Hairy situation

Kids, please don't try this at home.

Last week my sister asked me if I would cut her hair.  As you know, I have a business.  However, my business is geared to men, predominantly my husband,who can be sheered like a sheep with a razor.  My sister is not a man, nor is she my husband, and unlike Paul who has stick-straight hair, Janell's head is topped with long, luscious locks of dark curls.  She didn't want just a bob either.  No, her exact orders were: short. . . really short, but not short enough that I'd have to buzz her neck, slightly a-line, stacked in the back.  Oi.

Just to prove that my sister is completely out of her mind I have to confess I have only cut three things in my life with hair scissors.  My own bangs, a Cruella DeVil wig, and a poodle.

But Janell is trying to save some money and people tend to do drastic things when trying to save money.  Like ask their no-experience-cutting-hair sister to touch their ebony ringlets.

And I said yes. . . because I'm a masochist.

So, the morning of her birthday (I know, this story just keeps getting worse) she washed her hair for me and I combed it out for the main event.

Before I touched her hair.

Notice my little photobomber

Front view.

Armed with hair-cutting shears, clips, combs, styling mousse, and 13 youtube tutorials, I made my first snip.  Once the panic attack ended and I could stop breathing into a brown paper bag I made another snip.

I tried to act calm and collected so Janell would relax.  But how calm can a girl act while chopping 8+ inches of real human hair off a real human head on that real human's birthday, while that real human is related to you and will never let you live it down if things don't turn out well, and while several other real human family members are watching?  Did I mention a dog and baby were underfoot as well?

But after snipping away for a bit, things were starting to take shape.

When I finished stacking the back and saw the a-line that Janell requested I began to smile because it was actually looking how I wanted it too.

I layered the sides a bit for some blending and in an attempt to avoid triangle head.  If you have curly hair you know what this means. (Once her hair was fully dry there was a bit of this, but we are going to trim up in the next few days.)  When I was completely finished hacking away at Janell's curls I applied a little mousse and called it good.

 Voila!  Here is the finished product!  She looks pretty good for being traumatized for an hour and a half.

Here's the side view.  My magnum opus.

You now have permission to be jealous of her natural curls.

I have to say cutting Janell's hair was quite the adventure.  Will I ever do it again?  Probably not.  But I have a whole new appreciation for hair stylists everywhere.