I’ve heard the horror stories. I didn’t want to just become another wild tale, passed from ISE to ISE. (Like the story of the woman who was confident she could communicate her desire to have two inches cut off her hair and ended up with two inches of hair) But I had to do it. I had to get my hair done.
I got the name of a hairdresser in Grenoble who speaks English. Now, at home, merely speaking English is not enough of a qualification for me to pay you to do my hair. They speak English at Super Cuts, but that doesn’t mean I’m going there. Although now that I think about it, speaking the same language hasn’t always resulted in me getting the hairstyle I was after…
Today, language was the only qualification.
I was on time (bizarre for me), but she wasn’t. That gave me time to sit and stare at her book of hair color samples. Hmm… there’s bright blue.. no… stark black.. nope… beet red… no, thank you… I finally found a couple of colors that looked like something that would not make me cry. We had a little consultation, I emphasized that I don’t want to see any gray, and that was that.
I tried not to look too alarmed when she started putting the goop on my hair. The goop was approximately the color of mustard mixed with ketchup on a paper plate. Heavy on the mustard. She glopped it all on, piled my mustard stained hair on top of my head and put me under a heating thingie. There were magazines in English to flip through (nice change!) and good coffee and chocolate. Still, there was that concoction stewing on my head.
After rinsing, my hair looked normal. I was still leery, since wet hair can hide a lot.
She offered to cut it. I insisted I only need a trim, I’m growing it all out to be one length. She said that would look good with my kind of hair. Then she trimmed it… just the tiniest bit. She even had me look at the clippings on the floor to confirm just how little she’d taken off.
Her assistant dried my hair. And as she labored around my head, it was becoming clear: this wasn’t a bad experience. This was a good experience. The color is perfect. The cut is just what I wanted. It looks good… if I do say so myself.
I have her card, if you’re interested.
Happy hair Day! I’m impressed! i can’t ever find anyone who can cut my hair the way i want it, and I’ve just given up on color any more…
Rachel — don’t give up on color!!
— your much younger-looking sister
I saw your comment about the dictionary. I highly recommend getting a PalmPilot and downloading a French-English dictionary. It’s much faster and more discreet than a big dictionary. It saved me many times in Barcelona. I’ve also used the same approach on trips to France and Italy with excellent results. Verb congugators are also available — but the dictionary is the key.
The idea is to learn to speak French without needing a dictionary all the time.