The Hair Cut

I function as what I like to consider a low maintenance human being. However, I am limited in my ability to be completely maintenance free because I have curly hair. Not consistently curly, my hair requires hair cuts, product, styling, and diffusing with a blow dryer. These are things I'm not proud of. I have often wanted to be one of those people who just wake up to the world looking naturally pretty (just like the movies). Unfortunately, if not tended to my hair resembles something more like this:

http://youtu.be/VaUP6nCzorw: Troop Beverly Hills

This is also the reason why my family insists that I keep my hair long. So, I try to keep my hair long, try to keep the curl consistent, all in the meanwhile of keeping my "getting ready in the morning time" to under 30 min and not spending exorbitant amounts of money on hair product (expensive or inexpensive, it's really cutting back on quantity that matters).

So, instead of getting my hair cut at Great Clips or Fantastic Sams (which is only $8-12 and takes about 20 min) I went to a fancy salon called "Above Ground" which advertised specializing in curly hair. I actually got my hair cut from their curly hair specialist. He dry cuts curly hair. Quick lesson for non-cosmetology readers: dry cutting is cutting your hair after it has been styled. This makes sense to me because sometimes it's hard to tell if you cut everything even because dried hair is different than wet hair, no argument. However, I will argue that wet straight hair is more similar to dry straight hair than wet curly hair is to dry curly hair. 

Imagine my horror, when after my stylist had washed my hair, parted it nearly down the middle (which I never do), formed individual curls (which he assured me were my "organic" natural curls), diffused them into their dry springy form, he then CUT each curl INDIVIDUALLY. WHAT? That doesn't make any sense!! Oh, I agree. I think he was watching me squirm incredulously in the mirror when he decided to turn my chair around so I couldn't watch. When he was done, I actually felt remarkable. Begrudgingly, I had to admit that my hair really did look amazing. Almost like I was ready for the movies. "These are my natural organic curls?" I wondered to myself as I went back to lab. I didn't tip well. I was upset.

Now, I've lost you, but I had very legitimate reasons for being upset. He cut each individual curl. There was no way that I was going to wash and redo my hair reforming each individual curl exactly the same way he had done. The problem with the hair cut was going to be that each time I redid my hair, there would be random long hair pieces sticking out. I would have to recut each curl every time and therefore, I would have no hair left and in desperate need of another hair cut when the one I had just paid for was the most expensive hair cut I'd ever paid for in my life. 

Also, there were other reasons for being upset. This stylist told me that I was washing my hair way too much. I've already heard this argument from Jessica, but didn't buy it then and wasn't buying it now. He said he had "way curly hair" and only washed it every 4 months or if he got sand or debris in it. Otherwise, he would just rinse and condition when he showered. "Curly hair is drier than straight hair and needs more conditioning." I asked him about the smell, which he assured me wasn't an issue for him, besides if conditioner and a little product was being used it would still smell like that. 

So, I did what I do best and experimented. The day after the hair cut, I washed it and restyled it. I used scissors just as I thought would be required to cut a few offending hairs. Then, I didn't wash my hair for FIVE days. I felt gross, but, my hair looked great. It was curlier than ever, and now since he'd convinced me that my "natural organic" curl was actually ringlet looking, I found out that sure, I could get it to do that, and it would stay - and it did. So then, I shampoo'ed and conditioned and then went SEVEN days. I still feel really gross when I get past 7 days (I have only thus far made it to 10 and that was really really gross) but I'm actually happy about it. 

Here are the pluses: 1) I don't have to use as much shampoo. Bonus for when I have to travel, minimizes the amount of stuff I have to pack. 2) I don't have to use as much product. Before I was using mousse and gel and hairspray - now I just use a cream and that's it. I still only have to style it every other day, just as before, but I've now got my product down to one thing instead of a whole salon cocktail for my tresses. 3) I have curly hair that is practically maintenance free. I feel like I can say that when I'm no longer washing it as much. I don't wake up looking like the movies, but who really does that anyway? I feel like a hipster though and that's saying something coming from me. 

So, I guess, in retrospect, I should've trusted the curly hair expert stylist. And tipped better too.