I think that pretty much all of us have at least one hair cut horror story. I actually have several. But, the most recent tops the cake. Not only because it is still fresh on my mind, or because it's the shortest my hair has ever been, but because it has actually taught me a valuable lesson.
TRUST NO ONE!
Just kidding. :) I just really wanted to blog that picture. haha
So seriously, less than a week ago I decided I wanted a cut and dye. (My hair changes quite often. I get bored with it easily.) Anyway, I went in for a pixie cut and decided to go blonde (because I never have gone 100% blonde before). I thought it would be bold and edgy. Besides, if the blonde looked bad on me, I could simply dye it brown. No problemo, right?
The two hairdressers I go to always get so excited because they get to help choose how to alter the cuts and generally get to choose how to color it, as well. Usually I tell them kinda what I want and say "Have at it". We have come out with some really awesome looks!
Well, I went to the normal hair salon and told her what I wanted. I even had several example pictures of the general cut I wanted. The two hairdressers there consulted and decided that all blonde was a no-no, because my hair is daaaark brown with natural reddish highlights. Therefore, it would turn out a very copper filled blonde. So, we agreed on blonde streaks instead, and darker brown low-lights to cover up the red tint, since my mama despises red hair. I asked the girl doing my hair to put highlights only in the front so my head didn't turn polka-dotted in the back when she cut it oh-so-short. She agreed, mixed up the dye, and went to work. So I took off my glasses, sat back, and ran my face for the hour or so it took to put in the dye and let it soak in and do its magic.
Well.... When she took off all the foils and washed my hair out, she had a sort of funny look of dissappointment. When I walked to the mirror, I quickly saw why. Instead of dark brown, she dyed my hair black black blaaaack. Instead of blonde hightlights, my (ever so thick) bangs were a BRIGHT yellow blonde. Not in hightlights, mind you, but one big bright yellow-blonde chunk in the front of my head..... I was in shock. My hair was black and yellow. BLACK. AND YELLOW. I looked like a cheesy cartoon character. Like, the front of my hair went super saiyen and the back of my hair didn't (Yes, I'm a geek, and I went there).
Instead of freaking out, I swallowed my fear and figured it wouldn't look so bad once cut. Maybe, just maybe, I wasn't seeing the big picture. So, she went to chopping at my hair. That didn't take too long, and no ears were cut, so I calmed down pretty quickly. That is, until she finished with my hair and I put my glasses back on. My bangs, which are usually down in my face, cut to about my eye brows, if not lower, were cut waaaaay too short. :( And, they were really hacked at, which really showed over the dark hair.
I didn't have the heart to tell her how much I really didn't love it, or how I was tempted to cry. She's always done so good, and I didn't want to hurt her feelings. So, I paid and went home dejected, knowing my parents were probably going to rub it in my face, because they don't like when I dye my hair. Instead, they found pity in their hearts and mama actually took me to buy color stripper and hair dye to fix the terrible color combination.
I stripped the black from my hair and my hair turned even more red than natural. lol But, we all like the red. To fix the blonde, my mom chose a light ash brown. It came out an ashy blonde, but it's grown on me, and is kinda cool. At least the yellow is gone. :)
With the color fixed, I still just wasn't happy. My bangs were terrible, and didn't flatter me AT ALL. Mama wasn't too happy with it either, so she told me to get off my butt and figure out how I was going to style it because "It isn't cute, and it isn't very Emily" (She says something is Emily when she thinks it is my style).
So I sat on my bathroom counter and stared at myself in the mirror, coming very close to tears again. You can hide imperfections in long hair. But when your hair is no longer than four or five inches? What was I to do??? I couldn't go shorter, except to shave it off. My bangs have always been my security blanket! My left eye turns in slightly because of vision problems, and I usually hide that with my hair. It makes me very self conscious...
Now what do I hide behind???
Since my bangs didn't look good down, and were too short to pin back, I stood it straight up, just for a good laugh. Then I tousled the rest of my hair with some hair balm. I walked in the living room, and everyone LOVED it! I thought they were all psycho! That is, until I looked in the mirror. My bangs had fallen at the ends the opposite way that they usually fall, and had created this kinda cute little blonde wave. It was a kinda awkward 'do, and my whole forehead showed... (another self concious thing I have) but I liked it. The style looked kinda sharp, and I thought, "you gotta be brave to have a cut like this".
The next day I headed to work with my hair done the same way, and make-up done kinda cute for a little extra confidence boost. I have never gotten so many compliments at one time without actually dressing up! Everyone said I looked edgy, more confident, more grown-up, and they were glad to finally see my whole face. haha
Now I am able to look people in the eye. Now I no longer have to hide behind my hair to feel cute. Now I know that my hair isn't what makes me pretty. In less than twenty-four hours, I went from hating my hair to loving it!
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