The next time I get my hair cut, I want to donate my ponytail to Locks of Love. I was really thinking about doing it today. I thought I had enough to cut off. I got a trim a bit before the wedding while I was in Madison and the woman who cut my hair then told me that if I took off 10 inches, my hair would be just at the base of my hairline in the back. I thought I could deal with that. So, today I went into Hair Cuttery (a hair salon chain something like Cost Cutters or Fantastic Sams)and asked about Locks of Love. The women there looked horrified that I wanted to cut my hair that much. One of them said to me, "If you cut it off now, your hair will look like that," and pointed at a man sitting there looking at a magazine. His hair was pretty short...above his ears at least. Ugh...how much time will it take for me to grow my hair to a decent length?
Another thing I wonder about is whether or not I should go into a place like the Hair Cuttery to have this done. The only time I've had my hair cut while I was in Virginia was at this little barber shop owned by a Korean family. Jake likes to go there because it's cheap and they cut his hair there the way he likes it. However, when I went in and tried to explain to Kim, the woman there, that I'd like to add some bangs, she didn't understand and told me her English wasn't that good (even though she's lived in the US for over 30 years...). I wound up just having her trim my hair because I was afraid she'd chop it all off when I didn't want her to. She was a nice lady and all(she probably talked to me more than any other hairdresser I've had in my life...really, she told me about coming to America, where her daughter works, introduced me to her bird, etc.), but I don't think I'd go back there to do a style change. Something easy like a trim again would be fine. When I went into the Hair Cuttery, the only people working there were a couple of Asian ladies and they both definitely had accents. Is it wrong of me to worry a bit about their English language skills when I'm looking for a drastic style change? I'm awful at explaining things and it probably won't help if I go in and talk to people that have difficulty with English. I'm afraid at this point that if I go in for a cheap haircut, I will have to deal with people with limited English skills. It just seems to be the case around here. Will I be fine if I just provide them with pictures of what I want? Or should I look into some pricey salon and pay 3 or 4 times as much just to have someone who can decipher my explanation of what I want my head to look like? Or, should I just wait until the next time I'm in Wisconsin or something to just avoid this whole ordeal?
Reaching out from the void
3 years ago
2 comments:
If you're going to have your hair cut entailing a big style change, I highly recommend going to someone with whom you will have no communication barrier.
Trust me on this. Been there, done that. Turned out horrifically.
And I don't think you should feel bad about it at all. It's not bigotry or anything to want someone to understand what exactly you want. Now if you were like, "Damn Asians speaking all non-American...go back to your home!" Then maybe I'd be a bit concerned.
But as shallow as it sounds, hair is a "big" deal. I mean, you have to live with it for as long as it takes to grow out. While not life-shattering, definitely something more annoying than...say, having someone mess up a food order or something. Granted, a bad hair cut won't kill you, but how often do you think, "Well, I didn't die so I guess I'm happy with the new 'do."
So. I guess my point is this: I don't think you need to go to a high end salon to get a good haircut, but communication is important. If the Asian chicks have no problems understanding English, no problem. If they don't know what bangs are, it's definitely a no-go.
My hair was really frickin' long when I donated it.
I think it takes more hair that you think it will when you donate because I thought I was going to be able to donate more than the minimum--what's it? 10 inches?-- and I ended up just eeking out what I needed.
When I cut it, I made it very very very clear than I NEEDED to be able to ponytail my hair. I went to cost cutters and a middle-aged lady ended up doing it. I was a little afraid that my hair wouldn't be as nice looking with a woman with a grandma-perm doing it, but it was probably better having someone older doing it because she too her time. She went around my head measuring out chunks of my hair and individually measuring and rubberbanding each chunk. That was better-- chopping a whole ponytail at once could definitely be a bad thing.
My hair was super long--- like Brook Shields in Blue Lagoon where you don't need a shirt because your hair totally covers up your boobs and nipples. So... to get the amount of hair, I started with my hair a few inches beyond bra strap/nipple length and ended up with the absolute minimum ponytail length.
Hope that helps!
p.s. And if you absolutely can't stand the length, you could contact Locks of Love and see if they'll still take it if it isn't long enough-- I think they sell it to other places and use the money.
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