I have always been a little too carefree about my hair. I coloured it twice, got it bleached once (which kind of ruined the ends of my hair for a year) and was looking to get a new haircut every three months! My ideology behind this – if not now, then when? I don’t want to turn fifty and then start experimenting with my hair. I want to do it now! Now, when I can afford to look silly and I know my hair will grow back in no time.
Ever since I got my hair coloured red, the tips of my hair strands looked ghastly and I had terrible split ends. Every time I went to the parlour, they’d suggest trimming it every 10-15 days in order to get rid of the bad part of the hair. Soon after, I moved to Mumbai for college, and visiting a good salon every 10-15 days with a student budget was a bad idea. So, one day, when my patience and money, both ran out, I thought why not have two of my friends simply chop off all those split ends. One of them had recently cut her own bangs, so she was game, even though she had never cut someone else’s hair. The other one thought I was crazy enough to allow was for an amateur to cut my hair at home.
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Anyhow, amidst jokes and crazy ideas, we reached my friend’s place where we were supposed to put the plan into action. Since we had nothing on hand other than a pair of scissors, we had to improvise a bit. I bent my head and let my hair down as one of them poured water on it because we didn’t have one of those water spray things they use at salons. Then, we combed through my hair to make it tangle-free. Next, we covered the entire floor (which wasn’t much, since we were at a studio apartment in Mumbai) with newspapers and switched the fan off.
First, we tried cutting while I was sitting down, but that didn’t work because we only had one plastic chair and my friends had to sit on the floor in order to cut my hair. So, I had to stand for around forty minutes while both of them struggled to make my hair look presentable.
Every once in a while, in the middle of my haircut, I’d get a mini heart-attack every time one of them said “Oh crap!” or “Oh no!” or even if they simply laughed about something that I had no idea about. But mostly, I was okay with whatever they were doing. I like to think of it as a leap of faith on my part.
Also read: #BeautyDiaries: Why I Finally Decided To Cut Off My Long Hair…
A leap of faith that paid off, if I may add. I mean, my hair was shorter than I expected, and in some places it had a few rough edges. In fact, the next time I visited the parlour, I was told that my previous haircut was too uneven, and that I really needed to care about the way my hair is styled in order to “bring out the shape of my face.” But honestly, I think it is one experience I’ll always cherish. By the end of it, we were sweaty, hungry, exhausted, and cleaning it all up was quite a task. But this, by far, was the most satisfying haircut of my life.