Hair-raising experiences

You may be wondering why my blog background is now black.

I'm in mourning.

Not for a person. I'm grieving the loss of my hair.

Yes, my hair has undergone some radical changes in the last week. I blame it on Heather and Suzy. After all, it was their idea to go to a Palestinian haircutter . . .

I didn't even plan on getting my hair cut at first. I only went to the Palestinian salon because Heather and Suzy wanted to get theirs cut (and they needed a third person to be able to leave the center). I was the smart one-- waiting to see how their hair turned out before I made any decisions.

Suzy was the first brave soul to go under the knife . . . I mean, scissors. Fortunately she brought a picture, since the haircutters didn't speak any English. She pointed and they bobbed their heads and started chopping away.

Suzy's hair seemed alright. And, the price was only 40 shekels (about $10). I began to think that maybe I should get a haircut. I even found a picture that was decent in one of their magazines. It looked about like this, only without the bangs (I hate hate HATE bangs!) and with slightly longer layers. That was the real kicker. If I had a picture, how far off could they get?

Really far.

I decided to go for it.

After wetting down my hair and adding conditioner to un-tangle it, the lady was ready to cut my hair. She showed me the length of hair she would cut off, and I nodded. It looked about right.

As she began chopping, I noticed that my hair felt surprisingly short and light. It seemed shorter than the length she had measured out. I still wasn't too worried, though. After all, if it was a little short, I wouldn't have to get it cut again as soon.

Then, it happened. The lady came around to the front, and as I watched in the mirror, I clearly saw her take the scissors and cut diagonally on the hair at the very edge of my face.

She was cutting BANGS!

I almost stopped her right then and there, but I reconsidered. After all, a few bangs in my eyes would be a lot better than bangs on half my head.

I bit my tongue and tried to occupy my mind with positive reinforcement. It's not really that bad. I can always have someone at the center fix it if I need to. It's definitely an experience. I'll be able to tell my kids about it. It really is pretty funny when you think about it.

Finally, she was done. I peeked at the mirror. Not bad-- if I were trying to look like a mushroom. Or Hayley Mills (short-haired twin) in the Parent Trap. But, then again, Hayley Mills was in style 40 years ago. What does that say about my haircut?

Welcome to That 70s Show: Palestinian Edition!

At least it settled down a little by the end of the day.

Side Profile. (Yechh. It looks like a bowl-cut. Maybe that's why Suzy and Heather said it looked like a 4-year old's haircut!)

From the back.

(Okay, so using the self-timer to get my back is a lot harder than I thought!)

More of the back.

The other upsetting thing about this haircut was that the lady parted my hair VERY crookedly. I think the part was pretty much at a diagonal when she started clipping. So, when I washed my hair afterward, I wasn't totally surprised to see how uneven the sides were:

Yikes.

I'm going to have to wait how long for this to grow out?

I've debated a couple of options. Unfortunately it's short enough that a ponytail is out. I could buy some of those Palestinian scarves, and wear one of them for a couple of months. Or I could just be grateful that it wasn't worse. After all, I could have ended up looking like this.