Saturday, April 5, 2008

Of Hair and Highlights

Man, I have really got the blogging bug lately! I can't stop thinking about things I want to write about or post on here. This one is a tribute to hair and to my wonderful hairstylist, Kenzie Muir, who I am convinced is truly the best stylist in the greater Hartford area. Believe me, I've been through a few of them now, and nobody comes close to her.

If you've been reading my blog for awhile, you know I've been going through the winter beauty blahs. A major part of that has been my hair. Here's the problem with having blond hair: for most blondes, it doesn't stay the angelic, pretty white-blond shade of our youth. It turns progressively darker as we grow up. The warm summer sun helps lighten and brighten it up a lot (though never as light as it once was), but without intervention, the cold winters make it turn dark and limp, so that it's dark blond at best and a dull flat light brown at worst. (Don't get me wrong! Dark hair is very beautiful, just not so much when you're naturally blond.)

So anyway, this past week I finally got to go in for a long overdue hair appointment, and my winter beauty blahs have considerably lessened since then, and not just because it's now officially spring. Kenzie gave me really pretty highlights that brightened my hair and face up nicely. What a great difference they make. I should have gotten them done much sooner. From now on I'm going to make sure that I start each winter with a fresh set of highlights, and that should help me and my hair to look a lot better during the cold, dark months.

My freshly highlighted head. Yay!

Also, I finally took the plunge and got my hair cut shorter than I've had it since I was in about 5th or 6th grade. I know stylists have wanted me to do this for a long, long time because my hair is so fine, but I've been too scared. I was convinced that I didn't have the kind of face that could pull off short hair, plus I was kind of prejudiced about it. I've always thought longer hair is better. It's pretty, feminine, and classic, while short hair is cute, practical, and more trendy.

But Kenzie explained how shorter hair would be perfect for me, and so I said, in effect, "Okay, do it." I was willing to go for it partly because it couldn't be much worse than the way my hair was looking anyway. I totally trust this girl, and she didn't let me down. She gave me a really great haircut and I adore it! I've been surprised at how much I like it, given my years-long opposition to having short hair. Thank you Kenzie!! It's not severely short, just about two inches above my shoulders. My hair now looks so much better and healthier, and I wish I'd done this a long time ago. It would have saved me from a lot of pain, suffering, and wasted money!

It feels good to be blonder again.
My new short hair... In the interest of full disclosure, it was a lot easier to go short because I have a security blanket. Whenever I want longer hair back, I can have it instantly by clipping in some extensions that Kenzie got for me a few months ago. I've been wearing them off and on for months and they're awesome! They give me the hair that Mother Nature didn't. So now I can enjoy the benefits of both long and short hair, depending on my mood, or how much time I have in the morning, or whatever. Voila! In some cases you really can have your cake and eat it too!