It grows back doesn't it?

It sucks that you don't know how bad your hair will look until the next day.

And yes, it did go poof in the middle of the night!

I was concerned that the young little thing didn't have a clue what I was talking about... and I was right to be concerned. What a hatchet job.

I was going for a 1950's style and getting close to it... now I have down-right boring interpretation by a 20-something fool.

So this all grows back doesn't it? That's the great thing about hair it grows back... it will take ages though :-(

Should I wait up for the poof?

Got my hair done today. But not by my favourite hair stylist.

When I called to book the appointment, they said he left the salon. I asked where he went, but they wouldn't tell me, and since I needed a cut, I went with someone new - Whitney... just as long as she didn't sing, I was ok with that. Boy do I know when she was born and who her parent's favourite singer was! Poor kid.

Whilst I was on hold and they were figuring out what to say to me about my old hairdresser I heard a really silly add. It was for a new product of theirs. It's a frizz control that lasts 12 hours. All I could think was "What happens at hour 12? Is there a popping noise, and your hair puffs out in a huge ball of fur?"

So when the new hair stylist said "Can I use this on your hair, have you ever tried it?" and she pulled out the frizz control stuff I started laughing.

I don't have frizzy hair, but it's their new product to push, and I don't typically have allergic reactions to the Aveda products, so I said sure, why not.

But now I have a dilemma. I would like to see the 12th hour poof, but it was put into my hair at 1pm, so that means I would have to stay up until 1am to see this miracle of hair productus poofius.

So is it funny enough to stay up that late... hmmm.

Update: Didn't stay up... didn't have to... around 1am my spouse actually reported a popping sound... when I woke up, the morning was extreme on the poof, it took much shampooing to get it to stay down! Quite the science lab hijinks on my hair!

Is this a "wrinkly reunion"?

This could be one of those "you are getting old" indicators!

I've just had a visit to an optometrist, my regular one was out of the country, so I saw his partner optometrist. She's about my age. Actually, she's exactly my age.

I noticed something that looked very familiar on her office wall. It's a bachelor's degree from the University of Alberta. I have one of those too! Looking closer (drops in the eyes to dilate the pupils make it hard to see, I'm not loosing it that quickly) she got her degree in 1989... me too!

This by itself doesn't mean we're getting older, but the fact that immediately before this we were having a discussion about hair dressing appointments and how important they were, particularly for colouring over the grey hairs... oh dear.

It's actually quite cool to run into someone with the same background. We have a lot in common. We even have the same glass frames - something you notice in an optometrist's office. But the ensuing discussion of "I can't believe it's been almost 25 years since I graduated from high school" was a bit of a stumble.

Oh dear, we are getting old. I think this was my first "wrinkly reunion". This is when people of the same age get together and discuss the indicators of the onset of age that they are experiencing... and everyone else is experiencing them too!

Does this make me a Cougar?

One of the "hottest" new things seems to be dating services that match up older women (35 and up) with younger men (in their 20s). These women are called "cougars" in the local vernacular. One of the most prominent dating services actually has "cougar" in the name.

It's not meant as an offensive term, but some women seem to find the term "cougar" offensive. I just don't get that. Being called a strong, mature woman who knows what she wants and is willing to go out and get it herself is what I would consider the ultimate compliment.

I'm not single, and I'm not looking for younger men to date... my question stems from the fact that I have recently changed hair stylist, and my new stylist is only 25 and male. This is new for me.

I had to leave my old hairstylist because she was having a mid-life crisis and I couldn't deal with her mood swings anymore. She's 35, recently divorced, and has decided "trashy and stupid" is her sweet-spot for attracting new males. And the men she is attracting are what I would consider "pond scum". It strains the discussion when you frequently want to slap some sense into the woman, and it does nothing good for your hairstyle.

So I'm enjoying having this 25 year old male hairstylist. His life isn't complicated. There is no deep trauma going on anywhere. He's finding it weird that he feels like cleaning his apartment when his roommate is gone for the day and he has the place to himself. He finds it annoying that he has adult-type decisions to make now, and his parents won't give him the answers. It's such a refreshingly uncomplicated existence to hear about.

Does this mean I'm being a cougar? I'm enjoying this non-romantic type contact with a young male. It's not the dating thing, but it's nice.

But how do they practice conversation?

Hair stylists are always fun because they have such interesting ways of looking at the world, and they share their ideas constantly with their customers as part of their business. 

So when I was in the hair dressers yesterday I was wondering why the hair stylist and client a couple of seats down from me were so quiet. As I subtly looked over to see what was up, I realized the client was only a head! It was a dummy head propped up on a stick at the height a client would be in the chair. The stylist was applying highlights to the hair with colour and foils.

I am trying out a new place to get my hair done (got bored of the same old style, grew hair out, needs some definite help on the style aspect now) and I decided to try the Aveda Academy Salon since it's about a block from where I live. I've never had my hair done in a school before. It's interesting, in a desperately ordinary way. 

I'm used to flagrantly individualistic people as hair stylists, and I don't think anyone was relaxed enough to be an oddball there. I do wonder if they've missed the point of hair stylists. Doing hair quietly without some really off-the-wall conversations just seems a bit dull. Shouldn't they be practicing conversation as well as cutting and colouring?

The good news is, I do like the style I had done yesterday, so I will likely go back, I just won't expect to be entertained.

When you display a Mohawk hair style what do you do for a living?

Beyond spending a great deal of time putting various products in your hair to keep it standing straight up, what do you do for a living when you have a Mohawk? Mothers everywhere ask their children this when they come home with the shave-the-sides to leave a broom-on-the-head, stripe-up-the-middle, colourful-blue-bristles-from-the-brows-to-the-top-of-the-backbone hair display. But there ARE adults who proudly display their skulls with this Mohawk stripe to the world. So what do they do for a living? They can't all be in punk bands.

Last night we got a clue to this mystery.

The construction workers working on the outside of our building have been filling a dumpster outside our building with their debris. This dumpster was taken away and replaced by an empty one last night.

A yellow truck with an empty dumpster pulled into the alley. Carefully, but not so quietly, the empty dumpster was dumped in the middle of the alley – an argument may have started between someone trying to drive a car down the alley, but the driver who got out of the truck sported the ever-feared tuft-on-top Mohawk and car drivers found another route to take for the next half hour. The noise caught our attention so we watched the event.

The truck driver skillfully backed the truck up to the filled dumpster, with the truck bed angled up at about 45 degrees, and got out to prepare the dumpster. He jumped into the dumpster to flatten down and rearrange the contents, then he jumped out and got out a cover for the dumpster. After tightening the cover, he hooked the winch on the truck bed to the dumpster. Getting back into the truck cab he drove ahead a few meters, dragging the dumpster behind – yes, you can see the mark on the pavement from this, but there are other older marks, so what's one more. He then jumped out of the truck and unhooked the dumpster. He jumped back into the truck and skillfully angled it to the front of the empty dumpster. He then even more skillfully positioned the empty dumpster into the place where the full dumpster had been – in one shot – he got out to check the placement, and it was spot on, so he unhooked the dumpster. He then jumped back in the truck and angled it in front of the full dumpster, jumped out, hooked the full dumpster and then loaded it up onto the truck bed which lowered from the 45 degrees to a flat surface. After securing the load, he jumped in the truck and drove off. It had been a masterful performance of skill and choreography.

So that's what you do when you display attitude and defiance of societal norms. You aren't an average construction worker who spends all day going up and down the sides of buildings drilling and making noise while talking about the sports you played on the weekend. You are a lone worker who dances through your work with skill and style, and an attitude that makes others leave you alone to do your job. Gee Mom, I think he wins!

Am I getting older because my hair stylist works mornings?

My hair stylist is younger than me, and more artistic, and has great ideas for hair styles that suite her customers wonderfully, and she's recently decided that being a responsible professional who works hard on her business is a good idea.

What happened to the artistic until it hurts, party all night, get up and start work at 1pm (if they have to start so early) hair stylists? That's what I've been used to since I was a teenager... many eons ago... but now I'm dealing with serious professionals? The shop that my hair stylist rents a chair in opens at 9am and is busy at opening! All of the stylists are professionals with their own businesses who rent a chair in this salon. And they're all serious professionals!

I've followed Wendy, my hair stylist, around from salon to salon for several years now. In the beginning, she was the party-hardy typical hair stylist I was used to. Now she's older and wiser, and works mornings! Does this mean that I'm getting older too?

I am drawn to hair stylists who love their work and get great satisfaction from it. I've always envied the lifestyle of a hair stylist. Artistic and care-free. Now Wendy's not living that lifestyle either. If she's gotten older, does that mean I have too? Urgh!

Have you washed your light bulbs yet?

April is the month when you should wash all of your light bulbs – according to Martha Stewart.

While sitting in my hair stylist's chair last week I was flipping through a Martha Stewart Living magazine and found the list of what should be done in April. Along with the light bulbs, you should wash around the windows and the window coverings, air out the duvet and prepare it for storage, and bake some cupcakes.

This is the part of the Living magazine that I really love. Not that I'm going to jump up and wash those windows right now, but it would be a good time to clear away the winter blues by preparing for spring, and get some welcome fresh air into the place. That's the wonderful thing about Martha Stewart, no one could possibly do all of the things she recommends, but she always has suggestions that sound like really good ideas. Now that's something to aim for.

Does hair grow faster when your hair stylist is on vacation?

So you're going along fine, your hair may be needing some attention in the near future, and then wham! You decide to book an appointment with your hair stylist, and she's on vacation!

From that fateful moment on, your hair goes wild.

Your locks that were not too bad - a bit unruly but manageable with some effort - now become a lion's mane of tangles, and you roar like a lion when your brush gets stuck in a mass of hair that really needs to be brushed but is too long and unruly to tame.

Is it just a matter of perception? Has the decision to get your hair done biased you towards watching it grow, as your hair stylist sips fruity drinks on a beach somewhere? Does it become an obsession, making you think about it constantly, making it seem longer than it is? Or does the hair actually get stimulation from you thinking about it? Does this stimulation encourage more hair growth?

After many years of hair maintenance, and many hair stylists, I think hair does grow faster when your hair stylist is on vacation.