Hair History

Well, hello there hair lovers!!
I’ve been wanting to do a post on H-A-i-R for a while now. Plus hair is something some of you have been asking for on my Instagram. Although this post is not about curling my hair, (I promise I will do a post & video on just that, very soon. I’m still working the nerve to get on camera to do it! ?)

I recently touched up my hair highlights and so, while siting in the styling chair, I got inspired to share with you my Hair History! It’s quite a personal affair, so bare with me…you’re gonna get to know me from way back when!

Anyway, I digress…as I was saying —-> My Hair History in hair color & cut adventures.

Like many of you, I’m sure you find it hard to find a good hair stylist you can trust…(it is your hair after all!) Plus you have to like their work!

I get it! I truly appreciate my hair stylist now. Trust me when I tell you I’ve had my nightmare stories with hair stylists. Before I share with you my hair history, I have to tell you about one particular story that involves scissors and 4 inches of my hair on the floor. It’s probably the most traumatic story about my hair, even more so than the horrible highlights I’ve gotten in the past!

Ok, lets continue…the hair stylist will remain nameless & the story starts with me going to this particular hair stylist in particular popular L.A. neighborhood, who was recommended by my sister, sometimes we would go together & get our hair done as our sisterly thing. The hair stylist there were sisters & seamed nice enough. She did an okay job with my hair color. I liked the Redken product they used on my hair a lot. It was good quality, gentle on my damaged hair, plus it smelled really good.

But everytime I showed up for my hair color appointment, she wanted to trim my hair. And everytime I would tell her I was letting my hair grow-out. You see, I had cut it short during my honeymoon a few years back after having it very long for the wedding (crazy things us girls do after such a rollercoaster of a year & a half of planning a wedding and all the stress that comes with it…so yes, I chopped it off!) But soon after we got back home, I regretted it. Not to mention I went from a light brown hair color to super blonde! eek!! Not a good look for me, trust me! Thats why I liked the product she was using, my hair was back to light brown w/highlights. It was gentle on my hair because I was nursing it back to health. The shock of short blonde hair back to brown hair was too much.

So back with the hair stylist, I kept telling her I didn’t want a haircut. I usually just trim the split ends myself. The transition from blonde had really damaged my hair, even more damage getting it back to brown with some highlights. Secretly I knew I did need a little more than trimming the split ends, it needed a tiny trim overall.

Here is were it gets dicey in the communication with my hair stylist.

So this woman tells me “Lily, you need a trim, I’ll just cut-off a grain-of-rice on the ends” she says.

Bingo! “she gets it” I thought to my self. She described the trim as something tangible I can visualize. I had been expressing my hesitation everytime I came for my appointment (like 3 or 4 times before that visit) so I can now see that she understands what I need. So I said yes!

I comfortably settled into the chair worry free. I closed my eyes and let her get to work. But the second I heard the sound of the scissors snip snip, something wasn’t right. It sounded different than a little trim-trim!

I slowly opened my eyes and “Oh, mother of goodness!!” 4 inches off the top of my hair were on the floor!! And more was falling as my eyes kept getting wider and wider!

“Oh Lordy Lord, I thought to myself” What should I do now? What should I say? This mad woman needs to stop hacking my hair off!!!

But it was too late, she had chopped off half of the top of my head already. It’s not like I was going scream at her to stop and walk away with half of my hair cut off…maybe if my look was more edgy I might of been able to pull it off, but I’m not edgy or trendsetting hairstyles here, I’m a mom with a corporate job! Edgy haircut is so not me! But I just wanted her to  s t o p !! I could only muster to scream inside my head.

Oh boy, it was the beginning of the end for my poor hair and the confidence my hair gave me. (sad face emoji)

After she was done, she already knew I was not pleased, even though I was super nice about it, it was a fake nice for sure. I told her I don’t wear my hair like this, because I curl my hair and now its even shorter. I might of had a tone at this point, can you blame me? I think I was totally SMH.

If I had a picture I would post it …but since I don’t, my best description is that it looked like a mushroom/jellyfish shape-like hair style. Short and choppy at the top and long strands at the bottom. A really bad attempt at the Jennifer Aniston HairCut (remember that?)…but it was more like the Jennifer Aniston HairCut was in a rock band…that’s what my hair looked like. H O R R I B L E. I kid you not.

Anyway, I was sad right then and there. I paid for the color, cut, & tip! But looking back, I should of just paid for the color & no tip. I wish I would of had the nerve to do that. The hairstylist I think felt bad. At this point I had gone to her plenty of times so we were friendly, but not friends by a long shot. So after I paid and was about to leave…the woman gives me a hug and says “love you” !!

WTF?

How unprofessional! She just murder my hair and says “love you”!? Who does that?

I stood there being squeezed by this hair killer person. I was not happy.

I stayed quiet and walked out. Never to see her again.

I was so upset and felt like crying on the street, but I held it together long enough to walk in to one of those mom & pop fashion shops to try something on, just so I can go in the dressing room and cry. There was a mirror in there too, so that only made it worse. (sad face emoji again, and crying emoji too). My haircut looked horrible, SO not me. So not anyone!

I cried at home too. Then I became upset. I consider given her a bad review on Yelp, but I figured she would know it was me. Plus I believe in Karma. So I decided to let it be. They lost my business forever and I left it at that. I know I was a good client, nice, polite, didn’t talk too much to annoy them and was an excellent tipper & bought their styling/make-up product. So there. Showed her. Right?

Anyway, whats the lesson here? Hair is very important to us girls. At least for me it is. To me its connected with my femininity and its part of my self expression. It makes me feel pretty and helps with my confidence. I love to take care of it and it takes care of me. Call it vanity or whatever, but I love my hair. Proud of it.

I can go on and on about the meaning of hair, but at the end of the day, we all have our relationship with our hair that only we can understand. Cheers to that!

I’m happy to say my hair grew back..it took years, but its long again.

There is a happy ending to my hair-trauma story. After mourning the loss of my chopped-off hair and desperately needing my highlights to eventually be retouched. I wanted to find a hair stylist near by, that carried my fave Redken products.

I found him by Googling this criteria: Hair Stylist (colorist, forget exactly what I typed) + Redken Product + DTLA. And this amazing little hair salon popped up right in the heart of DTLA. Salon on 7th. Exactly what I was looking for from a location stand point. I still needed to check out their prices and if I liked their work. I called and made an appointment with David Acuña. He was super chill on the phone and was reasonably priced. I made an appointment right then and there.

When I came by, I specifically asked for my hair to look like wood grain, yes you read right…wood grain. He smiled but totally understood what I was talking about. Here is a picture of wood grain looks like, so you know what I was going for. Light & dark, low & highlights, depth & richness to my hair.

David did a great job with my thin and thick highlights. He is funny and knows what he is doing. He is patient and professional…but always keeps it real, just like me! If you make an appointment with David, tell him you heard about him from me! He’ll get a kick out of it.

I’m happy to report the rest is highlight history!

Here are other tid-bits about my hair before you get into my Hair History chart:

• I made a promise to myself after the terrible hair-cut debacle, that no-one would ever cut my hair, but me. David has never pushed a hair cut on me once. I really appreciate that after the hair-cut pushers in my previous salon. He always tries to give me what I’m looking for.

• I touch up my own hair roots with  L’oreal’s Preference in Medium Golden Brown or Medium Brown using a hair coloring brush. I brush on the color on my roots only, feathering it downward & focusing where I usually part my hair. The result is a soft & subtle regrowth (like a mini ombre effect). The highlights look more natural and I don’t have to go as often to get my highlights re-touched.

• That routine has allowed me to re-grow my hair and keep it healthy since I don’t have to keep highlighting my hair as often with hair bleach. I go get highlights redone with David about every 3 to 4 months.

• I do wear hair extensions. I always say when people ask me if its all my hair, I say “yes! I paid for it! lol! I already have long hair, but I love how extensions give me a bit more fullness and a couple of extra inches of hair length. I buy my hair extensions from this really nice & funny man in DTLA’s Fashion District, or better known as The Santee Alley. The hair supply store is called Top Show Beauty Supply on Santee St. They don’t have a website, but the link can take you to their address and phone number.

• Lastly, to achieve a similar hairstyle to mine, keep in mind my hair is not blunt cut (or straight cut). Its cut in layers and the edges of my hair are cut in angles. This haircut helps blend the hair extensions to my natural hair more seamlessly. It your hair is blunt cut or straight cut and doesn’t have layers, I think its a little bit harder to blend hair extensions.

So after that long read, here is a chart with my Hair History. It was so funny putting these pictures together. Since I went back just a little over 20 years!! I can’t believe how my hair is completely tied to events that were happening in my life. I’m so glad my hair experimentation is past me and I can just keep up what I have. There is something comforting about that. I don’t have the need anymore to “find” the right color & cut.

Final notes because some of you may ask…Yes, I know, I don’t smile with my teeth. I don’t like to smile showing my teeth because for the longest time my teeth were super crooked. I ended up getting adult braces a few years back and got them off around the same time Seli was born!

Yes, I have a “side”. I prefer one side of my face over the other. My left side is my better side, hence most pictures I’m facing in that one particular direction. – heehee! Don’t judge, we all have our thing.

Yes, it has been an incredible journey. I’m glad I took risks with my hair, but I was also mindful to always take care of it. If I messed up (which you can clearly see I did many times) I always stayed consistent in nurturing my hair back to health.

Reminds me of a story that I will never forget. The day my husband proposed…it definitely was a hair moment.

I was on the phone (talking! with my sister…this is before texting!) When someone started knocking at my apartment door. I’m in the middle of bleaching my eyebrows over here & I have my hair in mayonnaise (used as a deep moisturizer for hair), wrapped under a plastic bag! But who could be at my door, my boyfriend was out of town & it’s Saturday night.

It was was my BF. And he was proposing at my doorstep!!! How exciting & emotional & wonderful and blah blah blah…but I looked horrible & I smelled worse! He had never ever seen me like that before. I was beyond happy…but mortified & utterly embarrassed. He certainly didn’t care, hence why I love him SO much.

Always take care of your hair no matter what!

Well hope my tips have helped shed light to my highlighted and layered tresses. It’s fun to look back, but I’m so much more thankful for the now!

Wishing you all the best and lots of Good Hair Days!

Cheers!!

Ps.- Look out for a how I hair curl my hair video in the near future. ?

Glam Zombie Hair
October 6, 2017

Classic Holiday Hair
December 29, 2016