Going to the hairdresser

It’s Saturday morning. The roads are filled with snow. It’s still snowing. Due to the bad weather, we can’t go skiing. It’s the third weekend in a row we are spending at home. It’s getting a bit boring. I decide it’s time to go on an adventure. I’m going to the hairdresser.

There is a hairdresser not far from our house. I checked the opening times just three weeks ago. I know from when I arrived at closing time that at least one girl does not speak English. Though I’m confident I will be able to get a nice haircut with my Macedonian language skills: “Only shorter at the back, samo pokratko pozadi”.

I walk through the snow with my freshly washed hair hidden under a cap and a hood. I ruin my boots by stepping off the path into the snow to get to the building. Maybe the lack of footsteps towards the shop should’ve warned me. The hairdresser does not exist anymore… So much for my adventure…

Back on the parking lot in front of our apartment building, Boyfriend is still cleaning the car. He will drive to the gas station to fill up the tank. And to see if the car is still working. (It does.) He drops me off at a small shopping area where I should be able to find another hairdresser.

The first shop I approach doesn’t look that nice. It’s dark inside and I can’t see if there is only a man with a shaver, or that there is an employee who is actually able to cut a women’s coiffure. I decide to skip this one for now.

The second shop has a large window and I can see the hairdresser is a lady. That’s good. There is only one person sitting in a chair in the process of having her hair cut. That’s also good. Though, there only is one chair… And it is booked for the next 3 hours, apparently. Too bad… Off to the next.

I walk around in a zig-zag motive in order not to miss a shop in the three parallel streets. I probably look like a pigeon of some sort, swiveling my head from left to right and left again to see if one of the shops might be a hidden hairdresser. Just as I think this, a door opens, and I see there is a hairdresser behind it. It looks cool. And I see a lady in a chair, so it should be safe. When I enter, I realize the hairdressers are two guys. One tall and thin, the other short and fat.

Though, I just want my hair cut. I have enough of the snow. I don’t know if there is another hairdresser around. And well, if they screw up, it will grow back again (though I know from experience this might take a while). I decide to stay. It will just add to the adventure. Right?

“Samo pokratko pozadi”, I tell the short guy. “Not in the front”. He understands. I think.

You see, my hair was cut in such a way that I needed clips to keep the hair from my face, while I had some sort of weird mat in my neck. I wanted to keep my ‘bangs’ as long as they were (I worked on growing them for such a long time..) while the hair in my neck just needed to lose a few centimeters. Then all my hair would have the same length. Perfect. No more ‘layers’, just a simple hairdo.

He starts cutting.

Hmm… I showed him I only wanted a few centimeters off, but this feels like a really short cut.

Wait… Is he cutting straight? Does he even know what he is doing? Why is his belly touching my arm? Why is he cutting my hair on that side again? Why does he want to wash my hair after cutting it? I’m getting nervous. Can’t he just hurry up?

He holds a mirror behind my head so I can admire my new haircut. My heart sinks.

Instead of having longer hair in the back and shorter hair in the front, or instead of having all my hair the same length as I planned, my hair is now shorter in the back and longer in the front. Well, not exactly… It’s worse. It’s short in the back, then long on the sides and shorter in the front again. My goodness, what did I (he) do?

For a second, I wonder if I should ask him to cut those long sides off too, but who knows what will happen then..? Besides, I just want to go home now. I’m done with my adventure.

“Dobro?”

“Dobro.”

Yeah, it’s fine. Who cares anyway? I will just fill my hair with hairspray and pretend it’s the new fashion.

That evening, I go out to meet some people. Nobody even notices.