June 24, 2004

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  Today I got my hair all cut off.

  
  

  I feel like Samson after Delilah was done with him.

  
  

  

  
  

  “Samson and Delilah” – Peter Paul Rubens

  
  

  

  
  

  I finished scrubbing down that section of kitchen cabinets — squeaky clean, so clean you could eat off ‘em (but that wouldn’t work very well because you couldn’t really put food on a vertical surface, but, well, you know what I mean…) And I did a couple of loads of laundry. Figured that was enough houework for the day so I headed out on my errands. It was well into the later part of the afternoon when I got to Target, where Bernie had asked me to pick up some t-shirts for him, and left me his credit card to do so, and get toothpaste and whatever cleaning supplies and stuff I needed for the house. Real exciting stuff, I’ll tell ya, but such is my life.  Anyway, it was a good excuse to do some recreational shopping.

  
  

  I called Bernie from Target to tell him which colors were available in this particular type of t-shirt he wanted me to get. They are cotton, but a new “performance” style fabric made somehow with wicking properties like Cool-Max, but the feel of cotton. He got a couple a while ago and they have been a blessing for him trying to work on these hot days. A little while later he called me back, I was still noodling around the Target store, looking at the stuff on sale in the garden department. He said he was done work and would meet me there if I wanted to go get our haircuts. The Target store is in the neighboring shopping center to the Great Clips salon where he gets his hair cut, and only about 10 minutes away from his work.

  
  

  So I met him at the snackbar in Target, and we put the purchases in the truck (which he was driving today) and rode together in the jeep to the hair place. It is kind of fun to do that, sorta like when we were single. A change of pace, I guess. Almost a mini-date

  
  

  Well, we went to the salon, and naturally he was done before me, even though I went in first. I had my hair shampooed and then it had to be detangled and combed out. It was down to my waist, but was in pretty bad shape, desparately in need of help. Bernie is mostly bald, and gets what hair he has cut without a shampoo, so he was out of the chair before the stylist was ready to make the first cut.

  
  

  I used to color my hair dark auburn, but decided I liked my grey about six months ago and to let it grow out in its silver-frosted medium brown color. I’d say it is more than 30% grey now, and a rather pretty shade, not yellowy at all. The ends were damaged from coloring, damaged from just being so long and fine, and all the paint and sweat and sun and so forth I have been torturing it with lately didn’t help it much. Then some of it started to fall out when I started on the thyroid meds. I had been forewarned about this, but that it is a temporary side effect of the meds and should grow back after the levels are adjusted and my body gets used to it. So a few weeks ago I decided I would just get it cut short and start fresh.

  
  

  So Bernie took me by surprise today and we went to the salon before I could chicken out. Then when the stylist was ready to cut my hair, I told him to just tell her where to cut and I wouldn’t have to make the decision myself. So he pointed to a spot and said “that’s a good length”…

  
  

  So off it came. Now, short hair on me, is not what some people would consider short. It is all relative, you know. Remember, I started with hair to my waist, and I admittedly have a hair fetish, and a “Rapunzel complex”  But, since my hair is naturally straight, fine and thin, having it grow this long was a rare accomplishment I have only achieved a couple of times in my life. But eventually everything must change. And like Bernie said “it will grow”…

  
  

  It is a nice blunt cut. She really took her time, and made all the ends perfectly even. Gave it a lot of fullness. It is just below my shoulder, long enough to not get stuck down inside my collar when it is hot out (I hate that!) and long enough to still be able to put it in a short ponytail when I need it out of the way. Still some color on the ends that needs to grow out but it doesn’t look quite as 2-tone as before. A couple of trims and it will be gone.

  
  

  And for the first time in years, my hair “flips” when I turn my head. Heeheehee….we girls just love to flip our hair.  I think the last time it was cut this short was about 6 years ago or so, when I decided to go from the blonde I had been favoring for years to a darker shade, and had a lot of damage to cut off first.

  
  

  It feels odd, but better. The long hair was really starting to be a pain in the hot weather this year.

  
  

  After we left the salon, we went to WalMart (same shopping center) and bought some more stuff. I got a pair of pink sparkly flip-flops for $1.74. Haven’t had a pair of flip-flops in years, because of my darned messed-up feet needing orthotics and good support. But these will be fun to wear to the pool. And flip-flops seem to be a fashion statement this year. I also got two books to read at camp. The next two in Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum books. They are my “camp reading” — I started on the series last year and even though they are not the type of book I usually read, I found them to be great fun, especially since they are set in the area where I have lived my whole life. I even got Bernie reading them! (he is not a fiction-reader) He is a couple of books behind me in the series, so it works out pretty well. I read them, and pass them down to him.  

  
  

  We went to McD’s for Happy Meals, but they were out of the Neopets toys, and starting on a new promotion, so we had adult food instead. I tried the new “fiesta salad”. It wasn’t bad, but nowhere near as good as Taco Bell’s salads or Wendy’s Taco Salad. Not exactly diet food, but hey, it has some veggies in it! A step in the right direction, I’d say!

  
  

  Sorry, still no photos, and I know you are just dying to see the new haircut  But the funny thing is, I didn’t even look in the mirror (except the quick glance at the front when I put my glasses back on at the salon before I got out of the chair) Not till after I came home, and watered the plant in the yard. Then I finally went in and checked out the new ‘do in the mirror. I told Bernie I must be the only woman in the world who can get a haircut and not even look at it in the mirror until a couple of hours later.

  
  

  Well, if you have been reading what I have written here for a while, you might already know that my personal appearance is not one of my main priorities. Not that I am a slob or anything, I just don’t really make a big deal out of how I look. As long as I am relatively clean, sorta neat and my clothes cover anything that could get me put in jail, and kinda match, I am ok. Comfortable and pleasing to me is all that matters. I love pretty colors, good feeling fabrics and like looking at fashion and stuff, but never really allot much time to “fixing myself up” unless I am going somewhere special. I have a huge collection of cosmetics — lotions and potions, nail products and makeup, but more because I just like the pretty colors and sparkly stuff than how it will improve my appearance. When I do get around to actually using them it is more to please myself than anything else.

  
  

  Guess that goes for my hair, too.

  
  

  Maybe I am just a strange bird. Could be why I am so fond of ostriches.

  
  

  

  
  

  

  • 10:47 pm
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