Sure as shooting, every six months or so, I get the urge to somehow change my appearance. It’s a girly thing. (It never really works but I keep trying!)
Sometimes it’s satisfied with a trip to Ulta or Sephora and a small purchase of lipstick or nail polish.
Sometimes it requires bling.
This time we are focusing on my ‘do. I envy people who wear the same hairstyle year after year. They go to the stylist every 4 to 6 weeks for the same cut. Easy peasy.
Doesn’t work for me.
I have the stylist try different things (but I always look the same). Sometimes my hair is longer or shorter but let’s face it. Unless I am willing to spend a lot of time with appliances and wrist twirling, my hair does what it was born to do.
I’ve been happy with my hair for a while which is wildly unusual. However, my last haircut didn’t work so well. It’s too short. I don’t know what happened. Perhaps the chattering distracted my stylist (I really need to find a zen salon!). They have bad days too but I would prefer they have those on someone else’s appointment day.
Communication is very important. My idea of a ¼ inch and their idea may be off by an inch or more. It’s always helpful to use the right lingo. Trim, cut, shape up – to me they mean different things. I can’t depend on words like that. My last haircut was a trim (which I think implies very little taken off) and it was a “BIG” trim (with puddles of hair on the floor).
Jennifer Lawrence’s ‘do’ has been on my mind for a while. I couldn’t do the whole cut because I can’t wear my back hair that short or my cowlicks would run amuck. (Believe me you don’t want to see that!) I could go for a longer style in the front that doesn’t look like the standard older woman haircut.
As always, I turned to Mr. Google. I spent several hours researching hairdos that I think would work with my face shape and texture. (This usually eliminates everything I love.)
Then I spent a couple of hours listening to YouTube on how to cut for those styles.
I know terms like a weight line, over directing, removing weight, point cutting, angles and the importance of where your elbow is aimed. I even know the bones in the head. (Part at the occipital bone….)
I could cut someone’s hair in the J-Law (that’s what they call her!) style.
(Yes, I know she no longer wears that pixie-ish cut but it will always be named after her.)
The good news is that I need at least another six weeks to grow out my last cut so there is plenty of time to dream, research, and structure my directions before my next appointment.
Of course I will look the same to everyone else but I will have super long bangs.
If all else fails, I’ll go back to my old standby Meg Ryan.
My idol!
Views and Mews by Coffee Kat 
I would like to visit a real stylist who could pick the most flattering cut for me. Instead, I go the stylist and the person asks me! Do I look like a stylist – with this haircut?
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When I was younger (and cared a lot more) I would seek out stylists who had hair similar to mine and whose cuts l liked. Now those people are retired so I work with stylists who don’t always get my cranky old hair. My hair doesn’t like season changes either.
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I adore Meg Ryan’s haircut and have aimed for that look quite a few times. But what I really want is a wash-and-wear style. One that’s no-fuss, no-muss and fabulous, Is that too much to ask for?
Kate, I hope you find a style you love. 😉
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It is not too much to ask for. I ask for it every time I go to the hairdresser. I think that’s how I got my hair so short this last round. I just love that Ryan look. Ten years ago I wore my hair like that and it wasn’t a lot of work because my hair was fuller and wavy. Now it’s not that thick anymore and takes work. This is the sad part of aging along with those damn wrinkles.
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I’m so glad I finally got around to reading this column. I was feeling like the Lone Ranger – the only person in the world who has difficulty communicating my needs and wants to a hairdresser. The last time I was in the chair (January) I specifically told her not to cut the crown and showed her exactly what not to cut. She did it anyway. My hair was so short and it was darn cold. I went home and crocheted some hats to get me thru the winter. I wrote her a note and told her why I wouldn’t return. I have gone back to trimming my own hair and am letting it grow out into a chin length pageboy. At least I hope I am. I’ve gotten many compliments on the new length so I guess it’s OK. I am also tucking away all the money I’m saving on haircuts so I can buy more Christmas goodies for granddaughters.
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I hear your pain. I had great haircuts all summer so I am not sure what happened. There are some mitigating factors like the drop in humidity which works for my hair but those are seasonal changes. I am chalking it up to a bad day. I had to trim some parts that were way too long for other parts. I can cut hair. I learned from my mother. What I can’t do is cut my own back. I will wait until December and decide then what I want to do.
If you are getting compliments on your hair, I say keep on cutting it yourself!
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I love Meg Ryan’s hair and length. Length is very important to me. Too long and it irritates me and I start wearing it up or in a ponytail, too short and I look like someone whose face exploded (I have a large round head).
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Meg Ryan’s hair is perfect to me. However, it’s getting harder for me to wear my hair that long. Just a tad shorter but definitely not short! I need weight to pull down the cowlicks that make their home on my scalp.
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I yearn for some curl or wave. I was happy with my straight hair for about two years (in high school when the “surfer girl” look was in), but that’s it. Now, it’s not only straight and fine, but it’s thinning too. Oh joy! It’s probably time for me to check out wigs.
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I remember wigs from the 70s. Hot and uncomfortable. Hopefully they are easier to wear today. With straight hair you can wear all those easy bob styles!
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I do the same thing with trying to change it up occasionally, Kate. I even started a Pinterest board with photos that I keep trying. I don’t always do the best job in translating to my stylist but he is very patient with me. I hadn’t hear J-Law. That’s just hilarious to me! I could wear my hair that short if I had J-Laws flawless skin and gorgeous, youthful appearance. Now I like to hide behind a little more hair. The shock isn’t quite as intense when I take that first look in the morning mirror!
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I like the length of the hair in your picture. That is a safe length for me. I just need to get the top part coming front without looking like a mophead beatle from the 60s.
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Wow! That is a lot of research to find a new hairstyle. I usually buy a few magazines and browse through them. I put sticky notes on the styles I like. When I bring it to the stylist, she tells me which ones will work with my hair and which don’t.
Can’t wait to see what you decide on!
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Sometimes I do that but the styles in magazines are always extreme. Even with this short one, I can’t wear my hair in the back like that. (Of course it would help if I was young and beautiful too.) Since my hair naturally falls front, I could wear a longer style on top with a longer back style. Men have it so easy.
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When I was little, I always wanted long hair but my mother thought my sister and I looked cuter with the pixie cut. I remember running from her when it was time for a haircut. 🙂
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Except for a few excursions into the unknown, I had long hair until my mid to late 50s. My hair texture (partially caused by the cancer drugs I was on at the time and partially natural aging) became dry and brittle and I had to “shorten up.” I was fortunate that my mother let me wear my hair however I wanted. No super short bangs for me ever or bowl cuts. It was mostly pony tails or occasionally braids.
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Funny you should mention bad haircuts since mine resembles a potato chip bowl. As Camille said, “luckily it’s just hair…it will grow back. It’s not like getting your nose fixed.”
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How does it happen that someone who routinely cuts your hair, goes berserk? I would be terrified to get a nose job. A bad day there could change the rest of your life! (Just ask Michael Jackson!)
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I hear ‘ya sister. Curly hair is a challenge. Half the world wants me to straighten it, the other half of the world praises me for letting it go curly. And me? I just want a well-balance cut that doesn’t make me look like Miss Piggy in a Bozo the Clown wig. Is that so much to ask for?
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Not at all. I am in the half that praises you for letting it go. I just love curly hair.
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Thanks. Me too.
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I can’t count the times I didn’t go home and cry after a hair cut. There were no times. 😦
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I have become more philosophical as I got older. I just say, “it’ll grow” although this last cut was way, way too short. I have spent too much time trying to make it work. I feel your pain.
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I have found the “good” shops do no better than the “no appt needed” ones.
I just wait until a reduced coupon comes in the mail. My husband always says it looks nice, so why should I care. 🙂
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I know but we do. You are right about the cost. Paying a lot doesn’t guarantee anything.
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I understand the whole change thing. My problem is that I get a stylist and after a few cuts, they move!
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I lost one of my favs when I moved and another one when he died. It does take a few cuts to get the gist of what I can’t do which is a lot. Wavy, cowlicky hair is never easy and I can’t wear it short. That lesson keeps getting relearned with different stylists who think it can.
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For me, the key to a good cut ~> no fuss, no muss. I want to be able to get out of bed, shake my head, and have everything settle into place for the day.
Like Meg in picture #2.
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I would kill for hair like Meg without any upkeep of course. My summer do was exactly what you like, curls just plopped wherever and all was good with the world. Now they are doing wing dings. Humidity is really good for my hair.
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