Haircut

I hate getting my haircut. I am not sure why but I resent having to find the time to go and do it. I put it off as long as I can. I like to have my hair cut short. Breaking in a new stylist is hell for me. I have a good one but she was not available today. The other thing I really hate is in engaging in the discussion that happens when your hair is being cut. I seem to have a talent for finding hair stylists who manage to offend me in some way or another. Here are a few examples from just one salon:

1.     My regular stylist – all was going well until she told me she bred her pug and wanted to know if I wanted a puppy because she knows I am a dog lover. The woman has scissors to my hair so I really didn’t think it was appropriate to lecture her about breeding dogs and adding to the numbers of unwanted dogs in the world etc. Instead I tried to give her information to make sure that her dog and puppies were healthy. I also talked about the mammary cancer statistic and encouraged her to get the dog spayed.

2.     The stylist I had today decided it was important to tell me that she couldn’t drive as she lost her license. Guess why she lost her license? Driving under the influence of course. She then went on to tell me how her lawyer could have gotten her off but the laws had just changed. She then told me about her accident. Luckily she only killed a meridian and not a person. Then she was complaining about how she could have gotten her license back but she has to take a course and it will cost her $1000. She did assure me she learned her lesson.

Does anyone else have this problem? Or do you just ignore what your stylist has to say? How can I find one whose values might be in sync with mine? Or I am just being too picky?

Pet Peeves: Facial Hair

I decided to take a break from the political blogging for a moment and talk about something else. Like a lot of women, I have facial hair. I have a very distinct ‘moustache’ on my upper lip and due to polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) I have developed very dark coarse hair on my chin and below. One of the symptoms of PCOS is hirsutism. Some of the meds I have been on for years for PCOS have tamed some of the hair growth. The hair on my arms has thinned markedly and I have very little hair on my legs or under my arms as I stopped shaving years ago as it irritated my skin. It simply was not worth it. The hair on my legs is so fine and completely gone in some areas.

For the most part I have dealt with my facial hair mostly by plucking the heavier coarser ones and leaving the rest alone. It bothered me that it was there but not enough to really do something about it. I also thought having it removed would be outrageously expensive (I was wrong and more on that later). I had basically come to accept my facial hair as just part of life.

Fast-forward many years to December 2007. Yes, the year of the plague. I was put on whopping doses of prednisone to deal with my pyoderma gangrenosum and colitis. One of the major side effects of steroids is hair growth. My once manageable, albeit hirsute face, had suddenly gotten worse and I needed to find a solution. I did not want to start shaving, as I believed this would only make matters worse. I had read some blogs that indicated that laser hair removal was quite effective. We had a place in the local mall that did it so Deb picked me up a pamphlet. Yet still I hesitated.

I went to get my hair cut next door to this place last week. I decided to go in and I made an appointment for a consultation. I went today. I had the consultation and then a treatment. It will take probably 4 treatments at $85 each to get really good results. The tech said the pigment in my hair and my skin type made me an ideal person for laser hair removal – I am quite fair and the pigment is quite dark.

She started with the upper lip and I could smell the hair singing – which she said was a good sign. The pain was bearable but I would not be able to take much more so we decided I would get some Emla for the next treatment so she could increase the power of the laser. The area on my chin and underneath was fine. There were only a couple of sharp zaps and the rest it just seemed hot. My other big concern was how red my skin would be after the fact. I suffer enough with autoimmune induced facial rashes that I was not really into looking bad for several days. Right now, a couple of hours after treatment, there is no visible redness and it does not hurt at all.

I am a happy camper! I go back in a month for treatment number 2. In the meantime I intend to maintain my hair-free face with shaving.