9.01.2011

four cuts and seven days ago

The fact that today is the first day of September makes me ridiculously excited. Fall is practically here! I am so psyched for the gorgeous fall colors and absolutely perfect weather. There's just something about fall that is so invigorating. I love it! I have my fingers crossed that there will be much bike riding and picnicking. Oh my. I feel all jittery in anticipation. The year here, weather wise, has been near perfect. The seasons are so perfectly spaced out that, with the change of each season, you're not left disappointed about the current season ending. The autumny leaves are around just long enough for you to enjoy them to the fullest. Right when you think, "Hm, I'm ready for winter," it's winter and cold and snowy. I know not everyone loves the cold months, but for me they are rather glorious. There is just another kind of beauty to them. When it snows and everything becomes white for days... Or when it's all blustery and grim outside and you're forced to stay inside, cuddled under blankets with a book or puzzle... It just feels like it can't get any better than that. And then, right when you have your fill of the snowiness, color starts to return everywhere you look. Nature wakes up. Spring arrives.  And it's awesome and beautiful in a totally different way than either fall or winter. Everything just... comes alive. Car rides and walks are filled with many rather squeaky exclamations. Jason laughs at me, but he understands. The shift from spring into summer is a little less noteworthy, but still noticeable. The temperature warms up, the cool breezes disappear, the trees fill out with leaves and turn a nice dark green. Due to the heat, summer has never been my favorite season. But honestly, I didn't mind it too much up here. There were really only a handful of weeks with icky heat. I can handle that.

Anyway, all this to say, I'm ready for fall. It.makes.me.so.excited. God made a ridiculously beautiful world.

The not as happy part of September 1st is that it is Jason's first day of school. His schedule is basically 1030 to 4 every day. I know it's ridiculous, but I'm going to miss him. Having him around all the time was so nice. I know it's probably going to be a semester with a lot of studying going on, but he can do it. I'm super proud of him.

Speaking of hair*, I cut my own hairs. All of them. First time ever. With my own hands. And scissors. It was, seriously, so much fun. Now, I will answer all of the semi-pertinent questions.

Semi- Pertinent Question #1 - Why: I greatly dislike going to get my hair cut. Perhaps it is because I rarely got haircuts when I was growing up. I would get a trim every now and again, but for a good portion of my life, I just let it grow. My hair and I have always managed to stubborn our way into unpleasant situations. As a kid, I don't think I ever thought to brush it. It was annoying to brush hair since it only took about an hour to mess it up again. Plus, I honestly don't think I could tell a difference between nicely brushed hair and messed up hair. I wasn't/still am not very aware of things like that**. Add to that, I have/had an issue with obsessing over things, and my down-to-my-knees hair was just one of the stubborn points.

Anyway, I think the actual reason I dislike hair-cutting situations is because I simply have no clue what I want done with my hair and even less of an idea how to explain this to someone. So, the few times I've gone somewhere to have my hair cut, I always reach that same awkward point: I sit down in the chair, they face me towards the mirror, and they ask, "So, what do you want done?" I have no idea. I can give them a general length to work with and I can even throw that fancy word of "Layers!" in there, but that's about the extent of my cutting/styling knowledge. To make it more difficult, I also like to mention, "I wear it down and in a ponytail. I wash it and let it dry on its own. I don't use hair devices or goop***." With all of these vague and possibly restrictive instructions, I sit back and let them go at it. Once they've declared a finished product, I pay and leave.

And this is where the dissatisfaction comes in. Sure, my hair is now at a specific length, but that is basically all that is different. I realize this is partially my fault since I didn't tell them anything more specific, but it's because I have no idea about any kind of further specifics. It's silly, I know, but I just want to give a minimum length and tell them to do what they want with the rest, just remembering that I don't do any kind of styling or whatever on a daily basis and that I don't want to/know how to do any. I haven't yet found a gutsy enough hairdresser who will do just that, surprise me. Are my hair habits just too lazy to sustain any kind of different haircut? Again, I have no idea. No one will tell me. Add to this that I honestly don't think I would know a "good" haircut from a "bad" one (they all fall into the neutral zone with me so far) and you get an overall blah experience. Anyway, this is getting all drawn out and boring, so I'll go on. Suffice it to say, I just don't think that what they did was worth the time or money. The problem? How could I complain when it was supposedly something I couldn't do myself? So, I decided to try and cut my own hair, hoping that either I would A) do the same kind of "neutral" cutting without the money spending or inevitable frustration, B) give myself a "Hey cool, something different-ish!" haircut, or C) fail miserably, thus increasing my appreciation for hairdressers and removing my apathy for the blah haircuts that I've always received.

Semi-Pertinent Question #2 - Where: My back bathroom. Paper towel in sink to catch the majority of my hairs so said sink wouldn't get all clogged.

Semi-Pertinent Question #3 - When: It has been an ever-lengthening process (which I enjoy). I started off with my bangs-type hairs about two-ish weeks ago and have been slowly clipping away after every shower since, with the main event happening about a week ago when I hacked off about 4 inches in one go. So.much.fun. It is quite addicting, and I always want to do more (which I probably will, since the desire is there, until Jason tells me to quit or my common sense finally takes over). This wouldn't be a huge problem if I were just a perfectionist or something. You know, if I were a super perfectionist when it came to my hair, clipping a little here and there all the time to get it "just right" wouldn't be a terrible idea. But, you have to realize, I honestly don't think I would recognize a "bad" haircut. And I'm cutting because it's fun. This is a potentially bad combination. I just never knew cutting hairs could be so addicting and enjoyable, and I'm not sure if I'll be able to help myself from  making minor cuts every other day. Hopefully, I won't make a mistake that will necessitate 24-hour hat donning. But then, on the flipside, I probably wouldn't even recognize that I did... So, I still win!

Semi-Pertinent Question #4 - How: In a very choppy fashion. I pretended I was all official by using little hair clips to hold my hairs up in sections and whatnot, but in the end I just did whatever the heck my fingers wanted to do. I even attempted to measure how much I was cutting off and such. But, seeing as I only had the desire to do that to one side, I think it was more of a decorative measure than actually a useful technique. I just cut the hairs that I felt needed cutting and then cut them a little more. I held the hairs at different angles while I cut them creating all kinds of potentially tacky, uneven looks. It was fantastic. Every 10 minutes I would run into the living room to pester Jason who was studying for his prelim exam. I think I was his main source of frustration when it came to studying that night... Oops. Anyway, I eventually reached a point where I felt it could be called "done" for the night. It was around-ish the right length, and my front hairs were doing what I wanted them to do. The hairs on the back of my head were more difficult to cut since I couldn't see them/reach them/cut them as easily. They are still are doing some things that I don't yet approve of but, again, it's a process. I'll figure it out eventually.

So, the big question: Was it worth it? Totally. I cannot believe I hadn't tried this sooner. I hope to never, ever again pay for a haircut. Not only will I save the 10, 15 or 20 dollars (and nope, I don't at all believe that a more expensive place would give me more satisfaction), but I will also gain a priceless amount**** of entertainment. I suppose the only thing that could ruin my anti-hair-salon goal is the spontaneous growth of self-awareness and a personal sense of style. But, I'm pretty sure that won't be a problem for me. :) So.many.wins.

This whole experience kind of reminds me of this llama...

"How's my new haircut look? Seriously, what does it look like? I can't see a thing."
*i realize i wasn't speaking of hair, but i had no other segue into this awesome topic.
**i can tell whether my hair looks brushed these days. promise. i think i learned it sophomore year in college.
***just for clarification: a brush does not fall into the hair device category. hair devices use electricity. goop consists of anything besides shampoo/conditioner that you put in your hair.
**** $43.

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