Yeah, sure . . . I’ll admit that I can swing either way. There have been glimpses of wisdom that I have shared with those I hold close & then there have been those moments where something spew forths from my mouth much like the lava flow coming from an erupting volcana which causes others to look at one another – one eyebrow raised – questioning my sanity. Hey, I’m a package deal made up from the good, the bad & the ugly. Love me as I AM please.
I made an appointment a month ago with my favorite hair salon – Hair Plus – for a consult on what to do with my ever frustrating mop. I told the stylist, Sheila, that I was about to turn 50, I wanted something new/different/stylish/easy to manage and my hair had become anything but! I told her once a year when I get my income tax check back, I have a spiral perm put in and then a few months later I have it colored & highlighted. I had so much damaged hair that I was entertaining thoughts of shaving it all off. I then asked her to take a real, close look at my hair & share with me suggestions on the steps I needed to take. It took about 30 minutes, but we can up with a game plan that we both agreed on & I scheduled an appointment for a week later.
On the day of the appointment, I walked in feeling slightly nervous but mostly excited about “the new me” that this brave lady was about to undertake. No pressure here. For my peace of mind, I asked her to go over the game plan AGAIN with me… wanting to make sure we were both on the same page. To my relief, we were. And so I took off my glasses & laid them on her work station, giving over total control, trusting that she would work nothing short of a miracle.
First we shampoo’d & deep conditioned then I needed to sit under the hair dryer for a little while cause you can’t apply dye to wet hair. While sitting there squinting at a magazine up close ( I cannot see anything without my glasses ) the desk receptionist walked over to me & was playing with the dried out, frayed ends of my hair & cracked a joke about it. I didn’t think it was very funny, even if I did agree with her opinion. Soon Sheila came over to lead me back to her work station to begin coloring my hair. We choose a warmer brown then I usually wear adding some red to it because it seemed like fun! When my hair was covered she led me over to the dryer again to wait out the 25 minutes for the color to take.
25 minutes later it was back to the wash bowl to rinse, shampoo & rinse again then back to the dryer. A little while later she led me back to the work station where she began to add the highlights, layer by painful layer ( my hair was extremely long, curly & ultra thick – I can see all the stylists cringing whenever I walk in to make an appointment to have anything done to my hair ) all the while exchanging pleasant chit chat…’how’s your family? great, how is yours? wonderful, so & so is just learning to drive, how scarey is that!?! oh you don’t need to tell me, I think I started having heart problems when my middle child was learning to drive’…. and before you knew it, it was time to sit under the dryer again allowing the highlights to set in. A short while later it was time to rinse & shampoo again & then back to the station for the “big cut!”
I felt a little shakey inside, having had long hair for many years, would I like it shorter? I shared my fears with Sheila & she said she would start out slow, only cutting off a little at a time & I could inspect it & decide if I wanted more taken off. I thought to myself…‘this is silly! it’s ONLY hair. it will grow back no matter how short it ends up. quit being a baby & GO FOR IT!’ and so I said to her, no – that’s ok, cut ALL the dead, damaged hair off & whatever happens happens. Then I closed my eyes, feeling the pull of the comb as it stuggled through the masses of curly, thick brush and I heard the gentle snip of the scissors. Over & over again. To take my mind off of what was happening I started up our conversation again and she asked me if I had any new plans for my 50th year… any changes I wanted to make, places I wanted to see, etc… and so we light heartedly bantered away for awhile.
I then turned the topic to wanting to set up appointments for me and my two daughters to have a ‘girls day’ of pedicures & manicures & asked her to remind me to purchase gift certificates when we were done. She thought it was a lovely idea of getting together with my daughters for a spa day! The desk receptionist walked over & was leaning up against the wall adding to this discussion when I mentioned that I was thinking about getting my eyebrows waxed. I told Sheila that I had never had it done before but it seemed that whenever I plucked I always ended up with uneven eyebrows & I didn’t like that they weren’t symmetrical. The receptionist casually said…‘well, back when I was in beauty school our instructor had something very important to say that I have never forgotten…’ My stylist & I stopped talking in mid-sentence & our eyes locked in the reflection of the mirror. I imagined we were both thinking the same thing at that moment… that whatever the receptionist was about to tell us would be wise beyond wonders and we would question how we ever made it through life this far without know this! We both leaned in a little closer so we wouldn’t miss a word she said & I swear you could have heard a pin drop when she continued…
‘ My instructor said that your eyebrows are not twin sisters but more like siblings. They will never be identical nor should you attempt to make them look that way. They are meant to be individual, unique brows. ‘ The phone suddenly rang, jarring us out of our mystical reverie & the receptionist headed back to her desk. I leaned back into my chair while Sheila put the finishing touches on my new hairdo & then I put my glasses on. ‘HOLY MOTHER OF GOD’… I thought. This is absolutely amazing! I looked beautiful. Look at all those curls & waves… the color is superb! the highlights perfect! I was more than satisfied… I was born again!
I walked out of Hair Plus feeling like a million bucks! Not only did I look better & feel better, but I was carrying with me words of wisdom about my brows that I would not soon forget. Life is good!
*And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.* –Anais Nin
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