Bang

Ahhh...much better. This morning I reached the limits of my patience with my hair. It was heavy and hanging in my eyes and just not working for me. That, plus the fact that my eyebrows looks liked wild caterpillars, was enough to move me from whining about my hair to doing something about it.

I decided to take up the local Supercuts on the invitation they left in the comments on my hair rant. Just for good measure, I arrived wearing my signature binder clip, wondering if they would recognize me by the accessory. It turns out that Kim, one of the stylists recommended to me, hadn't seen my rant, so mostly she just thought I was a bit strange for sporting office supplies in my tresses.

Sitting in the chair, I told Kim what was frustrating me about my hair and she offered a few thoughts about what direction we could go in. She didn't dislike the longish bang look, but heard me about not loving it. I showed her a few pictures of me with bangs (like the one in my profile here) and she was ready to get to work. She was even a good sport when I asked if I could snap a pic of the two of us before we got started.

I opted for the Supercut III -- a wash, cut and blow dry. First we tackled the eyebrows. Well, she did. I just closed my eyes and wondered if mine were the most overgrown set of brows she's seen in a while. Then it was on to the wash. After the shampoo and conditioner, Kim spent a few minutes massaging my scalp. I could have fallen asleep right there; it was so relaxing.

After I sat back in the chair, Kim clipped up the back of my hair and took a quick swipe with the scissors. Then she said, "Are you ready for this?" Good move asking after she'd already made the first cut! I got a laugh about that.

We chatted about kids and Christmas shopping as Kim snipped away at my locks. She gently stacked the back and trimmed off the crazy, flippy, Carole Brady pieces under my ears. She took baby steps with the bangs and thinned out the heaviest parts with little stabs of the scissors.

Then she took her time blowing it dry with a round brush -- which I assured her I would never do. She promised it wouldn't matter, that this simple and easy style was as wash and wear as I requested. But it's always nice to leave the salon with that coiffed look.

Once the cut and style was finished, she put a little waxy pomade on my bangs -- woo wee! I have bangs! -- and we both took a look at the final product. Kim even suggested that my hair would look cute even shorter.

If Mike hadn't arrived and was waiting to have lunch I might have taken her up on it and told her to keep going. But I decided to live with the new cut for a while and save the shorter style for a day when I feel more up to facing my sisters who might disown me if I go short again.

The best part came when it was time to pay -- my total for the wash, cut, style and eyebrow wax was just $31 (after a $2 off coupon that I got by signing up for the Supercuts e-mail list)!