I've lost count of the number of times I've gone into a hairdresser's with a specific idea of how I'd like my hair to look - sometimes I've even gone to the bother of finding a photo - but still the end result turns out to be the whim of the scissors-happy hairdresser on that particular day. Either a cut she's familiar with, or something my hair can actually achieve (apparently my hair is 'thick but fine'), as well as possibly what my mature face can handle?

Know what I mean?

Oh, I've always been experimental with my hair. Combing in neat lemon juice and then Sun-in when I was a teenager, then growing it down to my bum but too impatient to complete the Crystal Gayle look (think Rapunzel), and then cutting it into short jaggy layers as an art student. Then growing it again.

When it was short I wanted it long. When it was long I wanted it short. Perpetual dilemmas.

Know what I mean?

And I did the earthy henna in tinfoil thing. Leaving the paste on my tinfoil-wrapped head, while I smelt like a hippy nut roast for a full 20 mins! I remember doing this before I met my future in-laws. As if they might miss the distinct orangeness of my long tresses, I also put in tiny all-over pleats while it was still wet. This ensured a crinkly volume to the vivid orange.

My soon-to-be husband gave me the 'why-on-earth?' look. I replied, 'I'm making a statement.' 'And that IS exactly?' 'Here I am!'

Your hair is so much part of your personality.

Know what I mean?

Think how low you feel when your hair is lank & greasy compared to how uplifted you feel when your hair is newly washed - smelling delish & looking bouncy?

As a wife, I tried out various permed styles: short & long, blonde & dark. My childrens' reactions varied from horror to exasperation. When I went to the hairdresser for some darker tones, he made a colour error, and I came home short & black. The kids declared I looked like a Vulcan! I felt like I was sporting a helmet, or even worse, a trapper hat!

However, being blonde always lightened my mood and made me feel x3 happier. So, I was happily blonde for almost 20 years! Any greys were disguised & tucked away. I was never a fan of any shade of grey - warm or cold.

I asked my new hairdresser when I should go back to my natural colour? She replied that I would instictively know when the time was right, as she religiously applied my regular highlights.

So, this blonding routine was carried out 7-weekly for another 12 months. But then, as with all routines, Boredom eventually sets in. At my next visit, I blurted out, 'I want to go grey. I want all the blonde bits cut out!'

'I think you'll find that rather drastic! It'll need to be 2" all over!' she gasped.

'Yip.' I agreed.

'Let's just take a bit off today & see how you get on? This length really suits you,' she added.

For being a young girl, she seems rather squeamish. So unlike KT in Inverness whose own hair was the full range of the intense blue/green spectrum, boldly displaying her scissors and comb tattoos on her forearms. She would have chopped my hair in an instant. No hesitation.

To appease my new hairdresser, I relented and said okay. It was only 0930. She had a full day to go.

But next time she cut it. So, now I've reacquainted myself with my natural hair colour: mid brown with sun-induced highlights and a few grey bits around my ears. Time has been quite lenient to me, I feel!

But if I eventually get a dog, I think I'll avoid a Miniature Schnauzer!

Know what I mean?

Haha

: )

 

'Sometimes blondes prefer gentlemen' 2001, in a private collection.