A few weeks ago I went into town to get my hair cut. Little did I know what I was getting myself into...
I walked into the salon and found out that it would be a twenty minute wait or so. Okay, I'll wait, I thought. And I did wait. I found one of those hair style magazines that shows just about every hair style in the world, and was contented to look through it, either wishing I knew how to do that style, or thanking my lucky stars that I wasn't even tempted to do this style, or just trying to restrain myself from laughing out loud at some of the more ridiculous styles. Yes, it kept me busy for well over twenty minutes, and it wasn't until my name was called that I realized that it had been almost twice that amount of time.
I sat down in the under-stuffed chair and showed the girl what I wanted her to do with my hair.
"Just take off four to six inches or so." She picked up the end of my hair and measured about two inches of it.
"Like this much?"
"No, more than that, please." She went up about half an inch.
"Like this?"
"Uh... more like this." I pointed to the place where I wanted her to cut.
"Are you sure you want that much off? That really is a lot."
"Yes, I'm sure. I need a nice cut for the summer. Long hair just get's in the way."
"Well.... okay. If you're sure."
"I'm sure."
By now I was beginning to get the impression that she liked long hair. Seriously, I wasn't asking her to cut off that much at all. My hair was really long before, and I just wanted her to cut it just below my shoulders. Is that so much to ask for? I didn't think so.
We went to the back of the room and she washed my hair in one of those gigantic sinks, talking to me the whole time about her kids, and did I go to the public school, and how much she missed Arizona in the spring ("Oh, and is the water too hot for you? No? Okay, just let me know if it is."), and what are my plans for the summer? I answered all questions accordingly, and listened as she told me about her past, and tried not to get so relaxed that I'd fall asleep.
Soon she finished, and we headed back over to her "station". And once again, we had to agree on how much to cut off. She was stubborn. She didn't want to take more than four inches off. But I was stubborn too. After all, it's my hair!! We finally settled at four inches, and said we'd see what we thought about it after that. Then she got to work, and began the conversation up again. Fifteen to twenty minutes later she finished and whipped out a mirror for me. I checked it out.
"I thought we agreed on four inches."
"That is four inches."
".... are you sure? That looks a little more like three, to me."
"Well, it's four. You want more off, don't you?"
"Well, yes, I was thinking that it would be shorter than that."
"Alright, how much do you want off?" *insert long sigh here* This girl really hasn't been listening.
"Um... how about one more inch. Maybe even just a little more than that."
"Really? Are you sure? You have such nice long hair!"
"Yeah, but I don't want long hair, that's the thing. Why don't you just take another inch off and we'll see how it is after that, okay?"
"Well.... alright."
I was seriously starting to feel like Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday.
Five minutes pass.
"Okay, how's this?" She hands me the mirror and I check my hair. Okay, now we're getting somewhere! I decided that I would be an okay length. Besides, I was getting tired of trying to get her to cut more off. "That's a lot better! I like it." She looked pleased with herself. She trimmed a few more things here and there, fixed the layers and then we were finally finished!
"FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEDOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!"
Okay, I didn't really yell that. I resisted the urge, even though I did think of doing it, hehe. I payed for the hair cut, making sure to give the girl a generous tip and thanked her. After all, I did make her cut off more than she would have liked to. Who knows how much torture that might have been for her?
I walked out the door and stood for a second in the sunlight. It was like one of those commercials for hair products. You know, that one where the girl walks out of the salon and tosses her head a few times, and her hair falls perfectly back into place, reflecting off the sunlight as it settles about her shoulders.
Okay, so I made that up too. But I'm sure there're some commercials like that out there somewhere.
Anyhow, that's sort of what I felt like. I donned my sunglasses as I greeted the world with my new haircut. Oh yeah. And I bet it would have looked a lot cooler, though, if the girl had remembered to dry my hair. Yep, there I was, standing on the sidewalk with damp hair. Yeah, that's definitely classy. *sarcasm galore* But! Thinking on my toes(literally), I put two and two together. My mother wasn't there yet, and she was supposed to pick me up. Thus, I was stuck until she came. Fortunately for me, just across the parking lot was a Jack in the Box. "Wait! I have a plan! . . . After many profound brain things inside my head ..."
I hurried across the parking lot, praying that my mother wouldn't come for another five minutes or so. I pulled open the door and dashed into the restroom, hoping that it would have one of those hand dryer things that blow hot air. Aha! I was in luck!
I ducked my head under the dryer and turned it on, hoping that no one would come in. It would be an odd sight; a girl drying her hair under the hand dryer. Haha!
Five minutes later my hair was completely dry, and I hurried back out of the restaurant. My mother was waiting for me, and soon we were on our way back home. And now that my hair was dry, I could wear my sunglasses and pretend to be the girl in my commercial.
Now if only I could get my hair to fall perfectly back into place around my shoulders...
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