I was born a honey blonde. That’s what I would have called it anyway. It wasn’t ever platinum like my older sister’s, but still blonde. I liked the colour. In my not-so-humble opinion, it looked like 24 carat gold in sunlight. That and its softness almost made up for its limp, fine, impossible to style, poker straightness.
Sometime during my thirties—I’m not exactly sure when, because I moved to California when I was in my late twenties and I think the sunshine masked the exact year of change—my hair darkened and dulled, turned less golden blonde and more dark dirty blonde or even (gasp!) mousy brown. So, in spite of having much disdain for artificial blondes when I had my own, I started to add highlights. I’ve had a bit of a chemical dependence ever since.
After quitting my conservative day-job, I wanted to try something different. Having green eyes and that Irish/Scottish complexion thing going, I always wondered what I’d look like with red hair. I confessed this to my new, crazy-in-a-good-way hairdresser, Farzana, along with a desire to have something bold, something funky, something that didn’t scream 40-years old. (A milestone I’d just reached.)
The first few times she cut and coloured my hair, I’m sure we discussed what I wanted ahead of time. I seem to recall having input on the colours she used.
Not so much anymore. Now I walk in the door and she goes, “I have a great idea!” and several hours and many dollars later I emerge with some crazy hair colouring.
Not that I’m complaining. I keep going back, don’t I? And Jenny Bent remembered me at a conference because of my hair. (And I’m pretty sure it was in a good way.)
When I went in to see Farzana on the weekend, my hair had a strawberry blonde base, not unlike the natural colour of my youth, and some chunky highlights in a lighter blonde, and some red, and some brown… I loved it when she’d done it back in July and it had faded to something soft and pretty but roots were coming in. I wanted to know if she could freshen it up and fix the roots, without doing the whole hog double process it had taken to get it where it was.
Somehow, without much discussion, I walked out a few hours later with very dark hair. Deep brown on the bottom and a deep auburn on the top. For a natural blonde, the dark hair thing is a little disturbing. I’m not sure if it suits me yet. I do know I should have had her dye my eyebrows, too. I look freaky without makeup.
How much control do you give your hairdresser? Do you know exactly what you want and tell him/her? Or, like me, do you throw caution to the blow dryer?
9 comments:
usually walk in and say, "I'm tired of this hair. Do something fun!"
My hairdresser usually smiles pats me on the shoulder and says, "Really?"
Of course I don't. I'm pretty consertive by nature and she knows that. So she won't let me do anything she knows I'll hate later. That said, I've since moved and have been trying to find a new hairdresser. Nothing is more traumatic!
Monica wouldn't cut it like that *sniff*.
The hairdresser drives me nuts! Only once did I have a great one I would have trusted completely. So, with the fair skin/blonde hair/turned brown syndrome, I added highlights myself until I finally went all out - sometime around 40 - needing to cover up more grey. But now I like the grey coming in around the temples - it's more silver and I think it mixes well with the blonde. As for the brown, well, I'm still covering that up. :)
I don't really have a hairdresser. My daughter cuts and now colors my hair. She even did highlights last time. It's not what she does for a living. But she does her own hair and does a great job of it so I like it when she does mine too (which, BTW, is not the color in my icon anymore).
I usually let them have at it, because it's hair and it gows back. And then if I don't like it I have them fix it.
But we haven't done anything new for a while now... mostly because we really love wha we do.
I'm having a hard time picturing you with dark hair. I loved the red highlights!
I have had many dysfunctional hair relationships. Now I have the perfect mix where she asks questions- but comes to the table (or the chair) with some ideas. She also will put her foot down if she thinks I'm about to do something stupid.
I'm afraid when you have dark hair (like I do) there's not much you can do it or else it will look strange. I have to admit, Maureen, when I started reading your blog instead of "I was born a honey blonde" My mind read it as "I was born a horny blonde". I can tell you, that instantly caught my attention!
I'm a do whatever type of girl.
I usually have length requirements (anything longer than shoulder length and I have to put it up for contract gigs) and styling requirements (no more than a couple minutes in the morning) but that's it.
I figure my hairdresser is a professional. She cuts more hair in a day than I would in a lifetime.
When we move anywhere the two most important people for me to find are hairdresser and dentist.... and once I find one I like I'll stick with them for as long as possible.
I have very short hair, and a bad cut is sooooo obvious. Of course, it does grow out quickly - I usually go every 4-6 weeks!!
I will trust them to do something different, alothough you can't do that much different with hair only a couple of inches long!
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