January = New Haircut

Every January, since I started auditioning for the International Salon Spa and Salon Expo as a hair model, I get cast. Very few models have hair texture like mine, and the master stylists and creative directors go nuts whenever I show up to a casting. They will swarm my head, politely ask to touch my hair, and then run their fingers through, scrunch, and fluff my hair. Sometimes, they'll say, "I'm so sorry, we're only doing straight hair styles, but my goodness - Sylvia! Come here! You've got to feel this!" And then Sylvia will call over Sven who will call over Seth and the sweet curly nectar feeds the souls of the hummingbird stylists, flitting and chirping over my head.

But at the ISSE show, I always get cast because there's a lot of hair companies and all of them are trying to grab curly hair models because cutting curly hair is hard and they know they can sell their hair cutting dvds and other promotional materials and products to ISSE show goers, who will buy the products so they can learn a few new tricks. If you're a stylist and you don't specialize in cutting curly hair, you're losing potential clients. Get a curly girl in once and she hates your haircut, you don't have repeat business. So hair product companies will hire me at the ISSE show to use me as a presentation or demonstration model to show the latest cutting and coloring curly hair trends.

Yay me!

Last year, I went from this,

to this

and styled to this

which made me want to do this

cause of this

via

The same stylist wanted to use me again this year, but I was hesitant as I didn't want such a dramatic change again and was finally happy with the length of my hair. I really just wanted it to be shaped more than cut, but meh, I pretty much will let the stylists do what they want because it's just hair and I'm not too emotionally attached to it since I used to hate it. (You know, before it started making me money. ) But I knew I'd rather go with another stylist's take on my hair. I risked it.

I'm glad I did.

I went into a BeadHead casting (they cast me in my first ISSE show) and every time I've modeled for their parent company, TiGi or, TonyandGuy, I have had AMAZING haircuts: completely current and trendy. I LOVE what they do. I consider them to be on the cutting edge (pun intended) and love booking them.

They booked me.

But just for color and style - no cut!

Hooray?

And then I realized I DO want a haircut! Especially from TiGi! I asked at the casting if someone wouldn't mind cutting my hair if I found a free stylist who had a few moments, and they said, oh, sure! No problem!

Yay!

So on Monday, the last day of the ISSE show in Long Beach, I went from this

notice I use a constipated face for my before pics

to this

What's funny, (besides my acute jaundice) is that you can't really see the shape of the cut here. I was actually not very happy about it. There are a TON of short pieces (like, two inches long) on the top of my head, which means I know they're going to frizz and I'm going to look stupid.

The stylist used a ton of their product on my hair, but to be honest, I do not like wearing a lot of product and just about never use it. I can only shampoo my hair about twice or thrice a week, and using product means it gets all over my pillowcase and flakes off and makes my hair look worse on the days I don't wash it out. It's too much hassle. And my hair actually looks better after I've slept on it. Plus, adding in the product means that my hair is being touched a lot after it's wet, thus separating the curls into smaller, thinner curls, so it frizzes out and I don't feel like me.

And I've done enough hair shows to know that the haircut after they style it isn't the end all of my day; I have to wash everything out and style it on my own to see how my new haircut really stands out.

So I got home and washed all the product out and blowdried my hair with my diffuser.

The haircut I wasn't happy with?

It's one of the best I've ever had in my life.

The upper shorter pieces round out my hair on top, giving it a bulbous, full, rounded effect, which I LOVE and WANT for my hair, and the bottom was kept a few inches longer which gives it a rocker, edgy feel.

So here is me, after my hair is styled (and with no makeup)

And it looks WAY better in person, and EVEN BETTER after I've slept on it.

Hooray!!!!