Oh those things in life that we love and the things we do for them! No, I don't mean the children and dear old hubby, although they get their fair share of acts of love. No, I mean those indulgences of motherhood that we, with perhaps only the slightest of guilt, hoard to ourselves or enjoy with more glee than perhaps we should. The box of our favorite cookies we snuck into the last shopping trip, hidden in the back part of the cupboard that we bring out only if we are absolutely positive we won't have to share and feel only a moment of guilt that the decadence we are enjoying is far better than the sale brand cookies we served our family mere hours before. Or that special top that only comes out for special occasions and gets its very own special laundry soap, cycle in the washer and space in the closet.
For me it is a beauty splurge. Like many a mother I often skip over what many refer to as "necessary beauty maintenance," like haircuts, new clothes. manicures and the like. My hair is what I often refer to "as my one beauty" and it grows long and just on this side of having "body" and not looking like I stuck my tongue in a toaster. However, my "one beauty" is very often in a ponytail or messy bun, something I get a LOT of grief about. If I had a quarter for every time I was told "you should wear your hair down" I would have the "necessary beauty maintenance" of a queen! In order to "encourage" myself to wear my hear down more often and mostly because it is just plain fun to splurge now and again, I saved (or as my husband accuses, "stuffed") money so I could get a cut and color.
In order to truly appreciate this you need a little history. As I mentioned my hair is long. And I do mean longs, as in to my behind long. (I don't get those maintenance haircuts remember?) And it is thick. Very thick. And it has been all my life. I confess in a way I think my hair serves like a protective shield for me physically and mentally. It makes me feel elegant and beautiful and when I wear it down I get those much needed confidence boosting compliments, so good or bad I am really quite attached. Well, like most women I have had those days where I wake up and just want to do SOMETHING different or a friend or loved one convinces me I should try a new look. So I do. I have cut and colored my hair 4 times in my life. The first time, not only did it get cut too short leaving my natural curl free to frizz up leaving me to look like a french fry kid from McDonald's, but the custom mixed color ran out THREE times so I had three distinct stripes of hair. Sexy huh? The second time I wanted to try the popular at the time dark hair with a magenta highlight. Big surprise my dark brown hair needed quite the bleaching. Sadly the stylist was in a hurry so she rushed the process and I ended up with massive, tangled knot of "magenta" hair, that tangled into a massive tangled knot EVERY time I washed my hair. Fun times huh? On my third attempt I was feeling a bit gun shy, but also really wanted a change, BOTH a cut and color. It took me five minutes to let the poor stylist cut the two long braids off so they could be donated, but at last I did. It was a long, nerve wracking appointment for something most would find fun. And in the end it was.... AMAZING! She had not only cut my hair with a beautiful cut that accentuated the natural wave, but had succeeded in coloring my hair amazingly! I LOVED IT! Motherhood, life and budget moved on and my beautiful cut and color began to fade back into the really long ponytail yet again, although often I would look in the mirror fondly remembering my cut and color wishing to do it again. Which brings us to current.
I decided, with some loving encouragement, that it was time to do it again. This time I was feeling bold and brave so I asked for RED highlights and to please cut off the quite literal pony tail. Again, I sat nervously awaiting the result. I felt fairly confident, but was it too much, was I too old, was it going to look ok? The foil came off.....hmmm...looks good so far. Then the cut.....a little more....just a little more. Yes....yes.....I think I am getting excited....this is looking good. And then she dried it and it was LOVE!! Wow! It was bold, beautiful and I felt both swelling up inside me as I looked in the mirror! After gushing and proclaiming my eternal love and gratitude to my stylist we talked maintenance. Buy a good color safe shampoo and it is recommended that cooler showers would be best. Hmmm....cooler....really? As a girl who tends to take showers hotter than hot, often causing my husband to ask if I am trying to cook myself, this caused a bit of pause. I glanced in the mirror again and knew I could find the will power. However, if cool is good cold is better right? So for the love of my hair, yes my hair, this heat loving girl has taken quite a few cold showers and I am happy to say that my ""one true beauty" and I are still quite happy and the cold showers are well worth maintaining my love!
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