It's been quite a frugalista year, I must admit. Even shopping at Forever 21 can sometimes feel like a splurge (well, really, how can you leave that place without at least 15 items?). And my poor hair has also been feeling the pinch as well, I'm afraid. It hasn't been cut or properly deep-conditioned since, well, May. And only recently did I realize what a very, very long time that is. It has been only made more apparent by the plentiful split-ends I'm finding, the switch to cheap conditioner which fails to temporarily fix - and hide from me, and the world - my dry curls, and the length of my bangs, which are no longer bangs, but are now at my chin (which I actually don't hate, to be honest). And then there was that moment the other morning, when I was sitting down in front of my mirror in my bedroom, straightening my hair, and the glorious sunlight shining in my window revealed that my carpet is also carpeted in blonde hair (also revealing that it's been too long since I last vacuumed - ha!). Yes, friends, when my hair starts shedding like crazy, it's definitely past due-time for a haircut.
So, I broke down and called my stylist - fabulous Dani, at Bijiin in Prairie Village -and I'm all set for a morning appointment in two weeks, which I absolutely cannot wait for! I add a Keratin treatment to my cuts, which has the effect of me constantly touching my hair, and approaching people and telling them to touch my hair. Lucky friends. It is so soft - c'est ce souple. And, despite wrestling with wistful thoughts of growing my hair out long, I'm gonna reach for the Kate Moss shaggy bob cut I had done back in May because I love love loved it, and my stylist won a forever customer in that one cut (though not exactly the most frequent one. She may not even remember me . . .). She's amazing. And this time, I'm going to pay really really close attention to her as she's styling it. Maybe even have someone record it on video.
But I know when I get there in two weeks, she'll sit me down in the chair, drape the lovely black smock over me, and pull my hair around my shoulders and ask me, "Now you just want the cut today? No highlights to help blend in that new growth?"
And my answer is going to be, once again, a resounding, "No, thank you." Oh, my hair color.
I was born a platinum blonde. And I stayed that way for most of my life, thank you very much, but my hair did gradually darken and is now, naturally, a rather dark blonde. In the summer, of course, when I manage to get lots of sun, my hair highlights quite beautifully and when I'm coloring my hair, I like to mimic that, because, let's face it, I'm a real person now with a job and I no longer have the luxury of lounging about, languishing in the sun all day. It's tragic, really.
But, every now and then I go through an existential crisis about being a true blonde and nearly a year ago, I tried to solve this by enlisting a friend to help do a full dye-job on my hair. It wasn't the first time, but, I think - unless I ever fully conquer my need to be blonde and go truly brunette - it will be the last. It's taken some time, but this lovely dye job is now lovely-ly faded, somewhat brassy - though thanks to a beauty school friend, I've enlisted the help of purple shampoo and I think it's helped - and also two-tone. Noticeably so.
Well. After discovering Garance Doré's site via Gwyneth Paltrow's blog, GOOP, it appears that I am trés chic et trés french. I mean, I always suspected and truth be told, I really dig my faded hair somewhat often, but it never helps to have some reassurance, no? Follow the link above to her blog - a Sartorialist-like fashion site (her boyfriend is actually the Sartorialist!) - and discover her tale of her chic friend Daphné and her own faded, two-tone hair. And actually, her cut is quite like the cut I'm going to be getting, though hers is a little shaggier. Merci beacoup, Garance et Daphné!
It will be hard not to see my hair through the winter doldrums without some sunny highlights - and if I'm feeling particularly weak, like I often am when I'm already spending lotsa money, I might break down and get just a few "tennis highlights." But, thanks to this new discovery, I think I might be able to keep the purse strings tied tight!
*I don't know what my deal is about needing to be blonde. Especially because I sometimes feel like Elle Woods in that nobody takes me seriously. In fact, before I actually started working in a pre-school, people would ask me my major (English) and automatically say, so you'll be a kindergarten teacher? I don't know why I found this so insulting because I truly love what I do, and it is important, but it was rather like whenever I would say I want to write and people's natural response was, oh, children's books? I can write seriously as well, thank you! And then there was that time I was in an interview for a marketing job, fresh off my marketing internship with the Symphony, and the guy actually looked at me and said, oh, English major? So you want to teach kindergarten? No, dude, I'm in this interview because I want this job. Don't know why I even bothered to stay after that . . .
Anyways, I think it's because being blonde is just me. Brunette hair may look pretty, and it would be a fresh change, but, well, it's not me and I think I know that. If one of my best friends point blank said she just couldn't see it, well, that says something, right?!
**Also, whenever I figure out again how the heck I added those sites to that nifty little blogroller thing, I'll add Garance's and Gwyneth's blogs, along with several others. I really am trying! I need to call the Geek Squad I think.
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