THE NEW 'DO

Anna’s story-



I last got my hair done the 21st of July - that’s quite a while ago. I normally get my hair cut every six weeks and always go to Jessica, a woman who has been doing my hair for more years than I’d care to remember. When I was saying good-bye Jessica, she gave me her card with hair color numbers on it so I would be good to go when I got to France. As I say, that was July 21st – definitely more than six weeks ago. So why did I wait so long? Fear. I was afraid that I would be unable to communicate adequately with any potential hairdresser. (Mind you, my fears were not totally unfounded. I have vivid memories of our friend Sally, telling us about almost getting a buzz cut when a hair dresser thought she meant leave 1” rather than take off 1”.)


Our landlady and friend, Dominique offered to accompany me to the salon of my choice to help me make my wishes clear, but that seemed like a coward’s solution. I SHOULD be able to handle it myself. Right? After all, the nice thing about hair is that no matter what one does to it, it will grow out. Dominique also sent me the names of several hair salons that advertise that they have English speakers on staff, but none of them is nearby and they also seemed like a coward’s way out. So I thought and worried and tried to build up my confidence to forge ahead but did nothing. Now, across the street at the end of the block, is a hair salon that we must walk past at least 8 times a week. I decided that was my goal.


So Saturday, November 6th, I did it! I had practiced saying I’d like to make an appointment and describing what I wanted done and headed out of the apartment before I had time to come up with another reason to put it off. I walked right down the street and into the salon and told them I’d like to make an appointment. Before I could go any further about what I wanted done, the woman who greeted me said something in lightning-speed French. All I really got out of it was “non.” Fortunately, another employee speaks English and came to my rescue. They don’t take appointments – it’s strictly on a walk-in basis, but they could take me “maintenant” (now). She asked what I had in mind and then explained it all to Maryline, who would actually be doing my hair.  And, that was that.

Although she doesn’t speak English and my French hair salon vocabulary is very limited, Maryline took very good care of me. All told I was there for about 3 hours. During that time I learned some new vocabulary – for instance, the French term for highlights is “meches.” (I hope you are taking notes – you never know when things like that will come in handy!) And, of course, we both gained more practice in charades. And, even with all the pampering, including head and neck massages, the bill was only 98 € including the VAT of 16.06 €. 

So what was the end result? Well, I haven’t been this blond since I was about 3, but the effect really isn’t bad at all. I’m pretty happy with the cut; it looks good straight and even looks okay when I get caught in the rain and the curl takes over. I will definitely be back to see Maryline.

(David will give you his version next.)