don't mind me, just rambling about hair

Growing up, my mom always cut our hair. She did a decent job, and it saved money. In high school I started cutting it myself, continuing through college or occasionally going to a Super-Cuts-level place (except if changing a style). I remember my mom telling me I should go someplace nice for haircuts, as a treat, which always seemed ironic coming from a woman who, as far as I can remember, has never allowed herself the same treat.

I've gone back and forth over the years on whether to cut my hair myself or let someone else do it, and if it's someone else, how much to pay. I've always had a hard time justifying paying more than about $20 for a hair-cut, and really, if I'm gonna pay $20 for a bad hair-cut, I might as well save myself the money and get it for free, right? (and believe me, I've given myself, and received, some horrendous haircuts...)

At one point I started realizing that perhaps one reason I had a hard time getting my sometimes-curly-sometimes-wavy-always-frizzy hair to behave (except when tamed by my trusty flat iron) might be b/c I wasn't getting a fancy haircut that cost $$. But by that time, we were moving to Europe, anticipating getting pregnant, and I was getting so fed up with my high-maintenance hair that I decided to cut it short again. I've had my hair short like this before, 2-3 times since high school, and each time I'd cut it and keep it short for maybe a few months and then start growing it out again, usually out of sheer laziness. Because as easy as this cut is-- can I tell you how wonderful it is to have a cut that looks somewhat stylish without me having to do hardly anything to it??-- the one high-maintenance part of it is the frequent trims. This time, I've kept it up for almost 2 years now, b/c it's just made my life so much easier to have my hair short.

In Geneva I resigned to going to an expensive place for cuts, mostly b/c he city offered nothing else. The cuts always came out slightly differently, partially b/c of different stylists (and my poor French skills left me with little direction to give). Sometimes, it came out fabulous. Other times, it came out... ok. I have noticed that certain aspects of the cut are key to how the style will look (the pieces in front of my ears are essential to making the cut feminine, rather than looking like a boy), and others don't matter much (I've had cuts that were horrible lopsided, with chunks of hair super long and others very short, but the only time it was noticeable was when I ran my hands through my hair). And other than a couple tricky areas, the cut really is pretty darn simple.

Now with a kid, remembering to call for an appointment, finding the time for the appointment, arranging for leaving D with someone or working it into our weekends, etc, is kind of a pain in the butt. So the other day I started wondering about trying my hand at it again. What the heck, I could do a small trim, and if results are disastrous then I'll just go to someone to fix it, right? So I ghetto-rigged a double-mirror in our bathroom, pulled out my scissors, and went at it. Honestly, it felt pretty good to get to cut it exactly how I want it, and the cut and cleanup took almost no time. I took the picture above was taken this morning, post-cut. If I may say so myself, I think it turned out pretty decent. I'm at least about as happy as I normally am after a pro cut... except I saved myself $60.

Zach's asked me before to cut his hair for him, and ironically I just don't dare. I guess I feel ok potentially screwing up my own head of hair, but don't want to risk doing so to someone else. It's sort of like back in drill team in high school, when I could french-braid my own hair without problem but couldn't for the life of me do someone else's. I guess I'm just weird that way.