Hair cuts - Is there more significance to one than meets the eye?

I recently had my hair cut. Now that seems like such a mundane thing to say. Doesn't everyone get their hair cut every so often? Well, no, not everyone.

At least, I don't. I think we must be a bit strange in this family. For one thing, ever since I got together with Car, which was close to 30 years ago, we have pulled and pushed each other into this whole self-sufficient kind of lifestyle. Both of us hate having to get other people to help us in any way - hence, from the beginning, Car was always the mechanic, electrician, plumber, carpenter, etc. I was always the cleaner, shot-giver, haircutter, mechanic's assistant, carpenter's assistant, etc. Then we had kids and some of them became (quasi) mechanics, plumbers, electricians, etc. They've all learned to cook and clean too (some better than others), but come to think of it, none of them have become haircutters!

Now I happen to get a big thrill out of having a pair of scissors in my hand and a head of hair to cut! Car was my first subject - in fact, he asked me to do it! I wasn't sure I could, but I figured if he was willing to take the consequences, I was all for trying! My first haircut given might not have been a total success, but it was totally acceptable to the wearer of the result! Thus, a hairdresser was born! After that I regularly tried my creative skills on my kids. Some liked my improvisation, others cried or threw minor tantrums over the results and as soon as they were old enough, ran to the nearest professional haircutter before I could get my hands on their heads again (though to this day, I never stop offering my services - free of charge).

But I still hadn't gotten up the nerve to experiment on my own hair.

The first time I cut my own hair - and REALLY CUT OFF A LOT - was after Clo was born. She pulled my long locks mercilessly when she was a baby. I don't remember any of her three older sibs yanking on my hair, which had been long since high school, but Clo was always reaching her chubby little hands out to tug on a braid, or tangle her fingers torturously in my hair if I forgot myself and wore it loose. So, when she was around a year old, I decided one day, standing in the bathroom and looking at myself in the mirror, that this was it - I was going to cut my hair!

That first session was scary but exhilarating. I cut off all the crown hair about an inch from my scalp and around the upper half of my head too. I wanted the kind of haircut that kind of stands up all around your head, and I got what I wanted! But when it came to cutting the bottom half - all that long hair all around me, I just could not bring myself to do it. So I ended up with a short/long style... and I guess it was okay. Car thought it was very original and we went to a big company dinner one night right after I'd cut it and I actually got compliments on it!

But after a couple of weeks, I decided to take the plunge and I cut the rest - very very short. All around. After that, I regularly cut my hair, until I would get so tired of having to do it every few weeks, that I let it grow out long. This would take a couple of years, then I'd leave it long for another year, then I'd grow tired of washing it and cut it off again, and the cycle would begin anew.

But this last time I decided to cut my hair, I got too impatient and I cut it too too short on one side and couldn't even it out. Luckily, there's a haircutter near our house, so I walked over there and asked her if she could fix the damage.

Well, when I came out, I was a NEW WOMAN!!! I cannot believe how much I have missed by not having my hair cut more regularly throughout these years!! This woman was so deft, so sure, so gentle, so comfortable, so RIGHT! While she shore and shaped, I was lulled almost to sleep by the way her hands moved over my head. Long before she was satisfied and stepped away, I was already admiring and thanking her for my new image in the mirror. I'm telling you, she gave me style - something I'd never been able to give myself!

At first, I have to tell you, I was afraid of the change in myself. I tried to ignore my image in the mirror, and I told myself it would never last, my hair would grow and I'd end up cutting it myself, rather than go back to a hairdresser... So I let it grow for 4 months! And wouldn't you know it, the style of the cut lasted all that time - which never happens when i cut my own hair; in less than a month I have to do some repairs to one side or the other, or cut off hair that's growing faster than the other parts and sticking out in a horrible way. But this cut lasted and lasted, even though it was getting longer. It all grew out together! I just trimmed my bangs a couple of times.

So at the end of 4 months, when the sides were getting a bit unmanageable, I decided that this haircutter was really a pro, deserving of my patronage. So I went back and she remembered me and she did a neat job on my head again! And here I am, 3 weeks later, still feeling good about it!

Which brings me to the question of the day: what exactly does one gain by having style? Well, it seems to affect the way they act! Believe it or not, I am more animated, my gestures are more dramatic, I've got ways of turning my head that I don't remember using before! And all because of a haircut???

Does that sound vain and ridiculous to you? Then I present you with the case of my son, Lew, who seems to show similar tendencies. In Lew's case, he hadn't had his hair cut in a couple of years. Soon after I got mine cut, we were sitting around the dining room table with a friend of his who'd just had his hair cut. He looked really really good, and when Lew saw him, and when his friend and I both started a chorus of "Come on, Lew, do it!", he said okay and I got the scissors and... voilá! He too became a new personage! (note: though I can't cut my own hair with any guaranteed precision, when I cut the hair of other people, I sometimes manage to give them a nice-looking style, which was the case with Lew).

So what does it all mean? Am I trying to insinuate that a good haircut brings out the real you? Am I secretly afraid that stylish haircuts hide the real you and turn you into a false replica of whatever your fantasy-you is? Maybe it's simply a matter of being able to appreciate - really appreciate - having your hair cut off to your advantage, and enjoying the new you that greets you in the mirror! Whatever it is, and whoever you turn out to be because of it, a well-carried-out haircut sure can liven up your day-to-day!