It's Only Hair

Gardner is gone this weekend at a work weekend in Essen. It isn't far, but he doesn't come home either. And while he is gone, I went and got my hair cut.

So this is what I looked like when he left. This picture was taken on Hannah's birthday the end of February. My hair was long and I hated it. My hair is very thin and long just made it worse. But I never took the time to go get out and get it cut.




And this is what Gardner is coming home to. I know this next picture isn't very good. I tried taking it in the mirror in the bathroom. But we have no windows and half the light bulbs were out. And the flash bounces in the mirror.

So now I get to talk about the Salon and the differences I noticed while there versus in America.

The first thing I noticed when I walked in the door was the cigarette smoke smell and noticed the ash trays on the counters where everyone gets their hair cut. There were two hair stylists there and they were busy with other customers. They greeted me but didn't move from what they were doing. Then someone else came over to me and asked me if I wanted a coffee or a coke. Now that would never happen in America.

After waiting about half an hour, it was my turn. I told the stylist what I wanted done to my hair. (cut shorter with layers) She couldn't believe how much I was asking to cut off. But then sent me over to have my hair washed. After my hair was washed, she asked me again if I wanted my hair cut so much. And my answer was the same. Yes.

So, then she had her co-worker come over. As she cut my hair, she gave her co-worker my long hair that she cut off. In America, I would of donated my hair to "wigs for kids" or a similar place. Here, they don't do that. Instead, they wanted to keep my hair for experiments. An example she told me that I understood was like coloring hair.

This co-workers jobs were kind of interesting. She stood by and handed the stylist the hair spray, the blow dryer, did the washing, the sweeping afterwards. I thought it was strange that she handed everything to the stylist.

The thing that was the biggest shocker was how expensive a hair cut here was. My total was 42 Euros. Then I tipped another 5 Euros before I left. And on top of that, I paid my daughter 4 Euros for babysitting. That was an expensive 2 hours away.

Now I wonder what Gardner will say when he comes home tomorrow.