New Hair Cut: Please Don't Look At Me Like That

This week I finally got my straight perm (2nd since I've been here) and my haircut. Before I show you my hair cut, I wanted to tell you my inspiration for it. I was walking around Tsutaya book store and I wandered over the magazine section. I looked to my right and BOOM the hair that I've been wanting to pull off suddenly appeared in the form of a magazine cover. Let me give you some background information before I continue on with my hair cut journey so that you can better understand my instant hesitation after picking up the magazine. I'm terrified of bangs. Ok, maybe terrified is too strong a word. Actually, I just haven't had bangs since I was like 9 years old. My mom and I never really liked how bangs looked on me, so I grew them out and never looked back. Truthfully, I never even thought of looking back until I saw the haircut.

Anyway, Utada was on the cover of the magazine and I really liked the haircut on her. I showed the magazine to Monica and I stood there waiting for her to turn the idea down. Yes, I fully intended to put that magazine right back down. Monica however said that I should take a picture of it and take it to the beauty salon with me. I thought "Oh crap, that's not the reaction I was waiting for". I thought about it and thought about it. I took a picture and thought about it some more. I kept trying to imagine what I would look like with bangs, but the image would just not come to me. Finally, I just bought the magazine and decided to go for it.

Ok, so maybe I didn't actually decide to go for it right away. I sent the picture to Matt, Kim, and Asha to see what their reactions would be. Kim was a complete "YES". Asha was a "Uhhh...I don't know". Matt didn't even reply back because he didn't want to tell me that he thought it might be a bad idea.

Then, I asked my parents. First I asked my dad. Instead of commenting on the hair, he commented on the pretty girl (Utada) on the cover. Once I got him to focus again, he said that I should do it. My mother however, was as scared of the bangs as I was.

Monday rolled around and I decided to finally go to the beauty salon. This is where I tell you the differences between my beauty salon here in Miyazaki to my beauty salon back home. In the salon here, not only do they have magazines to pass the time, but they also have mangas that we can read while waiting or getting our hair cut. Maybe that's why I see so many college kids with crazy anime/manga hair. Those host boys have to be influenced by something for their crazy hair. Maybe it's the manga they read at the beauty salon.

The next difference is that my beauty salon here has a variety of drinks that I can ask for free of charge while they are working on my hair. In my 3 1/2 hour process of straight perming and cutting my hair, I drank a cup of iced oolong tea and a cup of iced coffee.

Another thing that I like is that they put a blanket on your lap when they wash your hair. At least that's what they do in my super cool hair salon.

What's the best difference between my hair salon here compared to the one back home. I'm going to get a lot of flack for this, but I think that the boys that work in my hair salon here are much cooler. They tend to have cool hairstyles, cool hair and just an all around cool aura. Yes, I wrote cool 3 times in one sentence. That just shows their coolness factor that I'm hit with every time I walk into a salon here. Please don't curse me out. I'm just comparing my hair salons. I'm sorry if you are a super cool hair stylist boy in America. I don't mean to offend you. Maybe I should go to your hair salon when I return back home.

Moving on...here is my new hair cut.



As for my inspiration, you can find it at Utada Hikaru's website.

I have to admit that I was so scared when the hair stylist gave me bangs. When she took her scissors out, I told her how scared I was. My Japanese is horrible, but I think that at least I was able to relay that to her through my weird giggling and sudden movements every time I saw the scissors going to that area. All in all, I think it came out OK. It doesn't look as bad as I thought it would be, but it also doesn't look as good as it does on Utada. I think that once I grow out my bangs I will like it more or maybe I just have to get used to them.

Since I got it, I've had mixed reviews. Some people like it, including Matt who was the one who at first hesitated when I showed him the picture I took from the magazine. Other people don't like it so much, so they worked extra hard to think of a compliment. lol.
I'm ok with it, which is what matters. :)




Music currently Listening to: Utada "This One (Crying Life a Child)