Blog Minx

After six months of world travel, my hair was starting to look like a Tina Turner wig so I thought I’d treat myself to a salon cut and color. I knew better hair would make me a better blogger.

Remind me to never do so again, because I’d forgotten how tortuous such sessions are.

First came The Assessment from Fabian/Marc-Pierre. My previous home-dye jobs were inspected with much shaking of the head. “We’ll have to strip that out,” they said. My hair was washed, some strands were snipped, the “dye strip” was added. It smelt like turpentine. Time dragged. I flipped through lame magazines. Muzak played in the background.

The strip was washed out, but it hadn’t worked. “Looks like we’ll have to move to Level 2,” said the hair dude, without a hint of a smile. Luckily the situation wasn’t as bad as he thought after a blow-dry. “You’re hair’s darker when it’s wet!” he commented in surprise. Fancy that! But I couldn’t reply as the blow-dryer was roaring in my ear and I looked like Cousin It in a cape, with hair flying all over the place.

Three hours passed. It was getting dark, and I was hungry. But the end was in sight. After some new color, a few hair-flips, enough spray to cause a chemical imbalance and some vigorous brushing and sculpting, I was presented with the mirror. And it really didn’t look much different from three hours earlier. “Looks great!” I commented, a false note in my voice. His eyebrows narrowed. “Yes, great demarkation,” he said.

It cost $280. $280! That’s a lifetime of AdSense earnings. Next time I’m shaving it all off. ProBlogger and Shoemoney have little hair, so clearly the less hair you have, the better blogger you are.

So how to save on haircuts?

Update: I thought that, instead of just complaining, I should look at ways to avoid this in future. And found this great piece on how to save on haircuts.

• If coloring at home, use a gentle shade and a trusted brand
• If you splurge on color, get a cheaper cut and vice versa
• Get cheap cuts in-between, if you prefer the salon
• If you’re brave, you could try a home cut
• Think about getting a simpler cut that doesn’t require as much maintenance