Date: June 2010
The Overdue Haircut….aka Surrendering Control of My Hair to a Stylist
Several summers ago I was at a retreat where we played a game of musical chairs for adults with a twist – the person without a chair was not eliminated but instead had to say 1 thing about themselves that was embarrassing and then everyone who had the same issue had to get up from their seats and race to find a new chair. One woman’s embarrassing detail was that she hated to give up control of her hair to a hair stylist. I totally got up for that one.
I had long dreadlocks for many years and so it was never really necessary to see a stylist – I cut and cared for my own hair without needing any specialty services (color, etc…) – with great results. No one was ever as intimate with my hair care needs as I was. So now fast forward 4 years – I’ve only braved getting a haircut twice since the Big Chop. The first stylist was someone local – not recommended through anyone and she needed to blow my hair straight before cutting (burning many strands of hair as she straight combed!). The second stylist was well reviewed/ recommended at a Brooklyn salon. He gave me a cut that was perfectly fine but I paid all this extra money ($80-100 over the cut and conditioning) for “special Curly styling” only to have my hair look like a regular curly afro w/ no curl definition.
