I've always had my hair long. Well, not always. I've had a few disastrous right-under-the-shoulder midlength cuts. But for the past seven years, I've always had my hair long. And while I loved it, there was that little part of me itching to cut it short(er). But alas, I have naturally wavy hair, and my stylist kept drilling "you can't have short hair unless you want to turn into a poofball" into me. Now, my stylist is a lovely person, and she's good. She's saved me from a half-dozen disasters resulting from impulse cuts suffered under the hands of rubbish stylers. But while she's good, she's not amazing.

After posts and posts of mentioning, I'm sure most of you know that I'm getting ready for a cross-continental move in a couple weeks. I've been wanting to get my hair cut in prep for that move. You know, the "new hair, new groove" thing. (wait, is there even such a thing?) I was mentioning this to my friend once, and she said that she knew this stylist that was amazing. EROS, the salon that he works at is famous in Taiwan as being the it place. They're the go-to people for celebrities and the Kardashians of Taiwan. While I've heard of this place, I've never set foot in it because let's face it, while I'm willing to spend $100 on another neutral palette and another coral lipstick, I don't see the point of spending that kind of money on a trim. But while I was hesitant, there was also that part of me thinking, why not? So I asked my friend to help me book an appointment and after preparing a wallet full of cash, I went into the salon looking forward to a $50 dollar trim. Boy, am I glad I was wrong. After the upscale pampering of getting my hair washed, conditioned, moroccan oil-ed, and treatment. (there was also the ooh-ing and ahh-ing over how every seat had their own laptop to use - but for some reason, the laptop that was in front of me wouldn't turn on) The stylist, Joseph, came over and started studying my hair for long minutes before he asked me what I thought. I didn't say much, and he went back to studying my hair before grabbing the last 10-ish centimeters and declaring that it just had to go. He also might have mentioned something along the lines of "If you don't let me cut the dead and yucky ends of your hair off, you can leave now." Upon hearing that answer, I knew my money was spent in the right place. This was a pricey haircut that was going to be worth it, because he knew what he was doing and he wasn't going to compromise his aesthetics for the "but I don't want my hair short" whine. (although, honestly, I did want to cry when he made the first cut) So I sat back, and left all decisions in his hand. And wow, was the man good with his scissors! Even the tiniest details of the measly strands that framed my face was fully studied and contemplated before he made the cut. What's best, was when he finished the cut, he actually took the time to teach me how to do a simple at-home blow dry and maintain the style. The techniques he taught me were quick and simple, but the results are beautiful. Now, at this point, while I was ecstatic with my new hair, I was also racking up the bill in my head, silently panicking if I had brought enough money. So you could imagine my surprise when the assistant announced that it was $50. I might have froze for half a second, wondering if I should double check the price with her, the "you do know I had my hair washed and pampered, right?", but I quickly gathered myself, paid the money and was out the door with my friend before the assistant could ask for more money. (Oh yeah, we don't have to pay tips here in Taiwan...just in case some of you were wondering if I was skimping out on the tips) 

In total, Joseph must have took off at least 20 centimeters off my hair, but seriously, I couldn't love it more. It's still thick and voluminous, unlike the last time I had short(er) hair. But best of all, it's so darn soft. The damaged ends are all removed, so every strand that you touch is just so silky. I might have repeated "touch my hair" in a non-creepy way to my friend that day at least a couple dozen times. (She ended up threatening to pull out my hair if I said it again, so...) You know how the stylists make styling your hair look so darn easy and when you try to recreate it at home, it's just a darn mess and your style is just so freaking hard to maintain? I told Joseph that I wanted a low-maintenance style, and low maintenance did he give me. I washed it last night and I did a semi-version of his blow dry trick and instead of that "doll-like" blow dry that he gave me, I resulted with my natural soft waves, which I'm more a fan of anyway. Even the bangs were easy to blow dry. I used to take at least 10 minutes every morning battling with my bangs, just to pin them up in frustration. But three minutes, that's how long it takes to maintain the even thicker bangs that Joseph gave me. Ahh - I don't think I could love my hair more. While I'll miss the long curls that I had, I'm going to be loving this style even more. And I finally get shorter hair! Yay! 

(Excuse the asymmetrical face. My right eye was feeling lazy that day.)

And just for comparison and a flash of the past, here's the last image of my long hair.

I was looking in the mirror today and it was like a flashback to when I was seven (I was adorable!)

Special thanks to Litta for bringing me to Eros. I want to see Joseph's work on your hair in a couple months! (and no, I'm still not sorry for calling you a horrible friend in my last post)