Pampered

Yesterday, I got my hair cut for the first time in a year and I went to a REAL salon (most of my previous hair cuts have either been at Great Clips when they have a sale or in Mexico when I could get it cut for free by the women who came on teams to cut hair). It was my post-baby treat from Mark and it was definitely a treat. He stayed home with Mr. Mister while I escaped for an hour.

I always get intimidated going into those nice salons because I'm not real into my hair and of course all the girls working there have cute and perfectly taken care of hair. And I know the inevitable question will be asked: "So what products do you use in your hair?" I remember when I went to a real salon for the first time in college and the woman asked me that and I didn't know what to say. Shampoo? Conditioner? Do those count?

The other thing I don't so much look foward to about getting my hair cut is maintaing conversation with the person cutting my hair. It always feels awkward if it's silent and I know the questions they ask in order to make conversation are probably the same ones they have asked all of their clients that day. As I answered Ashley's questions about my Christmas plans, Christmas shopping, my son and nephews, etc. I couldn't help but wonder if she was really listening. Oh well, I wasn't there to make a new best friend and really, she was nice and we had a relatively nice conversation.

When she asked what my son's name was, I told her Mr. Mister and then explained to her how my husband's name is Mark and we wanted to keep his name but that since we worked in Mexico for a while we went with the Spanish version of Mark. She asked what we did in Mexico so I got to explain a little about our work in the garbage dumps, which was cool. Then she said what so many people say when I tell them about working in Mexico, which makes me laugh every time: "Well I've never been to Mexico City, but when I was in Cancun for spring break....."

I hope this doesn't make it sound like it was a bad experience. It wasn't. It was wonderful. This salon offered a choice of two "experiences" to go along with the haircut. I chose the 5 minute chair massage and the shampoo with a hot towel wrap. Sitting there with a hot towel around my head in a dim room with classical music playing even for just 5 minutes was a fabulous escape. Then came my haircut. I kept it long, but got an inch of split ends cut off, and some long layers added. (See picture below. I made Mark take this picture because I knew it would never look like this again as long as it was up to me to do it!)

Ashley said that my hair didn't look that bad for not having it cut in a year but she did suggest that I come back every 10 weeks. That's definitely pushing it, but I do hope to go again before another year passes.

In the end, I felt so light and refreshed. And the best part was that I had a coupon for 50% off so it didn't even cost a fortune!