It eventually had to happen...

...a haircut, that is!

So I didn't really believe anyone when they told me that my hair would fall out after I had my baby. But fall out it did - after about 3-4 months, I started pulling it out in clumps. When I was brushing it, running my fingers through it, pulling out the elastic of my ponytail - hundreds of strands (it seemed) would fall to the floor. With the length of my hair, you can only imagine what my white linoleum bathroom floor looked like after I had been in there - I was constantly picking up the hair off the ground. The trashcan was just overflowing with my dark locks.

I had been planning on getting my hair cut for a while. Pretty much after I did this to my hair in July 2006:

I had been letting it grow out (with minimal trims) until it got to this. Here is my before picture:
It's kinda a crappy picture that Brandon took in the car (while he was driving - Yikes!) on the way to the salon on his iPhone because his camera is broken and mine is still in Japan, but you get the idea. My hair was long and uninteresting - flat and heavy with the weight of it and most of the time, it was up in a ponytail or bun. When it was down, it looked like a lion's mane and because it had been soooo long since it had even been trimmed, the ends were incredible split and dry.

The hair-falling-out certainly expedited this process of getting my haircut but what helped even more was that Damian (my bro-in-law) had a friend that cut hair. I had met her at a Thanksgiving party last year and she told me that she worked at Lunatic Fringe - a true stylist at a true salon. I told her that I usually get my hair cut at Supercuts/Fantastic Sams/Great Clips/anywhere I had a coupon and could get it done for $10 or less and I think that she cringed a little bit. It's not that I wouldn't pay more money to get it done somewhere better, it's just that I need a referral because more money doesn't necessarily mean better quality and service. There are plenty of crappy stylists at fancy salons. But she was definitely worth it.

You know a place is fancy when you walk in and tell them that you are there for your appointment and they immediately ask you if they can get you something to drink. I replied my usual, "Just water." Nice service would have been plastic bottled water but they hand me this fancy stuff:
VOSS water from Norway. I don't know, it tasted pretty good, I guess - nice glass bottle. Maybe I can reuse it as a vase or something - it seems too nice to throw away.

Then Micky, my stylist, took me over to her little area and I showed her pictures of what I was thinking which was this:
I'm not a huge Katie Holmes fan but I do like her hair. Or I was thinking Jenny McCarthy like this:

So Micky had an idea of what I liked/wanted but then she did what I think true stylists should do - tell me what will work for me (I've always wanted to go on What Not To Wear on TLC so Nick Arrojo could just tell me what to do with my hair). She played with my hair, all while we looked at ourselves in the mirror where I am guessing she was taking inventory of the shape of my face, my features, the quality of my hair, etc. I let her know that I am very low maintenance - I don't like to blow dry my hair or use too much product that will make my hair sticky and that I usually shower at night and go to sleep with my hair damp. She took note of all this and then told me that she was going to do something in between those two haircuts. She then proceeded to lead me into a separate washing area with dim lights and soft music where I got the best, most relaxing head and neck massage while my hair was shampooed and conditioned. I have no idea how long we were in there but it was heavenly. And after, she proceeded to cut, razor, and thin out my hair.

I also appreciated that she gave me some great recommendations on products to use but I didn't feel like she was selling them to me - just giving me her honest opinion on what will work for my wiry/coarse/thick hair. I loved that she was telling me how to style my hair as well when I got home. Cause I hate when you get your hair done at the salon and it looks awesome for a day because they know how to style it, but then you can never replicate the look at home. So I was willing to invest in some good quality products because for hair care, I think that there is definitely a correlation between quality and price.

So it was probably very impulsive of me and I made the mistake of not even asking how much all this cost, but here is what I got:Kerastase Nutritive Bain Oleo-Relax Smoothing Shampoo

Kerastase Nutritive Oleo-Relax Smoothing Masque (aka Conditioner)

Kerastase Nutritive Nutridefense Anti-drying Nutri-Protective Spray (aka leave-in conditioner)Bumble and Bumble Styling Creme

Sounds pretty fancy, huh? I won't say how much I spent but all four of those cost me three times the cost of my haircut. And I'm kicking myself - if I had known just how expensive they were, I think that I only would have bought one or two of them instead of all four. I hope that Brandon doesn't kill me. And I totally blame myself for not asking - that was just plain stupid. Micky wrote them all down for me (so I could have checked the prices on-line and at least have been aware and maybe found a better deal although they are still quite expensive even through the internet). But some small comfort is that I told Micky that I only wash my hair about 2-3 a week so she told me that the shampoo and conditioner should last me about 8 months to a year.

Oh, you're probably wanting to know what the end result looks like. Well, here it is:Please excuse the crappy pictures - again, taken with an iPhone in really crappy lighting but you get the idea. Please also excuse my white undergarments sticking out from my shirt that I forgot to readjust for these pictures.

But anyway, if you need a good hairstylist, I know just the one to call...

(This post was actually written on 9/23/09 but I just forgot to post it so it is slightly outdated so sorry for the two month[!] delay. I think I was wanting to take better "After" pictures but never got around to it. Although my hair is still pretty cute...)