can you keep a secret?

I got my hair cut — quite seriously cut — this afternoon and I managed not to blurt this news out in my nightly phone chat with Pater, so my family will all be very surprised when they see me this weekend. You read it here first! (They do come here, but not so often, or if they do, they rarely comment so I don’t know about it — Girlcook, if you read this, your lips are sealed, please?)

I went in for my usual cut-and-colour, but before I changed into the cover-up gown, I asked Ronae to check out what I was wearing and see how my hair matched — I was wearing these booties and a simple grey wool flannel sheath with a short necklace of chunky metal and black beads, and my hair was just a bit too, I don’t know, romantic-hippie-boho. If it were really thick and fierce r-h-b, I’d just go for it, no matter what I was wearing, but lately I haven’t always been convinced by it. I pin it up fairly often, but that doesn’t have the clean-with-an-edge look I was aiming at. I like it straightened, but that only works in certain weather and is quite a bit of work, the first day at least. So I was asking for some styling tips, really, for working the curls into something more street, less armchair (or other, better, metaphor).

Instead, Ronae dug out a photo she’d been saving — very cool, exactly what I wanted EXCept for the minor fact that it meant taking off inches and inches from the back — this was short hair, but with length from the ears forward, real movement swooping through the bangs. I had all the colour application time to think about it and just decided it was worth trying. After all, I can always grow it back.

So right now, my hair hits at about the nape of my neck but with longer layers at the top and then over the ears and forward into the bangs it’s below my jawline and will grow longer over the next few months ’til we have the look we want. We played around with some styling ideas — 3 or 4 different looks depending whether I leave it curly, use the round brush, or use the flatiron. I’m really, really happy with it and looking forward to surprising everyone with a dramatically different look. Mind you, I’m a wee bit anxious about how well I can manage it on my own, so tomorrow will be the real test. I’ll try to get some photos over the next few days so you can see how I do. It’s Canadian Thanksgiving on Monday, but we’re having our family dinner on Sunday (we like to leave the Monday free for travel/getting ready for work, etc.,) so lots of photo ops — we’re gathering in our Vanc’r apartment and I think we’ll be quite a crowd — all four of our kids will be there, except for poor Meg who has to work but is sending boyfriend and puppy in her stead. Plus a partner or friend for the other three and a friend of mine who’s going to join us. Should be fun.