LOVE, Kloudiia

“My heart is beating very fast now!” I exclaimed to the guy sitting behind me, as I put my hand over my chest to indicate how nervous I was.

“Don’t worry, it’s time to change,” he reassured me.

Then, with the gadget he held on his right hand, he started to work on it. “It” being my long curly tresses which I had been keeping at approximately that length for the past 9 years. Yes, I was finally going to have a change! A big one, to me, but not to the girl sitting next to me – my sister.

Then I heard the light snipping sound of the scissors and felt this feathery load of hair fell from my head to the floor. I could feel myself 10 grams lighter.

“How much did you cut?” I asked my hairstylist immediately. He laughed. I reckoned he probably hadn’t come across such paranoia for a very long time maybe.

“Stupid, you should ask how much is left,” my sister interjected before he could have a chance to reply.

“Ya, you’re right! So, how much is left?” Again, before he could reply, I’d already stretched out my hand to feel the remaining length of my hair. Hmm, okay, not that short after all. I thought.

“Why don’t you cut shorter? Here (pointing to my chin), should cut till your chin. Still so long, might as well don’t cut. I don’t even see any difference,” my sis said again.

“What! No way! That’s too short. No, no, please don’t listen to her. She’s a devil,” I cautioned my hairstylist. Again, he sweetly reassured me that he won’t venture there. He’ll stop slightly above my shoulders, that’s all, for a start.

“And how can anyone not notice that I’ve cut my hair. I mean, it’s so different!” I retorted.

“Ha! Some guys didn’t notice it when you permed your hair. Have you forgottent that already?” she said.

“Ya, that’s true. But this is different. I mean, I’m going from long and curly to straight and short. I think it’s such a huge difference,” I insisted.

Okay, point noted. My sister knew that no matter what she said, I won’t be changing my mind about cutting a real short hair, like hers.

You see, to me it was a radical change. But maybe to others, it is like what my sis said – something normal and not to be fussed over with. Yet, I had debated with myself for months and some constant cajoling with my dear hubby for the permission to chop off my hair! So, to me, I have short hair now. And this is a big deal.

Strictly speaking, it wasn’t a change after 8 years. Because during the course of this period, I had had my share of changes ha! So it wasn’t as if I was walking around with the same hairstyle for that 3,285 days. (That’s 365 days x 9 years!) But non-strictly speaking, it was a change because now, I felt more refreshed with short hair and I felt like I was younger!

Several hours later, I walked out of the salon feeling rather satisfied and happy. I now have a fringe and hair that is perhaps 1.5 inches above my shoulders.

Then came verdict time – meeting my hubby. When he saw me, he nodded his head. Phew! Exam passed! So I asked coyly: “So next time I can cut shorter ya? Change another hairstyle?” I thought he would say “Yeah, why not?” Instead he immediately replied, short and sweet: “See how la!”

That kind of drowned my spirits a little bit. But, nothing as compared to this!

I said I felt younger, right? But before I could happily point out this difference to my man, he was one step ahead of me and blurted out: “Put on a specs and you’ll look like a teacher.”

I turned and glared at him. ”Hmm… I told my hairstylist he chopped 5 years off my age! You should say ‘put on a school uniform and you’ll look like a student once more!’, what put on a specs and look like a teacher!” Huff!

Well, experiences have told me that if I were to allow myself be bothered by his irritating remarks, I’d be dead by now.

Reason? Death by idiotic irritation by your spouse.  

P.S Kloudiia now has to adapt to a change – when she ran her fingers through her hair, she suddenly experienced an abrupt and premature stop before she hit her shoulders when she used to go all the way to her back. But she certainly enjoys the economic benefits of using half the amount of shampoo and conditioner, and half the amount of time to dry her hair! Bravo!