Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

This past Sunday I participated in the Locks of Love event at the Paul Mitchell School in Tyson’s Corner, McLean, VA.  The event was sponsored by the local radio station 97.1 Wash FM; specifically hosted by Maureen McLain.  I was extremely excited to know that such an event existed due to my failed attempts at finding a salon that honors Locks of Love.  After a few minutes of thinking, I signed up and impatiently waited on a response.  A few days later, I received an email from Maureen McLain stating that they received my sign-up and will send out more information as the date got closer.  A few days after that, I received a voicemail from another worker at the radio station stating that I should go over the rules for Locks of Love and make certain I fall within what is needed.  All I thought was yeah I know, I re-read them a million times.  My hair is longer than 10 inches in a low ponytail, there is no bleach, and I most certainly do not have dreadlocks.  A few days after that, I received another email from Maureen letting me know that my appointment time was at 12:45am.  Wait, what?!  Yeah, I thought I was reading things wrong when I saw it too.  So, I promptly emailed her back to confirm my time and was reassured that it was just a typo and meant to be 12:45pm.  Don’t get me wrong, I would have gone at midnight if that were the case, but it was not.  With the knowledge of the appointment time and the day getting closer, I became more anxious.  I was not going to back down and did not want to change my mind.  I just found it extremely nerve wracking that I was about to cut off all the hair I’ve been growing for about 7 years.  Yeah, you saw that right.  I had it cut short in 2003 and have only kept up with a few trims here and there.  What if they cut it too short or give me a weird style and I hate it?  That kept running through my head.  It was easy to dismiss that when the thought of a child in need of a wig would obtain all the awesomeness that is my hair.  :-D

The day of the event finally arrived and I had to work up until 45 minutes before my appointment time.  Talk about cutting it close (ha ha ha).  After my shift ended, I got to Tyson’s Corner mall as fast as I could.  On the drive I swore I was going to hurl and I definitely felt signs of anxiety.  I pull in to the first parking garage I see and it is jam packed with barely anyone moving.  I swore it was Christmas time at Roosevelt Field.  I immediately left that garage, found the next one and remembered my parking strategy for when I am at previously stated mall: go to the upper levels!!!  I made it to the second level and ahhhhh parking spots, who would’ve thought!   After parking, I booked in to the mall, made my way to the first floor and in to the Paul Mitchell School.  I had to sign a waiver about stuff I didn’t read and provided my name.  I spent my time waiting actually talking to Maureen McLain and another worker that was with her.  They took my before picture for the website and for my own personal use.

She was an awesome person and interacted with practically everyone that walked through the door.  When my name was called, I was seated at the first chair amongst many in about 6-8 rows.  Remember, this is a school full of awesome students that will one day be styling your hair.  My stylist’s name was Christine and she was real sweet, but definitely wanted to concentrate on what she was doing.  The first thing she said was how it wasn’t going to be fair because I’d still have good length after the 10 inches is removed.  That’s when I decided to do a little more.  We chose 11 inches!!  A whole extra inch!  She wrapped it in a low ponytail and pulled out a ruler (no joke), measured the 11 inches and then just cut it off.  I was expecting her to say “are you ready?” or “here we go” or “are you sure?” …or something.  Nope!  Just snip snip off with the ponytail.  I swore my head felt lighter afterwards.

There it is….all 11 inches of it!  She then washed my hair in a completely separate room for washing.  She used some awesome Lavender Mint Paul Mitchell stuff I so wish I could afford.  Back to the chair.  Now she got real quiet and focused on getting my ends correctly and then fixing up my bangs.  No, she didn’t ask what I wanted for a style.  Kind of disappointed at that, but I’m not complaining because it was free!  She added in more awesome Paul Mitchell styling product and then blow dried my new hair.  On the way out, Maureen McLain took my after picture and I took one with her and the other worker as well. 

I felt uber confident walking around after that.  I really liked the way my hair was cut.  For the rest of the night, I kept playing with it because I was not used to it being as short as it now is.  Taking a shower the next day was weird too because I did not have to utilize as much shampoo/conditioner as I previously have been doing.  Plus, the shorter hair felt odd under water because it did not automatically cling to my back.  In closing thoughts, I had fun attending this event and donating to an awesome charity.  I hope to do this again in the future when my hair grows back.  I suggest to anyone wanting to donate to Locks of Love to do so, it’s awesome and so worth it!!  Wouldn’t it be funny if I saw a child walking down the street one day and all I could think is ….hmmm..I know that hair ;-D

Here’s the link for the event photo gallery on the Wash FM website:  http://www.washfm.com/cc-common/gallery/display.html?album_id=260247 Check out all the awesome people that donated that day, including the host Maureen McLain.  I’m pics 54-55.  Enjoy!!

Where did it go?

If you are reading this, you are wondering “where did what go?”  Now that I have you thinking, I will go ahead and tell you.  Yep, I am not dragging it out to make you read all the way to the end to find out what I am talking about.  So to answer, I want to know where did Halloween go?  Yes, I know time goes by fast and it was only a week ago.  No, I was not sleeping and did not miss it going by.   The context I am going for is the excitement of dressing up, running around to obtain candy, meeting friends to hang out, etc.  Unfortunately, I had to work for 6 hours and that is the only place I was able to have fun dressing up…………and it still was far from fun.  I did not see any children trick or treating and nobody wanted to hang out after my shift.  It wasn’t very hard to find some events still going on even though it was a Sunday night, but everyone skipped out anyway.  I really wanted to go out and have a few drinks with someone that might enjoy the holiday as much as I do.  But the repeat failure I had on responses really disappointed me.  It got to me so much that I couldn’t help but think how much I hate living here in VA.  If I was home (NY), I know of people that definitely would have dressed up with me and gone out for some fun even if limited by the fact that it was Sunday.  Very frustrating.  Otherwise, I somewhat enjoyed the few hours I had in my costume at work, although nobody had a clue I was dressed up or who I was supposed to be.  Here’s a few pics, can you tell?

Yes!! Good job, I’m Lara Croft from the video game not the movie.  My coworker was Indiana Jones.  The idea was he would be the character that spawned the idea of the Lara Croft series.  No?  Ok, well I just told you so you have to believe me.  I hope next year’s Halloween makes up for this year.  It’s my favorite holiday and I don’t like feeling disappointed during one of the highlights of my year.  Will you join me next time?

On a side note and in expansion to a previous post of mine:

I took a poll/wrote a post a few weeks ago about attending an event for Locks of Love hosted by the local radio station 97.1 Wash FM.  Only 7 people voted (lame) and it leaned in favor of me donating my hair.  Prior to the that, I had it in my head that I would definitely go for it and get the cut.  I put my name in, then made my blog post/poll.  Well, now it’s official!!  I received my email confirming my appointment for 12:45pm at the Paul Mitchell School in Tyson’s Corner to donate my hair to Locks of Love.  Say bye bye to the hair!  Don’t worry, it grows back