Jan
21
January 21, 2007
My hair has reached the stage where it’s been far too long since the last cut, and no amount of blowdrying, flatironing, goopy serums, and fervent prayer can corral the mess into something attractive. It’s heavy, it’s frizzy, it’s both lank and flyaway at the same time, and if there were some sort of Split End Olympics, well, then I couldn’t be typing to you now, as my entire body would be weighted down by my many, many gold medallions.
So I was really looking forward to getting a haircut on Saturday. That was going to be the zenith of my weekend, the sole activity that involved neither child nor husband nor vacuum cleaner, and I was ridiculously thrilled about it, right up until the moment when the uptight girl behind the salon counter told me my appointment was cancelled.
It was my own fault, according to Ms. Customer Service, who rolled her eyes and did something unpleasant with her mouth that involved pulling her lips away from the surface of her teeth, probably in order to keep the half-inch layer of gloss intact while she deigned to speak to me. I was eight minutes late, and they operated a tight schedule. Sorry.
I am the last person on earth to pitch a public fit but I honestly felt like draping myself across the counter and either choking the bitch with her phone cord, or weeping with disappointment. Eight minutes, jesus.
My regular stylist isn’t even there anymore, but I figured I’d try someone new because the location is normally convenient, being right by my office. Unfortunately, it’s also in the middle of a stupidly busy mall, which was the reason for my unpardonable delay — I was circling the parking lot, dodging strollers and gaggles of Abercrombie-clad shoppers.
I’ll note that if the front desk girl had been even halfway decent about it, I would have chalked it up to bad luck, made a new appointment and planned to arrive at least 30 minutes early next time. But she wasn’t, she gave me sand-in-the-vaginattitude, so screw it, Headlines Salon. Nice job driving away a loyal sucker who repeatedly paid through the nose for cuts and color and bought product on every single visit.
Uh, so anyway, this was one long boring windup to asking those of you who live around here if you maybe have any recommendations for a hair salon? Because I’m about to attack my own head with a Flowbee.
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Attention film geeks: my friend Scott wants you to know about the Stockstock Film Festival. Stockstock is a cool idea, basically you use existing stock footage to create your own 2-minute digital film. It seems like a fun challenge, especially if you’re into editing. Check it out.
And while I’m poking around Scott’s site, look at what a ridiculously good-looking trifecta Scott, his wife, and their daughter make. Seriously. Also, who are these jackasses? And why didn’t anyone tell me I needed to powder, like, my entire head?
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Those of you who suggested Regina Spektor when I asked for new-music ideas, thank you, thank you, thank you. I bought Begin to Hope and it’s currently on constant play in my car. I’m particularly fond of her voice on these lyrics from “That Time”:
Hey remember that time when I would only smoke Parliaments
Hey remember that time when I would only smoke Marlboros
Hey remember that time when I would only smoke Camels
“Paaaaaaarliaments” and “Maaaaaaaaalboros”, man. So great.
I don’t remember who recommended DeVotchKa, but for some reason I got exactly one of their songs, “How It Ends”, and if you don’t already own it I suggest you go download it right this minute because it is a hair-tinglingly, eye-wellingly beautiful tune that you will want to sing along with in a dramatic style that requires you to point your face at the sky and sweep one arm outward, unless you’re driving, in which case you’ll need to grip both hands on the steering wheel and crumple your forehead while bending the inner corners of your eyebrows up and forming your mouth into a wolf-howl O shape. I’m just saying, it’s that good.
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My husband will kill me for admitting this in “public”, but he uses a Flowbee on his mug. And it turns out great!! So, I say go for it! :)
Having done a quick dsearch, I am reasonably sure that Meghan has not beat me to the punch on recommending the Best Stylist in the World: Ms. Ida McClure at Spex on 6th & Stewart. Ida has been wrangling Meghan and my hair for years now and not only is she great at it, but she listens to you and is conservative (unless you tell her not to be) with the amount she takes off. She is also a supergenius with color. Seriously, the woman can work it.
Haircuts are $54 (I believe, I always end up tipping her so ridiculously that I can’t remember what the “base price” is) and color ranges depending on what you have done. Look it up! Spex! Ida!
I always go to Dina at the Bellevue Gene Juarez. She’s really nice and patient and she does what I ask and just generally looks out for me.
I love that Regina Spektor CD. I got it (the actually CD not a download weird) for my wedding. I was so obsessed that I listened to it in the car for the next 3 months (almost exclusively, with NPR breaks). I am a big dork.
since i live in nyc, i cant quite help wih the hair stylist problem. but i feel your pain. talk about no customer service. gah.
as for the music, regina spektor is fabulous. they seem to use her music on ‘greys anatomy’ all the time. some others to try out, because nothing makes a bad hair day a good day like awesome music:
– mat kearney: kinda jack johnson ish, with some occasional spoken-rap-like-bits. hard to explain, but give him a listen.
– damien rice: hes edgy acoustic, in a weird sort of way. i adore his music and he can be quite chill. hes not always so light on the profanity, but its an odd juxtaposition because hes usually swearing in a softer voice over an acoustic guitar, which some how makes it not seem like hes not swearing at all…
– gary jules: moody acousticness
– alexi murdoch: acoustic guitar. nice voice. good lyrics. what could be bad about that?
– i actually totally recommend searching “grey’s anatomy” in imixes. if you watch the show, they list all of the music they play throughout the show on their website and then people make imixes of them from that. totally worth checking out. a lot of their music has this kinda vibe.
– the oc soundtrack volume 6 also came out in december with some fabulous stuff. totally cheesy show, but fabulous music. im sad theyre cancelling it, because the music was awesome. feh.
– and YOU LUCKY DUCK, you live in the seattle area where you can get kexp 90.3fm right on your radio. i listen to it online all the time. fabulous stuff….
Ha! Yes! We love Ida @ Spex. zthey send me Christmas cards, and are soo nice (I’m chronically late, as Sarah can tell you). But it looks like you had success w/ Obadiah. It’s a beautiful cut, Linda – and if you don’t get used to the short, it’ll grow out in no time.
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