Snippety Snip Snip

"My Italian Haircut"

I was originally growing my hair out for locks for love. It's an idea I really like, and would someday really love to do it. I have to say the next time I plan on growing my hair out to extraordinary lengths it will not be while using bar soap as shampoo.

SO! Yesterday, I was out for a walk, and thought.. 'I'm going to chop my hair off.. next place I see, I'm doing it'.

I walked on the sidewalks nervously patrolling for a hair salon. After about 20 long minutes, I found one and walked in. I stood at the door, and tried to politely ask if anyone spoke English. The stylist kept saying 'sit, sit' in Italian.

How could I sit?! I can't commit. I don't know how much this costs, who will I be able to communicate to about my need for low maintenance or my hair line..or..or...


Well, what'dya know. I sat down anyway. I was nervous, and so I just sat. He spoke NO English, on that fact, NO ONE in the whole salon spoke English. After some hand gestures (LOVE THE HAND GESTURES) I snipped the air and then made a money rubbing through my fingers gesture, and it worked!

In Italy you buy your hair cut ala carte. You buy the wash, you buy the cut, and you buy the style. And I was there, and I was doing it, so I might as well get the whole shabang, right?!

There was only ONE stylist, and SEVEN assistants. I'm not joking either. The owner gave me a book with around 20 styles in it. That's it. All pictures he took. No cost cutters books with 100's of pages and different sections. So I pointed at a picture an tried my best to communicate 'shorter than this', 'more volume', 'thin it out'.. but, what he got out of that, who knows.

Assistant 1 takes me to get my hair washed.. I was super nervous, and was death gripping the chair.. which I didn't realize until I tried to move and saw I plastered myself in one very tight position. He brings a bottle of shampoo up to me that says in an English translation 'for hair beyond repair'..."Is okay?" Well, ughhh.... sure, I guess. Maybe back handed insults don't translate.

I was getting pampered for a good 30 minutes. Scalp massage, shampoo, conditioner, product, deep conditioning, more message... A girl could get use to that! A second assistant prepped me, getting my chair ready and combing through my hair. At this point I had 3 assistants around me cooing and getting me ready. He burst through his assistants and divided my hair almost directly in half.

He tied both sections into pony tails directly atop my head..Alfafa style. Then he just cut. Like Edward Scissors hands. Jagged, wild snips. 8,9 inches falling at a time. WHAT HAVE I DONE?!?!

Ten minutes later, the hair cut was complete. I had absolutely no idea what to think of it. They were all talking feverishly in Italian, and a new set of assistants swooped in.

One dried my hair.I actually started to like it. No, I loved it!!!!!!! The stylist himself came back for one last check up, and I was surrounded by around 5 assistants. You feel awfully important, as well as kind of self conscious. They were kind, and luckily for all of us, smiles translate perfectly.

A new assistant came in, and asked how I wanted it styled by putting a book on my lap and pointing. Because I couldn't communicate that I didn't want a style, and I knew I was paying for it, and I haven't done my hair in 4 months.. I paged through the book with sincere contemplation. My thought wasn't, 'which one of these will look nicest?' it was 'which one will require the most work?'. If I'm paying 12 euros to have you style my hair, I'm paying for your time too. So I chose a near prom hair style. Tight ringed curls with some cutting edge straight parts. Part of me wonders if it I was crazy, but the other part just realized I've hardly had a brush to my head, much less had it styled, so why not?!


When all was said I had a hair cut I saw for a few seconds and really liked. Plus, I was going to some formal dance of high importance with my new style. I paraded around Catania bouncy curls and all. In total the whole nearly two hour experience cost me 37 euro, and it was SO worth it. I haven't had a chance to take a picture of it how I would normally wear it (so don't go disliking it just yet!), but here is a picture from a few hours post cut.