hair today, gone tomorrow

People will always need hairdressers, or so they say. Like most women I am very particular about my hair (actually most men I know are too!!), I'm not overly vain, don't wear make up, would never consider plastic surgery, but something that I hadn't factored into the whole "living in the middle of nowhere with no money thing" was that I might need to get my haircut. I have always been terrified of hairdressers, they never listen to what you want and always seem to charge the earth, if you're lucky enough you find one that gets you and gets your hair and you stick with them until they give up or move or you give up and move on. Then you have to start all over again. Long hair has never suited me (believe me I have tried) which would make life a lot easier, I always imagined that if you had long hair you could just flip it over your forehead and cut it in front of your face, easy. But I know it's not as simple as that. Going to the hairdressers is suppossed to be a treat as well as a necessity, an hour or so of banal chit chat, leafing through magazines you would never dream of buying but can't resist looking at, having your hair washed,although I never liked that bit as I have whiplash and always found leaning backwards over a sink incredibly uncomfortable, and don't get me started on the water temperature, "is that OK" they always say, "not its f******g freezing" or "no, you just burnt my scalp off", but we always say "yes thats fine", like if we complained about the water temperature or the unnecessary pain of being backwards it would offend the washer person and that would in turn affect how your hair will be cut and then the obligatory head massage at the end of the washing fiasco, sometimes you'd get a good one, most times it would just feel like a small child fiddling with your hair, which is frankly rather annoying. So infact going to the hairdressers is not a treat at all it's just more stress which you have to pay for. I have only been to the hairdressers once since being here in Portugal, it was an unpleasant experience, thankfully I didn't have to go through the hair washing bit, they ommitted to wash my hair, I was roughly handled I had no time to leaf through the magazines of hair cuts to show them what I wanted, I just got what they wanted and quickly, charged not very much but was miserable for days. So after that i decided to cut my own hair, this way I get what I want and it doesn't cost me anything and if i cock it up then it's my fault. I have also been cutting Rick's hair,

which I am getting rather good at, he only wants it done with scissors and a comb, at first I was worried but every 6 weeks he gets a hair cut and over time i have got better. I thought it only fair that he should be able to cut my hair, it's very hard to cut the back of your own hair for obvious reasons, so figured that if I cut the front and sides he can do the back, sounds like a good deal, NO. Imagine my horror when the person you are trusting with the back of your hair (ok, you don't have to look at that bit, but you kind of want it to be in keeping with the front and sides, mullet springs to mind!) all he did was stand behind me either giggling or occasionally saying "oh god", i lost faith very quickly. So now all he has to do is stand behind me with a mirror and i do the rest myself.

It's not too bad this DIY haircutting, it's not stressful anymore, nowhere near as stressful as going to the hairdressers, it's totally free and over time you do get better. Have a go and save your pennies for something else like chocolate or shoes.....