by Wisaal of Wiscellaneous.com
It’s been a while since I checked in on my fro and that’s mostly because I’m trying to just let my hair be. My hair goals remain unchanged:
- health &
- length (and in that order)
So as my fro has been growing, it’s gone in all different directions and formed many shapes (depending on the day). I mean its BIG and most days I love it. But it began to feel more and more lopsided (for lack of a better word) and not-so-stylish. It was particularly evident when I wore my hair out (i.e. au naturel & free of clips, hair bands etc) which is how I prefer to wear it. Then I knew there was no hiding it.
All I really wanted was a bit of a “shaping” so that it had more of a style per se. Now, I have felt like this once before and I was dissuaded from letting scissors go near my hair, but this time it was time.
So I tried calling two hairdressers, one who did my big chop back in 2012 and another one I had been curious to try for a while. Both had left the salons where I had previously met them and moved to new ones. I called their respective new salons and they’d since left there too. My stalker tendencies led me to both of their cell numbers and they told me they were now freelancing and only did house calls.
*sigh*
Since it’d taken me so long to make a decision and reach this point, I didn’t want to wait any longer. I called a salon where I had a voucher for a treatment and asked if they had anyone who could do ethnic hair well. Two hours later, I was in the salon chair. The hairdresser was actually really lovely and listened as I laid out my case.
I left her with one message: Even things out and give me some shape. Most importantly, I do not want to lose any more length than I need to.
From the title of this post you already know that things went south. And as a matter of public service I’ve decided to collate in this single blog post everything that went wrong. Feel free to send this to your hairdresser ahead of your next appointment:
My fro that night at dinner (I went there straight from the salon).
I wasn’t really in the mood for a photo shoot but glad the hubby snapped this anyway. My hair was poofy. Every single one of my curls had been annihilated. I tried to hide behind the menu as much as I could. On the upside there wasn’t too much length taken off.
Ok, I feel better now that I’ve gotten it all out. Truth be told the cut/shaping itself was ok. Just ok. I wasn’t blown away but I didn’t leave in tears because she got scissor-happy (which was my worst fear). My shape looks better. She took off probably around 3-5cms, which is fine – I can have that back in 2-3 months easy! Also, I knew I could go home, do my thing and get my curls back in an instant which isn’t how I should be thinking as I’m sitting in the salon, but hey.
I must say that there were some positives – a comfy, oversized massage chair at the basin working some knots out of my back (which really, they most likely put there). I also liked that they put me under a steamer (I’m a major fan of steaming) for about 15-20 minutes with the treatment on my hair. Coffee/tea/water would have been nice.
I’m sure the hairdresser (did I mention she was lovely?) was as frustrated with me as I was with the situation except that I left the salon a couple of hundred bucks down. I really didn’t want to be that client telling her how to do her job but there was no other way. I was in damage control mode.
Anyway there really was just one lesson for the day…
Be kind to my hair!
Wisaal Anderson is a newbie natural living in Johannesburg, South Africa (Africa’s NYC!) She wore her hair relaxed for 14 years before she big chopped (after much deliberation) 2 years ago.Wisaal shares that she wholly underestimated how much work natural hair would be & is still learning the tips & tricks of what works & what doesn’t. Her only regret? Not going natural sooner! Keep up with Wisaal on Twitter: @Wisaal and Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Wiscellaneous
