I measured my hair this morning while it was still wet, and from the root to the tip it was between…read more27" and 28" long. My last haircut had been in late 2008, and it was an A line angled bob (think Cleopatra, with longer tips) and prior to that it was a chin length pageboy bob (think Prince Valiant, but not as flattering) back in summer of 2004. Other than colour I'm not very experimental with my hair style, and that can be traced back to very bad shag hair cuts I received in the mid 80s overseas. Those ended up looking like mullets, and ever since then I've kept it a blunt length of varying degrees with bangs. I fear the snip of the scissors and being in that stylist's chair just as much as I fear heights and spiders.
I'd been mulling over getting my hair cut again for awhile, since I'd grown it out long for my sister's wedding last year, hence the length. The ends were starting to fray, and it started to feel heavy and weighed down and maintaining it was starting to be a pain in the ass. I'd either ponytail it, french braid it, or split it down the middle into two braids. My hair started to not look so good from being pulled back all the time, and I was ready to say hello to the Prince Valiant look and cut it all off and donate the bulk to Locks of Love. Alas, Locks of Love will not take hair that has been previously bleached, and a love affair with pink hair for a few months last year killed that possibility, even though I've been au natural for the last 14 months.
Enter Geoff and the Hair Zone. I drive by this place in Poway all the time. It's in the same mall with all the thrift shops, and they have this funky sign with cosmic stars and Invader Zim style lettering. My Mama offered to fork up $20 to the local no name hair joint up the street (the same one that charges $16 for a hair cut, add $3 for shampoo) but the ladies in there never look like they're having fun, and for what might possibly be a drastic change in style, I didn't want to just leave the task up to a chop shop. No, I wanted the salon treatment, and if I had to fork up the big bucks to do it I was going to do it.
But I didn't fork up big bucks for this. Geoff sat me down, asked me what I liked most about my hair and what I didn't like about it. We discussed what I do for a living, my hair care routine, and what I expected out of my hair. He said I had beautiful long hair, and that it looked thirsty, but he didn't want to chop it all off because length looks great on me. But we did agree that about 5" of it was going to go today. My hair is damaged from lack of trims, from processing, from the sun and salt water exposure, but he felt that there was life to be coaxed out of my hair so he said to give him 10 minutes and he'll make me a believer.
Then I saw my face (and hair) and I'm a believer. I tipped generous today (40%) because he took the time to do a consult, and my total out the door for a shampoo/condition, cut, blow dry was $35. THIRTY FIVE DOLLARS, what a steal! That's with a $10 tip. I was expecting to pay around $50 minimum like most other salons in the area, but this was just eye popping.
I will be back. I didn't drink the kool aid, but I did try the shampoo and seeing how my hair looks now, even after driving home with the windows open, my hair looks fantastic. I dare say it hasn't looked this good since I did a shampoo ad in the Philippines back when I was 14. That was in 1987, yo, and right before the horrific shag haircut. Best of all, it didn't break my wallet (I'm a college student again, working part time, raising two teenage boys so every cent in this stupid recession counts), and my husband especially likes it because, and I quote, I can still put it into pigtails and prance around like the (half) Asian school girl I am.
