Half Full, Not Half Empty

It all happened so fast--but a snip here, a trim there and before I knew it, I was walking out of the salon with bangs. BANGS! I know better than to get bangs. Not just any bangs, long, layered bangs, as the woman at the salon described them. That is even worse since it means they are constantly in my eyes. When I was three years old, I cut my hair to the scalp gleefully explaining to my mother that I was tired of my hair being in my eyes. I've hid my scissors, but there is no telling what drastic actions I might have to take the next time I try to tuck my just-a-little-too-short bangs behind my ear.

I think I was taken back by the salon. I normally get my hair cut in the mall--I like the girl I go to, I can get in and out fast and it is a lot cheaper than a fancy salon. But, I had a gift card, so last week I went to a place that actually has the word spa in its name and white roses at the front desk.

The stylist I saw approached hair color the way a neurologist would approach brain surgery. I told her I wanted to cover the grey, something close to what was left of my natural color. She nodded, examined my roots (which had grown out about two inches, so it really wasn't hard) and walked away. She came back with a huge chart and carefully explained I was a number seven blond with 50 percent grey. She referred to the 50 percent grey about six more times. I was ready to say, "Yes. I get it. I'm going grey. That is why I asked for all-over color." Then it occurred to me, I'm still 50 percent number seven blond, why couldn't she have been more of a glass-half-full type of a gal?

She slathered the color on my hair (we ended up going with a blond number seven all-over color with ten foil highlights in the front) and sent me off to process. After a relaxing shampoo and conditioning treatment, I was back at her station and ready to get down to business. She had pulled out a picture with bangs and told me how great she thought it would look on me. I think it was either the relaxing massage I got with the shampoo or the herb-infused water I'd been sipping that caused me to drop my guard. I seriously thought, "Yes. Bangs. That would be a fun change."

So there you have it. I now have bangs that look nothing like the picture she showed me. The seriousness of it hit me as soon as I walked out of the salon and first felt the wispy ends brush against my eyelashes. But, I did get rid of the greys, which in case you didn' t know, have taken over 50 percent of my head.