Bu yao androgynous mullet, part II

The Chinese love asymmetrical, layered hairstyles.  Fortunately for them, they can pull it off with their thick straight hair.  Unfortunately for me, I do not have thick straight hair.  In a country of 1.325 billion people, where do hairdressers get to practice on non-thick, non-straight hair?  That would be me.  I’ve been around the block a few times when it comes to getting a trim from someone who doesn’t speak the same language.  It’s hard enough to explain to an English-speaker what you want, and to try to get them to cut what you want and not what they think would look good.  Throw in a different culture with different ideas about what a flattering haircut looks like.  Some experiences have definitely been better than others, but I’ve never been happier than I was after today’s cut.

Inner Mongolia: I was there but the hair was out_of_control

I have lived in fear of the scissors since the fall of 2008 when a trip to the hair salon cost me most of my hair.  Many girls tend to exaggerate a bit when it comes to their hair since it’s such a personal thing, but I exaggerate not.  I couldn’t pull it back, up, or to the side in any way, because it really was that short.  Right after that happened, I went to Inner Mongolia for October Holiday where we didn’t have access to showers for several days, and those are the only pictures I have of that haircut.  While I didn’t want any part of that hair on record in any way, I did need to be able to say I was actually on that trip so I caved and allowed a few shots.  When I got back home and posted the pictures, my sister informed me that she didn’t recognize me in them.  Gee thanks, Caitlin.

I lived most of that winter with short hair and didn’t conquer my fear and return to a Chinese hair cutting establishment until exactly one year later, when I wrote this.  Now I’m happy to report that the shortest of the shortest layers are completely grown out and today’s excursion was a success.  Yay for knowing more Chinese!