A haircut

Hmm.. What's going on recently? I had my hair cut yesterday. It was getting so long and lionesslike. It curls something dreadful in this humidity and pops out all over my head. Putting it in a ponytail doesn't really tame it, just makes stray locks spring out everywhere. So I had the lady I go to cut it down and thin it out and now it still pops out everywhere but the volume is less.

When I was a child I had long straight hair. It was a mousy brown and just hung or tangled. I know this is true because of past childhood pictures and also because my mother saved a childhood ponytail in a shoebox that I came across when cleaning her closets last summer.

Yikes!!! What is this?!!! A dead squirrel in a box?

Nope... my ponytail, still in its rubber band and wrapped in tissue. I threw that away pretty fast! But it WAS interesting to see how straight it used to be and the lighter color.

Every summer my mother comments about my dark, curly hair.

"What do you eat, Tani, that makes your hair turn black? Is it all the seaweed?"

Well, I eat seaweed but not in amounts that would affect hair I'm sure. And of course nowadays my hair is turning from black to gray... Not such a welcome change I'm afraid. The curl I know is from the Japanese humidity...

The lady that cuts my hair has a small shop off the side of her house behind a forest. She seems to get only grandmas and me. She really likes cutting my hair because she says it has a different feel from Japanese hair... I always wonder if she'd rather not have my business because before she cuts it she runs her fingers through it and says

"Such lovely soft curls... It is a shame to cut it."

Well, it will grow back!

And after she cuts my hair she splashes Sea Breeze on my scalp to give it a zing and then bounces her fingers and hands on my head for a massage... (Which I could really do without but most Japanese beauticians and barbers do this.)

I am ready for the summer. A slightly cooler look. Whether it is flattering or not, I don't know!