flippy hair

[crypticgirl]

It's been a long day and the only reason I'm still up is that I'm waiting for Patrick to hop onto Skype for a pre-arranged chat. He's had fatigue-stuff happening lately though, so he may not show.

I haven't been up to much lately, but I did get my hair cut and dyed yesterday. It's always a bit of an ambivalent experience for me, mostly because of disability related bits and pieces. On the one hand, it means having my implant off for at least an hour while someone who doesn't know me or my disability gets close to my head with sharp things. I've never really felt unsafe in the hands of a hairdresser, but I have felt isolated, disconnected from the world and unable to communicate adequately with someone who needs my guidance and feedback. I actually have a deafblind friend who has taken to cropping her own hair close to her head because she hates taking her hearing aid and glasses off when she goes to the hairdresser; without them she can't hear or see very much at all. This isn't really an option for me, most certainly not while I'm a) dyeing my hair, and b) looking for work.



Thinking about it, this is probably the main reason I've gotten very easygoing about what a hairdresser does with my hair -- my usual tactic is to sit down, maybe give an approximate length and/or colour, and then tell them to do whatever the hell they like with it. It's easier communication-wise if I'm not set on something specific, I can't see the hairstyles in the magazines they chuck at me, and it probably fits well with my generally relaxed attitude to how I look. Most of the hairdressers I've dealt with are surprised and relieved to be dealing with a woman who won't sue them over something that's a few centimetres too short, so it also makes me a well-liked customer.

On the other hand, getting your hair cut or dyed is a very tactile experience and having touch-contact with people is something I always crave, no matter how much  I'm getting. It's not a sexual thing, mostly (though anyone who goes near my neck does so at their own peril...), just an intimate, effortless form of communication and connectedness. For me it's like having a massage in that it's relaxing and a bit pampering, but it's also like holding someone's hand or giving a friend a hug in that it connects me to someone else silently and gently. I like the feel of someone separating my hair into layers and then putting it into clips. I like having my head moved when the hairdresser wants to do something. I like the feel of a comb running thorugh my damp hair.

There was nothing particularly special about this haircut, except that now I kind of have flippy hair. It's my usual hairstyle (short, slightly curling up at the back and longer, 'fringe-ish' hair at the front) only with just one side longer and 'fringe-ish'. She's only made some of it long enough to tuck behind my right ear, and I can already see that getting annoying in the near future. Good job she didn't make the left side the long side - my implant ear doesn't really do well with having hair tucked behind it. I nearly asked for an actual fringe, too. Maybe I should get a little more specific about what I want...

Oh, look - Patrick's online. Maybe he's just been running on 'Patrick Time' again.

Comments

[chromatica.livejournal.com]

Ah, yes, Patrick time. One time zone west of JP time, which is itself two time zones west of Jamie time.

It's probably about time I had another trim. The knots are slowly multiplying again. But I have better things to spend money on, like cat food and...people food.

[crypticgirl.livejournal.com]

*snicker*

That's actually pretty accurate, assuming Jamie Time is the furtherest away from Actual Time...

[ghoath.livejournal.com]

it may be worth mentioning that cameron time has been somewhat questionable of late as well.

the bigger philisophical question is, how much of a right do we have to criticise other people's timing?

not being able to drive is great like that. as long as you get to the bus stop on time, the rest of the journey is out of your control. as for meeting people on line... that's another matter.

speaking of time, i accused kerry of the clock being wrong on one of his computers. this computer just so happens to be NTP sychronised. I think I should be more careful what I say about time and computers in future.

[crypticgirl.livejournal.com]

I wasn't actually being critical of Patrick's timing; he's always been a bit on the 'flexible' side when it comes to clock reading and time management, and it's just something I've had to accept as A Part of Who He Is (TM), otherwise I'd get too hung up on it (if that line of reasoning makes any sense whatsoever). It's one of those situations where you factor in half an hour or so when you might have to have other stuff to do (like writing in LJ, for example) because that's the amount of time the person in question is usually running behind schedule.

Hm, yes, I can imagine that Cameron Time has probably gotten more shonky since I left. :) I was always the stickler for punctuality in the relationship. I think you've inadvertently figured out why, too: being only able to use public transport and taking longer to do navigation stuff generally makes you very aware of timing things properly. I'm more relaxed about it than I used to be, but still...

[ghoath.livejournal.com]

i didn't to mean to imply that you were criticising patrick as such, nor was i criticising cam as such either. just observations

[crypticgirl.livejournal.com]

I guessed that was probably the case, but just thought I should clarify in the event that I was making the wrong assumption.

Frigging hell, I'm beginning to think we should start writing our responses to each other like lawyers would, complete with disclaimers about feelings and intentions and the exact definitions of all controversial terms. It would make things so much *easier*. :p

[Disclaimer: Note that the author (where 'the author' is Leah) doesn't *mind* going through clarifying stuff a series of comments with you (where 'you' is Gemma); the author was merely positing that the idea of legalspeak seemed like an amusing, if not scary, concept(where 'amusing' inlcudes a concept or act that induces smiles or laughter, and 'scary' is exactly the opposite. The author will leave the definition of 'concept' for the philosophers to sort out).

Readers should also note that the use of the expletive 'frigging hell' in the above passage is in no way a sign of frustration directed specifically at Gemma, but an expression of annoyance at the situation in general, where fault is not attributable to any of the posting individuals and/or parties and/or individuals within posting parties.

The writer of this post (where 'this post' includes writing before and after this definition categorised by a timestamp and username) is not responsible for any pain or suffering caused by reading the contents of this post, including long words and/or obfuscation of the freaking point by legal language (where 'the freaking point' is that legal language would make everything so much clearer).

This post is copyright Leah 2005, All Rights Reserved, and may not be misquoted or misinterpreted without express permission of the author.]

[chromatica.livejournal.com]

*boggle*

You haven't been watching a lot of Yes, Minister lately, have you?

[crypticgirl.livejournal.com]

No I haven't, unfortunately. I was actually drawing on my own experience as a public servant to write that.

[chromatica.livejournal.com]

That's what I meant to say... I should have said that Jamie time was two time zones west of Patrick time.

The chromatic chronometer is, sadly, behind the times as well. So to speak.

[crypticgirl.livejournal.com]

I still find it vaguely amusing that I can pick up on what you mean even if you say it in a completely garbled fashion, as opposed to having to clarify LJ based stuff with other people (as above) from both ends at times.

Seven years of being together will do that to you, I guess.

[ghoath.livejournal.com]

i struggle to find hair dressers that are ok with the fact that i'm not fussy about what i want done. they also struggle with the idea that i don't want to talk whilst i'm having my hair cut. i would rather they concentrated on my hair.

it's funny though, how you think you don't have a specific idea about a hair cut, and then when you get out of there, you realise that this bit's too shore, and this bit isn't, etc etc, and you realise that maybe you had more of a specific idea after all.