The men can skip this one...

So about a month ago I had to go to a new hairdresser. My favorite, good looking and talented male hairdresser disappeared off the face of the earth. The last time I saw him, we had talked about coloring my hair the next time I came in. And then I got a card in the mail saying I could get a discount for going to any of the other stylists. Which isn't going to happen.

The biggest problem is not that the salon is forty miles from me and it's not that it's excessively expensive. Because obviously I was willing to pay and drive to get my guy to do my hair. The biggest problem is that all the other stylists are women. And I don't let women stylists touch my hair. So there it is. It's out there now. I refuse to go to female stylists.

Now, I'm sure you're asking yourself "Why would Mirth discriminate against one of The Sisterhood?" Because consistently, across the board and without a doubt, every single time I have tried going to a female hair dresser she cuts my hair off. Sometimes it's the first time I visit. Sometimes it takes a few times. But eventually, women cut my hair off. Without fail. The last one at least had the courtesy to tell me that she planned on doing it, saying to me "We'll get you to cut it short yet!" as I was on the way out the door after my second appointment. I canceled my next appointment. I don't know what it is that makes women want to cut my hair off. I've had it short and I've had it mid length. But I like it long and so does my husband. And aren't I the one that's paying? So, long story only slightly longer, I only go to male hair stylists because they leave my hair long.

Moving on...

So after my favorite guy disappeared, I tried, with the help of Mamoo and Miss Lee, to find a new favorite guy. We found what we thought was a great guy and I set up an appointment about a month ago. Well, he wasn't bad per se, but he wasn't great. I had decided not to let him color my hair before I ever showed up so that wasn't the issue. It was that my hair wouldn't stay together afterward. There's really no other way to explain it. Usually I only wash my hair every other day, or every third day. I have very coarse hair and if I wash it every day I turn into Bozo the clown. It goes frizzified. And yes, that is a real word for what happens. But after my new guy cut my hair, I was having to wash it every day if I wanted it to look even halfway decent. And I'll be honest, I struggle to deal with my hair every other day. Having to do it every day is not going to work for me.

And here's where it starts going downhill. Because I knew within a day or two that I would not be going back to that man to have my hair colored. And I didn't have a back up stylist so I knew it would be awhile before I would have a professional do it. Oh and also, think of all the money I could save by coloring my own hair. It just makes good sense to do it myself. Doesn't it?

I went out and bought a product I've used in the past and went ahead and dyed my hair. Now, we'll just back up a bit and mention that my original favorite guy had done my color sometime in early March. So there was quite a bit of root grow out by the time I got around to coloring it in mid May. Being a non-professional, I decided that even though the color I was going to use was as close to what was already on my head as I could get, I wouldn't just do the roots. No, I wanted all over color so I would color everything as though I were doing it for the first time.

But previously colored hair doesn't take color the same way "virgin hair" does. And also, it helps if you get as much dye on the ends as you do on the middle. So, at the end of the day I ended up with a darker band of hair that started about two inches out from my scalp and ending about four inches up from the ends. It's a look. And remember, if I'm not washing it every day it starts falling apart. Oh and in case all of that hasn't put the vision in your head, it's been a tad more humid lately than it's supposed to be here in the desert. Okay, it's only about thirty percent, but we're used to seven to ten percent around here and my hair does not do well about that mark.

Anyway, all of that brings us to today. I had an appointment this morning with yet another new (potentially) favorite guy. I thought I'd be in and out in an hour with my cut and color. I was mistaken. My new guy spent a solid fifteen minutes just looking at my hair. I'd like to say he was admiring the wonderful at home paint job I had done but I suspect that would be a stretch of massive proportions. The back up stylists hanging around to "watch and learn" was a bit disconcerting as well. But eventually he started the process. And only three and half hours later I walked out of there with decent looking hair. It's not perfect. But we have a plan. And we're one step closer to really nice.

Oh and my new stylist? Definitely my new favorite guy.