Or, as they say, 'When in Rome...' Wait. Make that, 'When in Hawaii, do as the locals do....'
So, I've gone brunette. Not by choice, mind you. It's just that it's tough finding a hair stylist around here who's familiar with haoli hair. The haircut I got today was great. But the color? Not so good. Here's how it all began.
My last haircut and highlight in Gunnison was done by the amazing and talented Kimmi Peacock. Kimmi does great work. In a small town like Gunnison, I had to make my appointments over a month in advance. That girl was in demand for good reason. She had a knack for not only cutting, but for blending multi-tonal highlights with lowlights to camouflage, but not completely cover the little bits of grey. It looked good, yet natural. By April, my Kimmi hairdo was all but gone and in need of an update. I got a decent trim from a local woman. But the color was not great, so I opted to do it myself. Big mistake. It looked brassy and bleached, despite my choice of a subdued color of blonde. Yuck! I lived with it for awhile, then went to a gal in the mall at a reputable salon. She recolored it.... the same color! The brassiness was gone, but the color was still too much. It was too bright! Too loud! Again, I lived with it awhile, planning to grow out the roots long enough so a new stylist could see my natural color, match it and take me back where I belong.
Colorwise, that is. Then I'd let it grow and go, grey and all. I knew it was time for a change when, upon arriving at my book club meeting a week or so ago, the hostess said she recognized me coming up the walk. "I remembered your hair!" She said. 'Yes,' I thought, 'too bright.' So into the salon I went. The stylist was really very good. She tried. Really she did. We bonded for over three hours. But when the goo was rinsed out and the blow drying complete, I could see my new color made me the same as everyone else in the salon. Trouble was, everyone else there was Hawaiian, Filipino, Portuguese, Asian or combinations thereof. Argh! There was not a Norwegian-German-Irish-Scottish-whatevah in the room. So, I talked her into some highlights, to lighten it up a little. It's still too dark, but the highlights help. Anyway, like I said, the cut is pretty good, so I guess I'll again live with it and see how it looks after a little sun exposure and a few more cuts. Now I know what minority women are talking about on the mainland when they say they struggle to find a stylist who has experience with their hair. Ron was very comforting. "It looks fine," he said. "It's cute. It's a little dark. It doesn't even look like you. But who cares? It's only hair." Well, I care. But I do have a few hats I can wear, so what the heck. I've been shades of blonde my whole life. It will be interesting to see if people react to me differently as a brunette. If all else fails, I can save my pennies and fly back to Gunnison to visit Kimmi.
Also, as you can see from the photo, I could use some sleep. I saw the results of a medical study on the news today concluding that people who suffer from allergies have more trouble getting enough sleep than those who don't. Well duh! If you can't breath or your sinuses are clogged or you're coughing and hacking, you're not sleeping, are you? I'll bet someone got paid a bundle to learn what many of us wheezers and sneezers already knew. Actually, I've been sleeping much better with all the new allergy medications. But I've got a bit of catching up to do.
Last week, we went to the Hawaii County fair. It was painfully crowded. But we did happen upon a booth providing information about catchment water systems. That's what we have. We learned of all the nasty contaminants that can get into a tank like ours. A little chlorine will kill the viruses and bacteria, like e-coli and leptospirosis. Filters remove many of the larger particulates, but not protozoa like Guardia. We were also warned against consuming the water, even to brush our teeth. We've been brushing our teeth with it for months. Now we don't. We haven't been drinking it, however. Many people do. But the roof from which the water is collected is not the cleanest place. When you consider that birds poop on the house and rats occasionally scurry across and the cats like to jump up there, it kinda makes you go, 'hmmmmm.' And then there's the possibility that the metal composition of the roof might add too many minerals of the wrong kind and in the wrong quantities to the water. The pets don't drink it either. Instead, we fill five gallon jugs with reverse osmosis - filtered county water. One day, we hope to get a reverse osmosis attachment for our home system. Meanwhile, we picked up a test kit to be sure our tank water is as safe as it should be even for our restricted use of it. One thing's for sure. We have plenty. It's raining like crazy. Hoppsy is bored silly. Ah, but isn't she just the cutest brunette with highlights you've ever seen?
I'm looking forward to the premiers of Boston Legal and Grey's Anatomy this week. Yes, I've got a life. Really.... Seriously......
A hui hou. Aloha!
Comments