What Was I Thinking?

Posted by Michelle Ross on 07/24/2007

What was I thinking? That is the question of the moment for me. I have just finished my final exams and had a bit of free time on my hands until the proctoring of the “real” class exams starts next week. What is a girl to do with free time? Go to the salon! That would have been my answer in the States. You would think that after a year in China I would have learned my lesson about this type of undertaking, but no, apparently it hasn’t sunk in with me yet. Vanity gets me every time!!

So here is what happened:

I decided to get my highlights redone. (I had them done in February when we were in Singapore on vacation.) I figured that highlights are the same wherever you live, so I thought I would go for it. Knowing that my Chinese is at the barely passable level, I took a student with me to make sure nothing horrible happened to my hair. (Well, that was the theory anyway!) I chose the girliest one I could find- Smile. With a name like that, you know you are in for good times.

Yesterday afternoon we met and walked, in the pouring rain, down to a salon that all the girls had told her was great. The man had worked in Xi’An before, so it isn’t like he has no experience. I told him what I wanted, with Smile clarifying when my Chinese was so jumbled he didn’t understand. (Hey, Peace Corps didn’t teach me much in the way of hair salon words during PST last summer!) He seemed to get it—he mimicked coloring some strips of hair and then leaving some natural. I was thinking this was all going to be good.

Well, nearly three hours later, the results were in: DISASTSER!!! The color would have been perfect for highlights, but instead he ended up doing my entire head in that color. It is horrible! I can’t even begin to explain what my head looks like right now. It is blonde, but in a much too yellow manner. I think it might not look so bad from the back, but the front is not good in any way. Ack!!!

The man who did it was so proud of his work that I felt horrible doing anything other than smiling at that point. He was so happy about it, we even took several pictures for him to show his other customers. Smile, the student who went with me, thought it was wonderful and couldn’t stop gushing about it. (I know she really liked it because our students tend to be way to blunt in English. If they think your dress is ugly, they will let you know!)

The problem is, I don’t know that there is much I can do short of coloring it brown or something. Before I take such a drastic step, I am trying to force myself to give it a couple of days to grow on me. Currently though, I am “avoid all mirrors” stage. Just when I start to think that it isn’t as bad as I am making it out to be, I glance in a mirror and am reminded of the truth.

You would think that after I got my horrible haircut in October (which is a whole different story!) I would have learned my lesson and just gone with it natural for another year. You would think being a Peace Corps Volunteer I would go in for the Birkenstocks and hippy-type hair. You would think by my late 20s I would be beyond such vain enterprises.

You would think…but apparently I didn’t THINK!!

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This webpage expresses the views of Michelle Ross. It does not express the views of the United States Peace Corps.

Last updated Sep 29 2008