Beauty Shop Drop-Out

It is my experience that I can usually get one good haircut from a cosmetologist, but seldom two in a row. Since donating my waist-length hair to Locks of Love, I've been looking for my "regular" hairdresser, the one who can actually cut my hair into a style I like, want, and will keep. I've grown it back to collar length, but the last haircut resulted in those darned "layers" in the back and big puffs on top of my ears. I want to keep the length, but restyle the cut so it lays smoother and has some movement.

Friday, I tried another new gal, driving all the way back up the hill on my day off for the consultation and the cut. I chose her because I've seen some of her clients, all of whom have beautifully sculpted hair that flows together and always looks great.

"Tell me what you want in a hairstyle," she encouraged.

"I don't like short hair, or a bob, or that new style where the back is really short and the front still needs to be cut. I hate layers, that look of rows across the back of my head. What I think looks really good is the way men's hair always blends together, seamlessly, into a cut that can be riffled with fingers and still look good. I'm really comfortable with my length, about to my collar, and want to keep the length, but don't like the way the front is much shorter than the back."

She pointed to her colleague in the next booth, turned her around, and said, "See the way the bottom of her hair is shaped? That's what you are looking for, right?" I agreed, especially since that woman's hair was about the length of my hair, and she didn't have obvious layers, just some shaping at the bottom so the hair flows together.

When I recalled Dorothy Hammill and explained that I've always loved the way her hair flows together in pictures of her from back in the day, she said, "Oh, but you don't want your hair as short as Dorothy Hammill wore hers!" I knew I had picked the right person to shape my hair into a style I will like, wear, and keep.

The huge smile accompanied her confirmation: "I know just what to do. Let's get started."

An hour later, after stopping the process a couple of times to express concern about the direction my hair was going, I realized that she's a key word person: short hair, like a man's cut, that only requires finger-fixing. Lost in translation were the other key words: collar length. Because I had mentioned that my current cut was much shorter over the ears than it was in the back, she took the word "ear" as her hair length. The end result is that I have everything in a haircut that I really hate, except there are no layering lines across the back! I'm not sure if that's the good news or the bad news because there isn't enough hair to cut into layers.

Whatever happened to the confirmation that I did NOT want my hair cut as short as Dorothy Hammill's famous wedge, I'll never know. Believe me, I'd love to have hair as long as her hair was back then, but that's going to take a while.

After I donated my hair, I knew that I would have to wear really short hair for a while, but went with the "it'll grow back" philosophy. It did -- and it will again.