the hair saga

One of the trivial things I have to deal with while living here is that hair upkeep is a little challenging.  Like I just said I know this is trivial.  I basically can't trust any Chinese hair stylist to cut my hair.  Most are not formally trained and even those that are have very little knowledge of how to cut curly hair.  So I'm resolved to only getting haircuts while we are out of country.  For the first year of living here this was ok.  Even in the States I have been known to go a good 6 months between hair cuts.  So I got a good cut done while in Thailand last February and while we were there this summer.  Only while we were there this summer I decided to not get much cut off.  With both Kirby and Bennett I got my hair chopped soon after they were born.  Going with that 'I need a change' feeling that I get right after delivery.  I guess it's the feeling that comes with not being able to automatically shed the pounds so I feel like a new hair style will be a good substitute.  The problem is that short hair for me is high maintenance.  Which is not what you want with a newborn.  So to avoid that this time around I got just a bit of a trim in July.

Here we are 5 months later and my hair was the longest it had ever been in my entire life.  While I was a little bit fascinated by the fact that it was so long (not in a narcissistic way but in a who knew it could grow so long way) it got to be too much to handle.  Washing it was a chore and it was taking way too much product (which I must either buy in Thailand or have sent from America) to keep tamed.  So with no trip out of this country planned in the foreseeable future I began to weigh my options.  Should I risk going to a local person and just let them do whatever they feel?  Fully knowing that would be the result because I don't have the language to explain it and they have limited skill.  Should I just try to trim it on my own?  Ummm, probably not so much.  Can I convince a friend to just take a little off the length?  Hmmm, maybe.  So I went with the last one.  I asked all my friends if anyone would be willing to try and, PTL, my friend E agreed to give it a shot.

Luckily for her I have had some bad haircuts in my life and have never once gotten upset enough to cry over it.  It's just hair and will eventually grow out.  I just couldn't take it any more.  The longer it got the more I wanted to buzz it off like the rest of my family.  So last Friday we set a time and she came over.  I can now report that I have about 5 inches less hair and love it!  She even did a little layering so I wouldn't end up with pyramid hair.  It was halfway down my back and is now resting right around my shoulders.  I totally wish I had just asked a few month ago (I think Stan does too!).

So thank you to my friend E.  You were brave to try out your skill on my crazy curls.