In which I justify a pricey haircut

Last week I got my heavy, rapidly-turning-into-Cousin Itt hair cut.  My hair is long, thick, coarse, and naturally curly, and for the past 39 years of my life, my mom has been the only one who has cut it.  Mom is great at what she does, and she has even won awards for her hairstyling skills, but she is also 180 miles away and that's not exactly what I'd call convenient.  I tend to get it cut three or four times a year and have had pretty much the same long-layered hairstyle since...1993?  So yeah, it's been a while.

Since Mom has never charged me for her haircuts, I have saved a lot of money over the past few decades.

4 cuts per year
X
38 years (let's say)
X
$25 per cut (a bargain)
=
a savings of $3800!

So Friday I went to probably the most expensive salon in Champaign.  I paid what many would consider to be a ridiculous amount of money (OK: 99 dollars) to get my hair cut by Rod Sickler, a man who knows how to deal with strange hair like mine.  How did I know this?  The internet said so!

There's something unnerving about meeting someone who seems perfectly nice but is nevertheless a complete stranger to you, and then that person has his hands in your hair and is telling you what needs to be done.  Then before you know it he's changing the way you look--bizarre.  It reminds me of the foot massage conversation from Pulp Fiction, but you should not click that if you do not like bad words or subject matter of an adult nature.  To sum up: you go to this place where somebody starts touching you in a familiar way, but you both act like nothing out of the ordinary is happening. 

Or maybe that's just me.

Anyway, no offense Mom, but he rearranged my layers and "texturized" the top a bit with those weird-looking thinning scissors.  He then applied a trio of products that thankfully DO NOT make me smell like a pina colada covered with Hawaiian Tropic SPF 0 suntan oil.  (Why is it that every drugstore item for curly hair makes it smell like a freaking fruit salad?)  Here at home, I'm still trying to work out the right amounts of each of these products.  When Rod did it, it looked just beautiful, but when I did it the other day it didn't seem quite as awesome.  I'll get it eventually.

I love the new haircut, and it was fun being an adult and trying new things.  If I decide to keep going back to Rod to get my hair cut, I can do so with a clear conscience for the next 9.5 years 

($3800 divided by $100 divided by 4 times a year.  After that my debt to the cosmetology industry will be paid off and $99 will start to seem a little on the pricey side.  Then again, it's not like I drink or smoke.  Think of all the money I save simply by not drinking or smoking!  I guess what I'm saying is: this may become my lone vice.)

[Above: me being an expensive-headed dork.]

Comments

[Caroline]

Dunno what kind of products Mr Fancy indicated you should use, but I like the cut a lot, and I feel your pain about thick hair.

I use one product ever: Sheer Brilliance, which is a basic silicon/oil serum. It makes my hair behave and act shiny while it air dries, which is every day, because it would seriously take an hour to blow dry it. No thank you.

[U2Kitteh]

Hi Kelly! (new reader from the @U2 website..U2Kitteh)

I don't ever recall seeing a picture of you there! You are stunning!

I like your curly hair and the cut! I have wavy hair that both refuses to curl and is too thick to straighten..and if I blow dry it, it turns into giant Miss America bouffant, which is usually not the look I'm going for, hehe..

Anyway, I think it looks great...and what is the old saying? "Because you're worth it!" (Hehe, which as I type that makes me realize that my hair routine is worth about $15 bucks, lol..)