Whew, time goes by.
Some days are shittier than others. And today was one of them. The day wasn't going all that well to begin with work-wise or weather-wise. I don't mind the rain, I mean I am a westcoast girl. But today I had an appointment at a new hairdresser, and the rain was going to bring on fuzzy hair. And I knew I would have to endure exclamations, (I keep hearing from every hairdresser about my curly-fuzzy tendencies, and how different this is from most Finnish hair) and sit in the chair under bright lights feeling even uglier, and less stylish, and less cool than ever.
The combination of pouring rain and a hairdresser appointment resulted in me jamming winter sock clad feet into heeled knee high boots. Moisture + thick socks = excrutiating blister. I was overcompensating with the boots. They make me taller and leaner than I am. They make me feel like someone I'm not in other words. I can only handle them in small doses because I like to walk fast and it's hard to walk fast in them. And I like to feel that if I need to run away (from someone or something) I can do it. Paranoid eh? No no, it's my inner Nancy Drew. Flats are better suited.
The point of all this is that the hairdresser, did two things to make me feel crappy (besides charging waaay too much for doing almost nothing to my hair):
1. He made me feel terrible for not speaking Finnish. He spent 1.5 years living in Dublin and 5 years working on a cruise ship. I guess when he got sick of it all, he wanted to come back to the real Finland and only speak Finnish. I was sat down in a chair FAAAAR away from everyone at the front of the store in the WINDOW. Right on the sidewalk. This place is right next to the only liquor store in town. Lots of foot traffic. Anyways, it felt like they were keeping the contamination down, I was polluting the business space with my English. I don't know, he really grilled me and teased me. I found myself explaining why I haven't had time to study Finnish, and explaining that I am NOW taking a class. Why should I explain? It's my life. And I am a paying customer. I have a book I don't need to talk, just do my hair. Later in the conversation he said, "so now that your boyfriend is away you'll have to learn the words for milk and bread!" GIVE ME A BREAK. I don't speak the language, but I know a lot of things, I've lived here for two years and it's impossible if you don't know some basics. Besides, I think I can identify a loaf of leipa visually (with dots over the "a").
2. He combed through my hair and said, "So when did you first notice grey hairs?" WHAT? I had no idea. I laughed it off and said, oh really, are there a lot. No there's just some he said. Well, I'm turning thirty in about 6 months, I said. Okay, I guess my regular sainted hairdresser (actually colourist) in Canada has never mentioned it to me because she's a lovely lovely lady. Sigh. ALWAYS choose a hairdresser older than yourself. Just slightly.
Lemon Out.
