Having a haircut and then some...

I have had some traumatic experiences when it comes to having my hair done. I remember a perm that my mum set at home, leaving me walk this earth like a cloned sheep. We also did some hair colouring at home that turned out dramatic.

I still cringe when I see the photos that were taken on Schiphol, when we arrived back in The Netherlands after 4 years in Australia. From the back you can't tell my brother and me apart (and no, my brother did not have long hair!).

Living abroad makes going to the hairdressers a leap of faith. It is a lot harder to explain what you want exactly if it is not in your mother tongue or even in your second language. When we lived in Nigeria, on a small Island, I only went to the hairdressers on our home leaves in The Netherlands. The Nigerians have such different hair from my thin, straight, straw, that I didn't trust that they could turn it into anything representational.

In Libya it was hard to find hairdressers at all, since the women should not be seen from the street without their head scarf. We went on home leave 3 times a year, so I coloured it myself and had my haircuts in NL. Men on the other hand could go to the hairdressers in Libya for a cut and a shave and all sorts of skin treatments and massages too, on almost every street corner. One of the first outings my father had in Tripoli, was to the hairdressers with Adriaan and the boys.

Here in India I do go to the hairdressers regularly. Not just to have my hair cut and coloured, but also to have my eyebrows treaded and coloured and to have a manicure and pedicure. ALL AT THE SAME TIME!!!
The first time I saw an Indian lady at the hair dressers with 4 people working on her at the same time, I thought it looked ridiculous and not very relaxing. I could not see myself like that. I couldn't even remember the last mani/pedi I had had. But now, just a few months later, I have turned into a proper Indian lady:

Look at me acting the real upper class Indian lady the typical expat wife

We went with 5 women and we had so much fun! Lunch before and coffee after, what a tough life we have.

PS

My hair turned out nicely! ;-)