This Cheating Heart...

So.

I'm cheating.

On my hairdresser.



Yes...I'm doing it.

I'm committing hairdultery.

I am a hairdulteress...I wonder if I should wear a scarlet H on my chest now?



That being said, a few months back after getting a chance to participate in a very cost effective (cheap) set of spa treatments (which I purchased for Ms. Dina and I) one of which was getting a hair cut...I found myself dubiously and very nervously sitting in the chair of a very nice young lady while she chopped a whole lot of hair off of my head. I don't wear my glasses during a cut and I can't really see what's going on...and it certainly didn't look like what I had requested...which made my heart beat even faster (not realizing that this would be one of the best haircuts I'd ever gotten)

You have to understand, my previous stylist and I were together for many years, and a really good stylist is a rare and wonderful find...our relationship actually began before my marriage and has lasted well after...he saved me when my previous stylist ran out of town leaving me high and dry (and this was right before Ms. Dina's wedding, and I needed to look my very besteset, as I was to don a purple velvet gown and march down the aisle before her on her big day...and I knew all eyes would be on me. Well, until Dina walked down the aisle...obviously.) He knew my situation, after being my mother's stylist as well for years...and fit me in at a 6 am slot he created just for me. He is a wonderful stylist, and I've never hated a cut I received in all our years together...

But the gal I went to for my promotional spa deal? Well...she is very very good. I mean fantastically good. To say that I love my current hair cut would be an understatement...it fits me perfectly. It is easy to do in the morning, looks great all day...and stays up and out of my way during work-outs and hiking. I feel fantastic in it, and it's gotten a lot of attention. I am so in love with this haircut that I didn't even realize that it was time to get it cut again...it seems so fresh and so new. LeSigh. It's been six weeks. Six whole weeks of this glorious cut.

Me + Haircut
=
True Lurve

The only problem is...the cuts at her salon are $20 more expensive than my previous salon. I know $20 isn't much...but in this economy (and with me saving for a new goal) I was really thinking this through.

Being both conflicted and in need of a cut, I turned to Dina during our jaunt to the Farmer's Market and blurted out my entire story:

Dina: "Oh. Just pay the extra money...that is a fantastic hair cut, you don't know if your guy can do it the same way...Wait. Do you even need a hair cut already?!"

Me: "Well, it will be six weeks this week..."

Dina: "hmmm...well, the only thing I notice is your bangs look a little long."

And then we were off hunting for radishes and butter lettuce. Because I suppose picking between two very talented hair dressers is a blessing, not a curse.

Needing to get my hair cut before I visit with an old friend and leave town next week, I called the new salon to double check the price and was surprised to learn that having a "wet cut" which means she cuts it and then I leave and style it myself...is the same price as I was paying at my old salon. If I go all in for the style as well? Well...only then does the extra $20 rear it's head (she's the only person I've ever had style my hair where it actually looked good afterwards, but $20 is $20) Of course, already having made the decision to splurge on my head and pay the extra money made it all that much sweeter when I was able to set my appointment for tomorrow morning at a very discounted rate.

I am happy...but still feeling very guilty about my other stylist. My mother still goes to him, so does Amy...heck so do most of the people I know...but for now?

I'm going somewhere different

Like the start of many new relationships there is a lot of excitement, and also a lot of worries. Will she understand me? That I am the kind of person that works and works to grow my hair into a certain style, only to cut it like that once, and then chop it all off? That I am somewhat fickle about my hair color...and that I still believe that a hairstylist can make me look like a celebrity? And most importantly...can she replicate her own brilliance of 6 weeks ago? Can she make my hair look and feel this good again?

Perhaps I will find myself at my other stylist again someday...it was nothing he did. He is talented, talkative, wonderful...And in the end of this relationship like the end of a lot of people's relationships I find myself thinking of uttering out loud...

It's not you. It's me.

A horrible way to end a relationship for sure, but one that in it's simplicity is the total truth.