Looking at my pictures, I’m not sure if I’d recognized myself. As you can see, I no longer have long hair. The 2+ year experiment has come to an end and while it was a bit sad to see my long hair go away, it was also time for a change. Why I decided to grow out my hair doesn’t really have that interesting of a back story. It was my nature to be lazy and one time I just didn’t get a haircut for a really long time, and before I knew it, my hair was several inches long. I had always contemplated the idea of growing out my hair and what better chance than now. And there you have it, the reason I had long hair was because I was too lazy to get a haircut.
So several weeks ago, I had a poll up asking what people thought I should do with my hair. Most people thought I should go with a new style or go short. There were a few that told me that I looked better with long hair and it gave me character. In the end, I decided it was a time for a change and decided to go with short hair. With summer also being just around the corner, short hair made perfect sense. Also by cutting my hair short, I can donate it to Locks of Love. Locks of Love requires donated hair to be 10″ long and when I measured my hair, I had close to 12″.
The plan was to get the haricut before Xyon’s wedding in late May, but with out project shipping not too long ago and a couple busy weekends, I finally found some time this weekend. So this past Friday, I made an appointment at Gene Juarez, the expensive salon that is supposed to be awesome. I asked about hair donation and they told me they did it. My appointment was at 3:45pm (allowing me to sleep in on Sunday).
So I had no idea what style I really wanted. The plan was to ask my stylist for suggestions and pick what I liked. But just in case I didn’t like my stylist’s suggestions, I wanted a back-up plan. Several people had recommended that I get a fauxhawk, but I didn’t really like the few fauxhawk pictures I saw. I was browsing through different hairstyles at Cool Men’s Hairstyles Pictures, trying to see which style I liked. I landed on Chris Pine’s page and really liked the 1st picture. It was simple, classy, and looked easy to maintain. Apparently that’s considered a fauxhawk, but a very small one. I guess I do like the fauxhawk then, but just a tiny one.
Sunday comes and I go for my appointment at 3:45pm. My stylist was going to be Jaden, but she was running a bit late. Then even a bit later. Every 10 minutes or so, the receptionist would come to me and apologize and asked if I wanted something to drink. I told her I was in no hurry and didn’t mind waiting. Around 4:15pm, the receptionist comes again and is very apologetic, saying my stylist should be ready soon and that my haircut would be 1/2 off. I believe my reply was “Awesome!”
Before continuing with the story, I just want to say how awesome Jaden (my stylist) was. I’ve gotten many haircuts before, but never had this much fun. The experience was simply amazing! So with that said, let’s continue with the story.
After getting seated, she asked what I was looking for today. I told her I had planned to cut my hair short and wanted to donate my hair. She wasn’t that familiar with the hair donation and found someone else who knew and she came back with with a form, a plastic baggy, and rubber bands. She tied my hair into 4 pony tails. Apparently my hair length was now 12-14″ long, more than enough to be donated. Before cutting them, she asked if I was ready. I go yep. *snip* *snip* *snip* *snip* There went 2+ years of hair growing. It was a bit sad, but a welcomed change. My head felt immediately lighter.
She asked me what style I was looking for. I said I wasn’t really sure, but I wanted something short and would like to hear her recommendations for me. She grabbed out a men’s hair styling book and flipped through a couple pages. Like my sister she also thought the fauxhawk would look good on me and that sold me. I mentioned I didn’t really want something too long in the middle, but a mini fauxhawk would be perfect and she understood completely. Half way through the haircut with the sides trimmed, I took this picture:
Jaden said I should’ve taken a picture when I had the 4 ponytails. I should’ve, but now it’s too late. Unfortunately I don’t think there’ll be a next time.
The haircut was very relaxing. You know how sometimes when you get a haircut, the barber/stylist would be pulling and yanking your hair, sometimes to the point it hurts? This time I didn’t feel anything. It was as if snips of my hair were just dropping to the floor.
The conversations were even more awesome. I don’t know how barbers and stylists do it, but they can just get me to tell them anything. Or maybe it was because she was very pretty. Besides the normal chit chat of mother’s day, what I do, where I’m from, what I did this weekend, etc., we talked about tons of neat stuff. We talked about family and turns out we’re both the oldest of our siblings and how there were advantages and disadvantages to that. We then talked about how there’s nothing to do on the east side past like 10pm and would have to go into downtown Seattle. She did recommend a bar called Twisted and told me to avoid Pearl at all cost. Funny thing is it turns out she hates beer also. We also talked about where I’m living, why I chose there, and if I have pets. I did find out she lives in Seattle and has a fat chihuahua. We even got into if I was seeing any one, which led into the discussion of girl issues I had recently. She also kept telling me she was having so much fun cutting my hair, as this is the second time she’s got to cut someone’s long hair into very short.
I was extremely happy with the final outcome and will definitely be coming back. When paying, I wasn’t quite sure how much I should tip stylists, but going with the rule of thumb I use for restaurants, I tipped 20% of the original price. I hope that wasn’t too little.