Which is easier?

Going to someone new to get your hair cut or going to a new gynecologist? They both rank right up there together in my book!

I have had the same person cut my hair since 1974. When I was in the 8th grade, my hair was so long it would get caught in the bottom of the bus seat. I talked Mom into letting me get my hair cut at a “real beauty shop”. Up until that time, Mom would cut my hair on the porch with scissors. I don’t know how many pictures were taken of me with crooked bangs!

At the beauty shop, Linda cut and permed my hair like Gloria on “All in the Family” and I loved it! She had been a part of my life since then. She has always known exactly what I wanted my hair to like when I just moved my hand over my head and tried to describe what I wanted. She would be the first one to tell me when I wouldn’t like my hair cut a certain way and she was always right when I didn’t listen. She would also tell me when I needed to cover the gray "highlights", pluck my eyebrows or trim that one “wild hair” that decided to grow on my chin! The was a trust there that was established 34 years ago when she cut off what seemed like three feet of hair and gave me my first curly perm. She had been with me though high school, marriage, the birth of a baby, divorce, remarriage, and many deaths of loved ones. I could tell her anything and know that it would go no further. Not that we would ever gossip – no – never! When Linda retired last December with fingers that were bent with painful arthritis, I felt like I had lost one of my best friends.

Since I haven’t had my hair cut since a week before Christmas, I have come up with many ways of coping with my hair while it was “growing out”. I have more headbands, clips, and “scrunchies” than any woman should ever have. Someone at work asked me if I was staging my own personal rebellion for Linda retiring. Well – maybe I was.

So today was the day.

I asked several people at work who cut their hair. I finally made a call to a highly recommended stylist on Monday and got an appointment for this morning. I decided that I would get a good all over trim and go back later for more if I liked her. When I first came in, I tried to make small talk with her since we had a few friends in common. I can usually carry on a conversation with a brick wall but not this girl. She acted like I was a big inconvenience and a waste of her time. She kept up a full conversation with the other stylist as if I was not even sitting in her chair. She even stopped and walked over to whisper something to the other stylist. After she trimmed the back and the top of my hair, she said, “I hope that is enough.” She handed me the brush so I could brush it and see. I told her I thought it was fine (just to get out) and asked if she could dry it so I could go back to work. She had drenched my head and blouse with water from a squirt bottle. After she fried and pulled out half my hair drying it, (I swear - it was smoking!) I didn’t have enough nerve to ask her to curl and style it! Looking like a porcupine caught in a weed eater, I paid her and went home to fix my hair! It does look better but I will not go back to her. Now I’m on the hunt again for someone else to cut my hair.

Next month I have to find a new gynecologist so I can get my hormones refilled. I hope I have better luck. I just hope I don’t come out of the doctor’s office with fried hair looking like a wild porcupine! That would be just my luck. I’ll keep you posted!

Lesa