A Conversation With My New Hairdresser
My hair was getting long, by which I mean it was beginning to almost touch my shoulders. I have my father’s hair — thin and balding in spots* — so I like to keep it short. A longer length tends to drag down the hair so that the ends flip up and the sides look plastered around my face.
My boss told me about the local salon that she goes to, and I was lucky enough to get an appointment with the stylist she recommended.
I told the stylist who I worked for, and she said, “Oh yes, I’ve been doing her hair for 10 years! Maybe longer!”
As she shampooed my hair, she said happily, “You tell her that she is a wicked boss. And tell her I said so.”
“No problem,” I said.
She moved me to her workstation, and began cutting my hair.
“So do you live around here?” she asked.
“Yes, we just moved to this town last year.”
“Oh, with your family?”
“No, my husband.”
She stopped cutting.
“You’re married?”
“Yes.” In the mirror, I could see the look of surprise on her face. I knew that look. I had seen it before on other people’s faces. I added, “I’m 31.”
Her mouth fell open. “You’re 31? I thought you were 19!! And only because I know who you work for, so I thought you must be over 15 to work there.”
“I know, I look young.”
“Me too, everyone always thinks I’m so young, that there’s no way I could have two sons who are seven.”
“They’re adorable,” I said, looking at the pictures tacked up next to her mirror. “Do twins run in your family?” I had never met anyone before who was Asian and had twins.
“No, I think it was because I was older when I got pregnant. I didn’t take fertility drugs or anything, and at first I didn’t want kids, and then I decided later to have them.”
“Yeah, I can’t decide, either. I think I’d rather have twins, too, so that I can get it all over with at once. Or I’ll just have one kid.”
“That’s what I wanted, too! I married an American who’s a couple of years younger than me.”
“So did I!!!”
At that point, I decided that my stylist was an older version of me. Maybe a few years later, I’d get pregnant and have twins too. And maybe, just maybe, if I wished hard enough, my hair would eventually get as thick as her hair now.
*You think I jest? A few years ago, another hairdresser noted that I had a completely bald patch bigger than two of Paco’s paws above my left ear. The hairdresser said I needed to rub raw ginger over the patch to stimulate the growth. Luckily, the hair all grew back within a year and before I had to resort to the ginger.
Posted by: ssjane | December 29, 2004 | 12:32 pm
Posted in: This Life