The Mane Event: The Sequel (a/k/a New 'Do II)

Hey all! Another interesting week is in the record books.

I do wish I had more time to write; life is moving so fast these days. Once I'm in my own bachelorette pad again, I should have more time. In the meantime, rest assured that I am taking car to assemble the essentials needed for the modern girl needs. (You know: shag carpet, Playgirl swizzle sticks, and so on and so forth.)

Anyway, I thought I'd write a bit about my second trip to the salon. Turned out to be another very positive experience, I'm happy to report.

 It had only been a month, but I badly needed a new cut. T, my stylist, wasn't totally sure how to handle it during my first visit, which isn't surprising. Curly hair is notoriously difficult to deal with. She decided the first order of business was to weed out a lot of the weight, as she put it, especially on top and on the sides. Then we would see where we were in another month. It would be a work in progress, which made sense.

It turned out she was right. After three weeks, it was in dire need of another de-weeding, to put it mildly. :c) As my sister texted me en route to the salon, in her own unvarnished opinion: "Lose the dead weight up there, and remember: layers, layers, layers!" :c)

As soon as I walked in, T spotted me. After a big hug (as I've mentioned, she is a sweetheart), she held me at arm's length and said, "Wow! You weren't kidding when you said your hair grew fast! What the hell?!?!" lol

She convinced me to bring up the length a bit all around, which I was leery of doing. But she said I need to do it so it will grow in uniformly as it gets longer. My sister affirmed this later. She said it sounds counterintuitive, but cutting it shorter will make it look better and grow faster in  the future. Who knew?

The only thing I asked was that she cut it so it's curly again. Turns out the last time she cut it all one length, which is why it had looked a bit off to me. But as T had said, it's a work in progress.

To be perfectly honest, I did *not* like it when I washed it Friday. I was in a down mood that day anyway, which may have contributed to my impression of it.

But by yesterday, it looked much better. In fact, when I saw my therapist, M, yesterday, the first thing she said when we sat down was how much she loved my new haircut. That was nice to hear. So we're getting there. Now, the trick is to let it start to *really* grow out. I'm pretty excited! This will be fun.

***

However, the new haircut wasn't the best thing about my visit.

At the end of my first visit, T had asked me if it was OK for her to tell the other stylists about me. I said sure, and then promptly forgot all about it.

I showed up on Thursday in boy mode, as I'd come right from work. T was running late when I got there, so I had about a 20 minute wait. I was the last client for the night, so I was chatting with the other two stylists while T finished with her previous client.

After a few minutes I took off my glasses to clean them, and one of them sat bolt upright.

"Oh, my God - you're Cassidy, aren't you?!?"

Needless to say, I was taken by surprise. I said, yes, I was, and asked her how she knew.

"Because you look *totally* different without your glasses! That is amazing!"

The other stylist agreed. They said when I take them off, the whole shape of my face changes.

I mentioned that several other people had told me the same thing recently, although I wasn't really sure what the difference was. They immediately said the same thing: my eyes. Taking off the glasses makes them stand out, apparently.

"OK, you totally need to wear contacts! Like, now!" one of them said. I asked if they'd talked to my friends who had said the same thing, and they laughed and said I should listen to what everyone was saying.

They also told me I need to get my eyebrows shaped - "because those caterpillars have GOT to go," as they put it. lol

I explained the craziness of my living arrangements the past six-plus months, but said as soon as I was settled in my own place that working on my eyebrows was way up on my To Do list.

When I told them that, they said that not only did the salon offer it, they basically told me I *had* to let them do it. (Gradually, needless to say, as I'll still be in boy mode at work.) I told them I'd love that - twist my arm, right? :c)

When I was leaving after T finished, they asked me to wait for a moment. The three of them huddled for a minute, and then they told me they wanted to give me the first session on the house the next time I came in. As I left, they were mock-arguing about who would get to do it, in fact. :c)

I was, as you can imagine, a very happy camper on my ride home. As a friend noted afterwards, it was great because they accept me for who I am, no questions asked. We need experiences like this; transitioning is *so* hard and challenging in so many ways. But moments like that are the reward; they make all of the sacrifices and hard work worth it. And they give a glimpse into what is ahead.

If I can, I hope to squeeze in another post during the week. A few other things happened that I would like to write about. Have a good week in the meantime!

***

This song has nothing to do with my haircut; I just love it. :c) 

I posted this clip on a friend's blog this week. John Hiatt is a longtime favorite of mine. He's made a number of superb albums (among others, he wrote "Thing Called Love," which Bonnie Raitt had a hit with), and is rightly considered a "songwriter's songwriter."

Here's a personal favorite of mine, from his 2005 album Master of Disaster. It's a typically excellent album, but this track really stands out:

He's also a riveting live performer. Check out this moving live version of the same song for proof:

It's fascinating how a different arrangement will bring out different aspects of a song - in this instance to the melancholy and heartache in the lyrics. An amazing, amazing artist...