out to try to correct my insomniac hair-whacking in the future. I’ll see if I can find her again. If not and I can’t sleep, the world will have to suffer with my hair in case I again let my mind wander while I hear my scissors snip and it brings me back to realization that I was in the middle of a beautification procedure.

**Contact the very brave and VERY GOOD Michelle at April's Hair Design, 15201 N. Cleveland Ave, (Merchant's Crossing Shopping Center, next to Sears), 239.656.6400 ask for THE GODDESS (what *I* call her) Michelle. Thanks, Girl! Bekki

Copyright 2007. Bekki Shanklin, from her Thinking All The Time series