Conkey Haircutting Night

This happened in January, but I thought it was entertaining, so I wanted to share:

So, I found a new hairdresser. I've heard that male hairdressers are the way to go, so recently, I've been investigating. My only previous experience with a male hairdresser was when I first moved here to CO and went to a crazy place downtown called Zing and had this mechanic man turned hairdresser cut my hair. I asked him what made him decide to leave the world of auto parts and join the great profession of hairdressing and he said he had an epiphany and realized that life was short and he wanted to do what he loved; cut hair. Very interesting. It was entertaining and a little frightening to watch this large man with permanently grease stained hands try to make my hair look "fabulous", but it wasn't a good experience in the end.

Later, while Don and I were at Home Depot, I saw this man and pointed him out to Don. He was buying some manly tools and was such a far cry from what you'd expect at a hair salon, it made me laugh. I'm really glad I was able to show Don this guy in person to prove that I wasn't making it all up. It did sound pretty outrageous, and it really was.

Despite this experience, I decided maybe I'd made too hasty a judgment. So, I decided to give male hairdressers another try and agreed to let this guy cut my hair.

Yes, I know; it was crazy. But, my hair is long and if worst came to worst, I would just have to go get a hair cut anyway. Not that big of a risk in the end.

I usually get my hair cut in Utah because haircuts here cost ~$50 and you never know if you're actually going to like the cut (case and point - story above), so instead, I just let my hair grow all raggedly taggedly and looked like a homeless person. Actually, the homeless people here wear nicer clothes than I do, so perhaps they already have better haircuts... I digress. Anyway, while we were in Utah for Christmas, my hairdresser was out of town the entire time we were there. I was already far overdue for a decent haircut, so I was distressed.

Every time I tell Don that I need a haircut, he says, "I'll cut your hair" and I laugh. This has been going on for years. Finally, one night he said, "I'll cut your hair" and I said, "Ok!" I bought some better haircutting scissors (we had some but they were pretty terrible) and he watched a bunch of youtube videos about how to cut hair. Then, he told me he needed "four alligator clips" and proceeded to pin my hair up in a very meticulous fashion and began cutting. I thought it was hilarious and very sweet that he made the effort to train himself with youtube. Amazing the things you can learn online!

Everything was going really well until I told him he had to trim my layers. He said that layers weren't a part of the deal; he had only agreed to a "straight cut". I told him he had to trim my layers or my hair would look terrible, so I showed him how to do it and he did a great job. Overall, I was very impressed with his skills. When I've told people that he cut my hair and they see what a good job he did, they want him to cut their hair. What do you think? PhD student by day, hairdresser by night? Hmm...

So, by cutting my hair, Don saved us over $50 and then I proceeded to cut his hair and saved us another $20. I am happy to cut his hair as long as it is long. When it is short, it doesn't hide mistakes as well. Despite that fact that I cut right through his ear a few months ago and he was gushing blood all over the place, he'd still rather brave a possible Van Gogh ear removal situation to save $20. That just goes to show how cheap we are. :)

Here are a couple pictures of Don's haircut.

I don't really have a good picture of my haircut. In fact, these are some of the only photos I have of myself from the last few months. I'm always taking the pictures. But, you get the gist of things. My hair is looking good. Way to go Don Conkey! What a brave, talented guy! Quite a risky business, cutting the wife's hair, but you did it and did it well!

I'm wearing a beanie. Not because I'm hiding my hair, but because it was cold. :)