When You Pay for a $4 Haircut...

...you get a $4 haircut.

Dustin and I have both been needing haircuts all summer.  But we have been putting it off because, well, haircuts are expensive when you're on a tight budget.  It's not so much a problem for Dustin because he gets his done at the beauty college.  You know, the kind of place where 18-year olds who want to be beauticians practice on you and then their work gets checked by a "professional."  There's only so much damage you can do to a haircut when it's a men's haircut...."2 on the sides, 3 on top please." 

I, however, have never gotten my hair cut at the beauty college.  I have always been afraid of coming out with a hair massacre.  It is much easier to butcher long hair with layers and bangs and such than a men's cut that will grow out in three weeks.  But this time I really needed one and it was cheap....so I went with Dustin to be practiced on. 

I should have known better.

Dustin's hair turned out much shorter than usual, but actually I think it looks really nice.  I like it.  He doesn't like it so much, but again, it will grow out in a month or so and no one will know the difference.

I was pretty confident as the blonde teen girl asked me about what I wanted.  I told her the same thing I usually tell my hair stylists.  Keep most of the length, put in some layers so it's not so thick and heavy, etc.  I am not really very adventurous.  I had a short cut once and didn't like it much, so I usually just do medium long with layers.  Blah. 

The girl was pretty talkative and seemed to know what she was doing, for the most part.  I wasn't thrilled with the result, but it didn't look horrible.  The "professional" came to check the cut, made a few adjustments, asked if I liked the cut, signed the girl's paper, and left. 

We went home and I looked in the mirror again.  This time, the damage looked much worse.  It just looked like a really badly done haircut.  The layers were choppy, the bottom layer was too long, and there seemed to be a chunk missing from the back. I put it in a ponytail because we were going to the fair with Kim and Robert and Miranda, but I was feeling more and more depressed about it as the evening went.

The rest of the evening was awful.  A case of full-blown pregnancy hormones mixed with a haircut that was looking worse by the minute turned into hysterical tears for most of the rest of the night.  Dustin didn't know what to do and I couldn't stop crying.  Luckily I felt much better the next morning, but the haircut was obviously unchanged.  Finally we decided that if I really felt like I needed to, I could go get it fixed at a real salon.  We knew it would cost around $30, but I was coming to really hate the thought of going back to work in a week with a sloppy joe haircut.  So I called a few salons to get a price range and then picked the cheapest one that I thought looked good enough to actually fix the problem. 

I am happy to say that the stylist I picked did a wonderful job fixing my poor hair.  She didn't even have to take off much length to do it, so it still fits into a ponytail except for the front pieces.  She really did an amazing job and I was so grateful.  Even better, she only charged me $20 when I was expecting to have to pay $25 plus a tip.  Since it worked out in the end, I'm not mad about the girl who hacked my hair in the first place.  If I was made of money, I would go to the beauty college every time to let the girls practice, then get it fixed by a real stylist.  But since I am not made of money, I think I will be sticking to Katie at Beyond Hair Salon from now on.