Short, Sharp, Shocked -- part deux

Okey-dokey. I lived with the new haircut for a couple of days and had decided I was going to call my stylist and make an appointment for some revisions. But then that evening I went out to celebrate a friend's birthday and there, in the bar, across a crowded room, I saw someone who made my heart beat a little faster and my breath catch. Who was it? It was this girl named Dana with the killerest haircut ever and I homed in on her like a sorority girl on a trash can full of PGA punch and got her stylist's name. This morning I paid a visit to said stylist (her name is Melody, at ZigZag Salon here in Austin, and she was a delight) and here's what I walked out with:

This is much more what I was after the first time, although I didn't really understand that.

Hilariously, when I was contemplating cropping my hair, I wondered if when it was very short it would be less curly. Hah. Apparently curly, like ugly, goes clear to the bone.

Which is part of the problem. I really like the chunk piecey-ness that shows up in the back, but it's actually pretty hard to get my hair to do that fun spiky thing because it doesn't want to spike, it wants to currrrrrl. Even the hair that's only a couple of inches long now wants to currrrrl.

I'm thinking I might go see Melody one more time for one more set of revisions. I think I might like to lose a little of the length on the top and at the front, which will be tricky because redhead likes her bangs. (And, dude! Don't try to talk me out of my bangs. You could serve dinner on my forehead, it's so high, and I am not fond of the face-like-a-hardboiled-egg look.) Also, you can't really see it in these side views, but if you look at the back view (I couldn't get a good head-on shot because of the whole using-a-camera-in-a-mirror thing), you can see there's a little more volume than necessary (I think) over the ears. I'd like to take that down and pull the silhouette of the cut down closer to my head all around.

I was a little stunned by how much hair was on the floor when Melody put away her razor and yet I still have a head full of it. My goodness, I have gobs of hair.

So? Whaddya think? I like this much more than I did the last cut, I think it's almost exactly what I want.

The other issue I have right now is product. I left the salon with a purchase of some styling wax from American Crew, but I don't think I'm going to be able to use it. I think I need something with a wee bit more hold, but with a slightly less gunky texture than this. That's probably a pipe dream, but right now my hair feels a little... sticky. Kinda gooey. Not stiff, mind you, which is good, but not the sort of thing you want to run your fingers through, and I definitely wouldn't wrap an Hermes scarf around my head á la Grace Kelly. The other problem is the smell of this stuff -- oy! It's this incredibly potent grapefruit-y smell that I'm loathing more & more by the moment and that is completely drowning out my Tolu -- a state of affairs which is infuriating and wrong. I'm actually starting to think I may have to wash my hair before I go to bed. So does anyone have any suggestions for a good styling product that A) doesn't feel like I dunked my head in mucilage and B) doesn't smell so strongly it gives me a headache? Please share if you do.


Revised to add: the combination of the short hair and the gooey product have made for some pretty interesting bedhead this morning. I've got a full-on Heat Miser going.

Hilarious.



Photos: Style Spy, therollerblog.com