Boy did I have a plan for today’s pic!…. No. That’s a lie. I had no plan. I woke up feeling like crap and basically that feeling followed me through the day. So much so that I decided to ask the girls favorite babysitter to bring them home from school because I just needed some time to myself. My plan? Head over to a local artsy coffee house with my laptop and work on all things Muchness.
As I drove the sitters car (she needed the carseats so we swapped) I “felt” young again. I imagined myself sitting in the cafe just pretending to be young and carefree once more. That, I thought, would be my picture. As I walked towards the coffee shop, I passed a hair salon.
Quick history of me and haircuts. When I was 9 I got my first real salon haircut. I hated it. It made me want to cry. It’s possible I did cry. My feelings have pretty much never changed. Back when I was young, muchy and fearless, I’d cut my hair, on my own, on a whim. Literally. In ninth grade my hair was halfway down my back. After seeing one picture in one magazine and deciding i “felt like it”, I wrapped a belt around my head above my ears and cut everything below the belt. With a razor. This travesty of haircutting/celebration of ‘because I can’ continued through college. I’d grow it long and chop it off. Grow. Chop. (dye it pink) And every time I tried to get it cut by a professional, I’d feel like I did that day when I was nine. Yucky.
And then, when I was 24, I went into a supercool salon in Brooklyn and this supercool chic cut my hair into a supercool style and I LOVED it. She sculpted my hair into a perfect cut for my face and my hair and my personality. She was truly a hair artist.
For the last 11 years I’ve thought about that cut.
Today, I decided I want that cut again.
I walked that salon and told them about the cut that lives in infamy in my mind. I asked if we could recreate the magic. I don’t know if she thought I was serious. I was.
And then I micromanaged my haircut. I talked about this haircut from 11 years ago like it was an old lover that had made me feel something no-one else ever could. I talked about how the stylist, 11 years ago, moved around my head. How she twirled and chopped and how the cut made me feel peppy and cute and quirky, but sexy.
Three times the stylist told me she was done and three times I told her she wasn’t.
And then, slowly, it took shape. The cut that didn’t look like a nj housewife, but an artsy, confident college chic. My waves fell around my eyes the way I remembered, drawing attention away from my jaw. The back felt full and healthy, crunching in my fingers.
I micromanaged that cut until I had what I was looking for. And that would be a smile on my face.
Is it perfect? No. Honestly, it’s not perfect. But it’s close. Close enough that if I grab some scissors at home I’m sure I can make it just perfect. 😉
Bonus- I came to that coffee shop after wards to write this post and as I tap on this phone like a pigeon, I think the cute 20 something barista is checking me out… Elie will be so proud. 🙂
Have you ever done something super drastic with your hair just, ya know, because you can??
OMG! Tova it looks awesome! Totally love it. I too play with my hair quite a bit. I have very thick hair that if I grow it longer than past my shoulders that I get bad headaches. I grow it to there, perm it, then about 6 to 7 months later I chop it all off. I keep it short for years on end and then decide to grow it out again. I tend to play with the colour quite a bit. From a chocolate brown, to bright red, to a honey blonde, to ash blonde and back again. I’ve never gone into the blues, pinks etc. The most daring thing colour-wise that I have ever done is a midnight blue-black. Right now its a chocolate brown and I have decided to start growing it out again. Enjoy your new hair. You are a new woman. Elie will love it. I think it took 10 years off your look.
Thanks Suzy! I TOTALLY wanna dye it auburn now. Like a lil muchy firecracker!!
I just cut 8 inches off my hair and donated it. Why? Why not. It’s hair, and it will grow back, and that’s not true for every one, especially children with cancer. When I was in high school, I directed a stylist to cut a 1 inch strip along my part, to about an inch high — kind of like a reverse mowhawk. What I was going for was Rhodesian Ridgeback. And you know what? It worked just like I thought it would. It looked awesome, especially after I added henna to my hair. This was the 80’s, after all. I do tend to play with color as well. I’ve had cuts like that, that stay with you. I’m glad you could recreate it fairly well.
[img]http://findingmymuchness.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Jamie80s1a.jpg[/img]
Look at that cute picture!
I thought about donating it- I’ve wanted to do that but the underside was bleached and the whole thing was soooo damaged… Plus I was a little afraid of having her chop it all off at once. I didn’t trust her fully. (but then, the only person I’d have trusted fully was Natasha from 11 years ago) Ummmmm… You know I told the stylist I was gonna blog the cut… I wonder if she remembersmy blog name. Eeek.
I love this haircut Tova!!!! What a fun, crazy, random and spontaneous thing to do!!!! I’m jealous, I want to do that, but I have a peanut gallery of short hair haters in my house…but someday 🙂
Love it!!!!!
Elie is not a fan of short hair. It’s been long since I met him. Before I met him I was in a LTR with a dude who loooved short hair. When I met him my hair was short, but then it grew out. He tried so hard to get me to cut it, but you know there was no way I’d do that just Cuz someone else wanted me to… Quite the opposite. The more he pushed, the more determined I was to keep it long. So, come to think of it, this is technically the first time my hairs been short since… The last time I got this haircut. 🙂
Tine- you should dye your hair. That’s next for me. 🙂
AWESOME! I LOVE IT! You have the perfect face for short hair :).
Btw, when you have a minute check out my last post. I attended an event for women yesterday and talked about you and the site. THe motivational speaker told me to tell you that I did that :).
No way!!! You kick ass. We need a f2f. Xox- going to read now. 🙂