Hair today gone tomorrow.

Let me first start by saying that I have a hair person. Her name is Ashley. She works at O'Hair Salon & Spa in Gaithersburg, MD. I've been going to her since February 2007, so for the past seven years. When I find someone I like, I stay loyal. Even when I lived downtown in DC, I'd make the trek out there, early on Saturday mornings to beat the beltway traffic. The atmosphere was great and it was a no-tipping place, because tips were rolled into the service prices. As a result there was no need to look stingy or crazy when it came time to pay. How very European.

The last time I went to her was the end of June. I haven't been back since and it shows. When I got it cut and colored, it was right before my friend's wedding and featured a bit of red tint to it. I've been coloring my hair ever since I started going to O'Hair, so it's always been a little darker and richer than my natural color. In fact, the first time I colored it, I visited my grandmother who got up real close to me and said, "Good. Now your eyebrows match."

As if she had been thinking that my entire life. Hilarious.

Here's what it looked like on Saturday night. It was pretty ridiculous in length and faded in color. I have a lot of hair. Thanks, Mom.

Even though it's been cool that I can wrap my hair around in a bun with one hand, I needed two elastics to secure it because it was so heavy.

All this changed yesterday when I walked into Bloom's in Wiesbaden.

Bloom's is a chain, I imagine much like a Bubbles in the DC area. (I'm not totally sure, because, as we know, I've been a loyal customer at O'Hair). I did a lot of research before settling on this, my main requirements being 1) Someone spoke English so I could properly convey my fussy hair needs, 2) It wasn't way too expensive, and 3) It had good reviews.

I was incredibly anxious because I haven't had anyone else do anything to my hair in seven years. (With the exception of my wedding day when all I needed was a 'do). Would the setup be the same? What kind of products will they use? Will the color be right? Will they apply it correctly? Have they seen this much hair before? Ugh, so much angst.

Luckily, I was able to make an appointment online (neat!) and select my stylist, Corinna. I had checked around looking at reviews and discovered she spoke English and did a good job. Plus, she had some funky hair, and I tend to trust hairdressers who take risks with their own hair. The Wiesbaden location got better reviews than the one that's a 5 minute walk from my apartment, so I had to hop on a train across the river to get there, but it was still quicker than getting to Gaithersburg. When I got there, I said that I had an appointment with her, (in German) and the guy said, "Kim?" And I was like "Ja." So I was invited to her chair and we sat down and talked about what I wanted.

She was SO nice! I had brought a few pictures to show her, and she gave me her opinions, and then we brought out the color book. She told me that the colors were permanent, but we could make it less permanent by applying it wet. I've always done the demi-permanent so that as the color fades, any roots are not really noticeable (which is how I went for so long not doing anything for seven months).

The salon itself was really nice. There were elements that reminded me of O'Hair (sadly no massage chairs for shampooing though. Definitely missed that). I was brought some magazines too, and though they weren't English, who cares? Do you actually read the articles in fashion magazines or just oogle the pretty clothes?

Anyway. Poor Corinna. She really had her work cut out for her. There was SO MUCH hair to cut. At the end I blow dried it myself. (Apparently here they charge for finishing, or having the stylist dry your hair, to the tune of 4-19 Euro, but you can use their driers and any brushes to do it yourself. I decided to do it myself.)

By my estimation, I lost about 5-6 inches of hair. She also put in a bunch of shorter layers too, so my head feels a ton lighter. But don't worry - there is still plenty of hair left.

Here's what it looks like!!

Darker. Lighter. Stylish-er. Featuring far less split ends. The water here is incredibly hard, so when paired with heaters inside the house, it definitely gets damaged. I'll need to start applying extra conditioner from now on.

My head feels a lot better. All in all, it cost 79 Euro, including the cut, color, long hair charge, and deep conditioning treatment. With the exchange rate it ran just under $107, which is still less than what I was paying at O'Hair. Money well spent to save time drying and fighting with ultra-long hair.

I guess I really live here now, because I have a new hair person!