Home of the brash, outrageous and free.

So, where were we?

I needed a haircut. Because of my general screw-up nature, I put these things off and when I need a haircut, I need a haircut.
The last haircut I got was from this place downtown, right after I ordered Belle and Sebastian tickets (it was a good weekend all around). I like this place a lot: my hairdresser was comfortable with curly hair and friendly and I got to drool over this lovely wooden clutch I want.
I'm not the only one who's a fan of this salon. When I called for an appointment, it was three weeks until an opening that I wouldn't have to take personal time to get to.*
There's an Aveda salon in the same strip mall as my usual grocery store. I like Aveda stuff**, and a former coworker with kinda curly hair had said good things about it. Plus, as it turned out, they're a bit cheaper.*** Luckily, they had a spot with the curly expert.
Here's the haircut I got, soon after (Figure A):

I like the haircut, but I don't think I'll be going back to this place.
First of all, I'm a bit worried about how it's going to grow out. The layers all seem a bit too close in length, and I worry that it won't grow down so much as out.
But mainly, I was underwhelmed with my hairdresser. It's not just that we didn't click. It's not just that the only small-talk/personal question she asked me was if I was married.
Here follows a list of somewhat ridiculous, somewhat justified things I didn't like about her.

• When she used a product, she didn't tell me what it was. Even when the product in question was something we had talked about earlier (their hairwax in the deodorant/pushup type container--I used to use this all the time). How am I supposed to even attempt to duplicate her styling if I don't know what she's using? Also, don't salons make a profit when they sell products? Isn't it in her best interest to push their stuff on me?
  
• Curly hair can't be cut on one part, and then styled on another. I told her I part pretty severely to the side. She didn't ask me to demonstrate until I interrupted to mention my habits. She let me show where I part, which I did half-assedly (expecting her to pretty it up), and then she began cutting from there.
  
• OK, most have you have never seem my natural part. It's just to the side of a middle part. Just enough to make it look like I tried to have a middle part, but couldn't hack it. It's not cute. This is what she assumed I was using when I said, "I part my hair pretty far over to the side."
  
• I tend to tuck the right side behind my ear. Shorter bits are okay, because otherwise one side of my head's a lot bigger than the other (this is typical of curly hair, even when it's straightened), but it still needs to reach behind my ear. Long enough to reach behind my ear while sleek and smooth and wet and untouched is nowhere near long enough to reach behind my ear producted-up, blown dry, straightened, and producted some more.
  
• If it's too short, it knocks into my glasses. I don't think this woman had ever cut the hair of someone with glasses before.
  
• She kept asking me if I liked how it looked at times when I couldn't throw the specs on.
  
• She claimed there was no difference between ceramic and regular straightening irons. That's the first time I've ever heard that, from anyone.
  
• It was the shortest, least informative new client hair consultation I've ever had.
  
• I don't think she'd ever had a customer request "piece-y" before. I love piece-y hair. I can't do it, but I try to.
  
• My hair looks great right after someone else has beaten it into submission. I need a cut that is also going to look great after I've beaten it into submission.

It's not that my hair looks bad a week later, per se (Figure B), but I can't help but think it would look better and be easier to dominate if I had gone to the other place.

So next time, I'm planning in advance, paying the extra $10, and going to the place I can walk to from my apartment.

Figure B:


*Yeah, I thought about doing that.
**While I think Aveda makes a good product, mostly what I like about their stuff is the smell. It reminds me of the Wicca store on Carson St.
***Haircuts are possibly the only thing that I'm willing to pay a bit more for, because I've had so many shitty ones.