Update: One year in Hair

As you may (not) recall, my 2007 new year's resolution was to spend one year experiment-ing with my hair.

I consulted with four different stylists/salons and just didn't get moving forward with any of them for one reason or another.

A month or so ago I was having dinner (Japanese) when I spotted two women at a nearby table. The woman facing me had dark hair like mine, but she also had a great color of blond (a good color of blond is hard to come by).

Well, I figured I didn't have anything to lose, so I approached her and asked if she was local (there are so many tourists around here you can't assume, she could have gone to someone in another country.) Hesitantly she said "yes", so I asked where she got her hair done.

She was super friendly, I'd tell you her name except that it's pretty distinctive and I didn't get her permission, she smiled and spoke of a newer, smallish salon around the corner and said they're really good and reasonably priced as well. Just my kind of place!

I waited a couple of weeks then called to schedule a consultation, which we had yesterday. We spent a good amount of time talking about my hair, my expectation, the color, the cut, the style, and she gave me some really great suggestions. I feel very comfortable that we're on the same wavelength about starting out slow. And she wants to keep my hair long for now - which is great. I am a little nervous about the "thinning" out - it's gotten quite thin on its own over the last couple of years (you know what I mean, ladies) and the thought of losing even more volume is scary.

We had a pretty interesting conversation about how people look at hair service. How some folks are simply looking for a change, some folks want to find the "perfect" style, cut or color they can keep forever, and for some people (like her) it's been all about the journey. Like what you learn about yourself and others when you do different things with your hair. To tell you the truth, it was pretty profound so I am going to ask if she'll write about that as well as maybe some other comments.

One last example, it was interesting how she talked about how color, cut and style need to look "lived-in". How too bright, too linear, too "new" was not attractive to her. I gotta tell you, I agree - it's part of how people "own" a look. Anything can look great so long as the wearer owns it. You know, feels good and has pride.

So anyway, I will be taking pics, I told her all about this blog and that I wanted to document things. She's not intimidated at all and gave me permission to use her name and identify the salon. I'll send an email with links so she can take a look. If she still agrees, I'll post all.

--Shella

An Unusual New Years Resolution... Crazy or What?

Considering that former President Gerald Ford has passed away and I should probably be blogging something profound about it, the following could be construed as... well... trivial.

However, if you are a woman (or know a woman) who is all wrapped up in her hair (and I do not mean Lady Godiva or Rapunzel), gives a shit about how she looks, and has contemplated what hair represents about self-image, sexuality, society, convention, etc. - you'll know that this topic is not trivial by a long shot.

The new year is almost here. I've been thinking quite a lot about what I'd like to accomplish. For most of my adult life I did not bother making new years resolutions. Why? I don't know.

But now, I am experimenting with ways that I can use the new year's resolution process to my advantage. To do things I should be doing otherwise but have been to.... lazy or preoccupied to get a handle on.

I've written this great long list of resolutions - 10 in all - that run the gammut of exercising frequently again to well... never mind. From what I understand, most people only make one big resolution. However, if you knew me you'd know that one is rarely enough.

I've gotten creative in my resolution-making. The craziest resolution involves my hair. And it's a year-long project.

You can see my picture below. I look normal, no crazy hair style or color. Unfortunately, that's always been the case for me and it's really starting to bug me. I've just started getting grey hairs, and I unless I take drastic action, I may be the only woman in the world who goes from cradle to grave never having done something extreme with her hair. And I can't have that.

So, my crazy hair resolution is this: Spend one year doing wacky hair experimentation.

Below is what I envision:

1. I will find a color specialist to make me a redhead! Woo hoo! I will let my personality be fiery! (I've never been compelled by red hair so I reserve the right to skip straight to #2 - I just picked red as the first step since it's "on the way" to blond.)

2. Then I will go blond. I want my hair to look like my parents are swedish, or finnish, or danish, or icelandic, or norweigan, or.... okay, let's just say scandinavian. I should then be able to speak with some authority about whether blonds actually do have more fun.

3. After that, I am quite sure my abused locks will be completely ruined, straw-like and maybe even breaking off in clumps, so I will begin cut my hair into a series of progressively shorter hair styles. I imagine that with shorter hair, I will be able to finally begin using potentially fun hair products - like pomades, hair glues, straighteners, gels, mousse, spritzers, sprayers, lotions, creams, foams, etc.

4. As I go shorter I will experiment with extreme color. I'll start out with hot pink and when that washes out I will dye my hair candy apple red, then purple, then electric blue, then raven black. You know the colors I am talking about - you've seen them in the comics. (check out this website I found if you're wondering what the hell I am talking about: CrazyHair)

5. Also, I'll be free to try two-tone dyed hair.

6. Finally, after I have done every crazy hair experiment I have ever heard of, I will cut my hair into a pixie cut, removing all the dead hair and color and allow my natural hair (and grey) to re-emerge and get long again.

On the one year anniversary of this blog I will be able to say that I was once a blond, redhead, blackhead, pinkhead, bluehead, purplehead, etc. I think that's pretty cool, and who knows? Perhaps I will find a new self-identity along the way. I might just LOVE being a purplehead. (it could happen - let's just hope I don't end up looking too freakish)

At dinner last night my son Nicholas mentioned that crazy hair might negatively impact my professional life. Business in other words. I will be considering his concerns and will make a final decision about my year-long crazy hair experiment resolution some time soon. Rest assured that should I decide to do this thing I will generate photographic proof blog about it.

I realize this is a very unusual new years resolution - but is it crazy or what? And, do you think that it will negatively impact my credibility and/or business?

--Shella