I! CUT! MY! OWN! HAIR!
It was madness, I know. But
it made me even more mad to look in the mirror
at the sticking-out-in-every-direction MESS which could not be combed,
styled or even flattened down.
I had a razor comb (not scissors, God forbid) so
began carefully, gingerly thinning out the flapping wings at the back.
Gradually I grew more bold as the bits of hair accumulated in the sink. Hey,
why not – go for broke! It can’t look any worse, can it?
When I thought I had
taken off enough, I ran downstairs, all excited, and said to Bill, “Notice
anything different about me”? He looked at my face, then at my blouse, and
said, “Yeah?” and I said “WHAT DO YOU MEAN you don’t see anything different!” and he made a
“shrug” expression with his mouth and said, “You look nice.”
Then I made him
take my picture, which he never does because I hate it. This mad impulse came
after I read a four-page manifesto from my stylist (likely a generic one from
Health Canada or somewhere) which basically described the salon as
a police state. The tone of it was: things will never be the same, and you will
never enjoy a trip to the stylist again. So I thought: how long is this going
to be, and how could it look any worse than it does now?
I don’t think it does
– I think it looks better – my head is lighter – and though I’m definitely
greyer, I can more or less look at myself without alarm and have SOME hope I
can keep it in shape until, gowned, masked, in full hazmat suits, my stylist
and I will meet again, don’t know where, don’t know when.