I have red-blond hair!

Hello there...from a new red-blond!

Procrastinating for long enough so that more than an inch of black hair was showing at the top of my head, I finally decided it was time to dye my hair. So I made the short trek to my favorite hair salon, opened the red door of a residential house, climbed the stairs, and greeted my hairstylist. A new ten-gallon tank of goldfish also greeted me warmly.

I waited for my hairstylist to finish cutting an older woman's hair by reading my Time magazine with Chinese television in the background. In fifteen more minutes, the older woman stood up pleased with her quick yet stylish haircut and went off to her evening class.

We started like usual, with her pulling out her big book of hair color samples, us narrowing it down to a few, her choosing a good one for me, and me finally choosing, always, a different one. She would mix a large amount of the dye for my long hair, filling the one-room salon with a burning chemical smell. Then she set to work carefully brushing the lotion mixture through my hair, spending over half an hour making sure all of my hair was covered liberally. During this time, she would turn my chair so I could watch the television while she listened, and we would laugh at the funny parts together. When I didn't understand something in Chinese that was funny, she would explain it to me so I could laugh too.

Then, while I waited for the lotion mixture to do its thing, I would watch television while she cut someone else's hair. Today, her tiny and cute five-year-old daughter wanted to show off her new dance class dress with a tutu.

After washing the lotion mixture out of my hair, she would blow-dry my hair straight, revealing the new color. Today, I saw a color lighter than any I had done before, but I liked it and smiled while she finished blow-drying my hair.

I don't think I'll ever go blond, but I'm pretty close right now, and I like it. It's thrilling, bordering on the dangerous territory of being a blond Asian.

At the end, I asked her how much in Chinese, and she replied also in Chinese, "thirty five". If you've ever gotten your hair dyed, you know that's a deal. Also consider that I have time-consuming super-long hair hanging down past my chest, that I learned some new Chinese, and that her daughter is endearingly amusing, and that's why the salon on the second floor of a residential house is my favorite hair salon.

Take care,
Amy