I have never been to a hairdresser.
In fact, I’ve been wearing my hair the same way (a single plait) for well over half my life. After I married I started coiling the plait into a bun, but that’s about it. And now I’m thinking it might be time for a change.
Being a very low-maintenance kind of person – my ‘beauty routine’ consists almost entirely of beauty sleep – I’m tempted to go short. Short enough that it can’t get into my mouth. (And people ask me why I don’t wear my hip-length hair loose…)
But here’s the problem: I have no idea what my hair will look like cut short. The last time I had short hair, I was eight and it was straight – it didn’t go curly til I was in my early teens. That’s why I grew it long, so the weight of hair would keep it pulled out straight(ish). But it’s definitely curly in there: since I started coiling my plait into a bun, I’ve developed vintagey waves on the sides of my head.
There are online ‘virtual makeover’ sites, but short curly brunette styles are seemingly nonexistent. I tried digital doodling on photos of me (results not encouraging, possibly due to lack of artistic ability); also cut-and-pasting likely-looking hairdos found online. (Results suggest I will look like Elvis, which I find hard to believe.)
Unfortunately there’s only one way to be certain of what I will look like with short curly hair: cut it. It’s just that it will take a couple of years to undo…
I’d like something maybe a bit like this:
(minus cigarette, obvs.) but I don’t really look like Joan Crawford. Of course, even if you find a picture of someone with the same kind of face and the same kind of hair, there’s no way of knowing if their style is the result of a good cut and no more, or if it’s the end product of hours of crimping and primping.
These ladies are a little closer to the mark, but I still have my suspicions as to the naturalness of their curl:
On the one hand, I’ve saved myself a stack of time and trouble by not messing about with my hair the last couple of decades; on the other hand, this has left me relatively uneducated on the multifarious complexities of ladies’ hairdressing.
Now, I’ve no intention of going in for colours and flatteners and other expensive ways to damage my hair – partly because I believe in being nice to your hair if you want it to stick around when you’re older and partly because I am heavily in favour of low-maintenance looks.
But I do feel a bit out of my depth here. Possibly this why I’m doing it – to step out of my comfort zone and loosen up my stereotype of myself.
So, any tips, suggestions or advice? Or, if you really must, horror stories of your worst haircut ever!
