Vidal Sassoon Academy

Hey guys, guess what I did today? I *gasp* got a haircut!!
What, you don't think that's very interesting? heh. Ok, but read on gentle readers, for my tale is just beginning. It's not the fact that I got it cut, but the place I had it done. For I went to: *pause for dramatic emphasis*:
VIDAL SASSOON ACADEMY!!

Vidal Sassoon Academy is a place in Santa Monica where they train new and aspiring hairstylists in the secret art of Vidal Sassoon-jutsu. Each and every student has an intense training course that involves studying techniques, then cutting real hair on mannequins under a watchful eye. When they have satisfactorily completed the first two phases of training, they undertake a third: internships of cutting real hair on real guinnea pigs. .. I mean, people.

My friend went here and told me about it, and I've always been meaning to go. Why? Because it's an experience. It's also a way to get a professional high-scale salon haircut for the flat rate of $20. That's right, they shampoo and condition, cut and style and blow-dry it for twenty measly bucks! Considering I haven't cut my hair in about a year (besides trimming my bangs, which I have finally learned how to do correctly ^^;), I felt like I was in a luxury spa for my head.

The one thing about this place is that you have to be very specific about what you want your hair to look like. Bring a picture, if possible. Why? I don't know if you've seen late-model cuts, but if you're not careful, you may end up looking like the picture above. Yipes.

Anyways, it was fun! but it took two hours!! Why? Because the hair-cutting part was a four step process, and my stylist (a very sweet girl) was forced to wait for her instructor to come by and approve of her work thus far, and show her what to do exactly on the next step, taking the honorary position of cutting the first few snips of hair at each stage. Man, sometimes the instructor would dissapear for very long periods at a time, coming back smelling like cigarettes. But I'll say one thing about her, she really knew what she was doing. I felt like I was 14 again, being a hair model, surrounded by interesting smells and people with exciting accents and having very little idea how it was going to turn out.

The end result? I like it! ^_^ It's not actually very exciting, it's just a short cut with some gentle layers above my shoulders. But it was a lot of fun, and I'm feeling much more ready for the fashion-focused city of Tokyo. I'll be taking a photo for my resume tomorrow, so I'll post it online as soon as it's scanned so you can see my new 'do. *grin*