I Conquered My Fear!!

Said conquered fear is....drum roll....getting a haircut in China!!!! Okay, maybe you're not so impressed but after I tell you this story (which I've been repressing and refusing to blog about since last winter) you will understand a little bit more of why this is such an accomplishment!

Last winter, I don't know the month...it's been blocked out....I went to get my haircut with my friend Natalie. We went to a place that we had been before so I thought that our limited Chinese wouldn't be a problem. They'd remember us, right?? We went in and all was going well with the man who was cutting my hair. UNTIL...I got brave and decided to "motion" to him to cut a few more layers. After a huge Grinch-like grin swept briefly across his face, he lifted a chunk of my hair and cut, right about mid-ear length. He then went crazy, cutting like a scene from "Edward Scissorhands!" There was nothing to be done except to try and hold back the tears until I safely cleared the salon. As I surveyed the damage later at Natalie's apartment, I realized that the huge chunk he cut from one side was NOT cut from the other side, which meant I was lopsided. And, not only was I lopsided but I was the mortified owner of a brand-new mullet. A mullet. Natalie did her best to console me; spending hours trying to straighten the hair, then curl it, then gel it - nothing worked, I was still lopsided.

About two weeks later I took my Chinese-speaking friend, Cindy, to another salon and the lady who cut my hair gladly removed the mullet, making my hair much shorter. She said she couldn't do anything to "even me out" until the un-chunk-removed side grew out a bit.

Thus began the next 4-5 months or so (repressed) spent with my hair in a ponytail. Surprisingly, my students loved my new ponytail look! When I became brave enough to show some of them my hair without the ponytail, they tried to convince me that lopsided is the new "in" and that I was way cool - so sweet of them but entirely unbelievable! :)

So, now you can see why I was terrified to get another haircut in China and why I have waited a long 7 months since my last haircut! It's a totally normal haircut...normal and I am thankful that I am not setting anymore fashion trends with my hair! Whew....