Monday, December 18, 2006

She Uses Her Fingers

Since Dad and Lynn will be in Utah on Christmas Day, this past Saturday, we had several relatives over the house to celebrate Christmas with them. We had arranged beforehand to meet at my house around 11:30am so that we could eat by noon, and a little past 11:00 we got a call from Dad saying they were on their way from Allen. I wasn't really sure why they were coming from Allen since they live in The Colony (yes, that's a real TX city), but Caci clarified that Dad had to stop and get a haircut.

Still I was perplexed. Allen is a good 30 minutes from The Colony and there are probably 50 places to get a haircut between his house and wherever he went in Allen. "Why go all the way to Allen?" I wondered aloud, and Caci was prepared with the answer. It seems that she had asked the same question already and had received assurance that the hairstylist in Allen was the best for Dad.

"She uses her fingers," Caci said.

"Huh?" I know that's what you thought, too. "She uses her fingers for what?"

"I don't really understand either," Caci said. "I'm just passing along what Lynn told me."

Is Dad getting his hair cut by Edna Scissorhands? Or is she plucking each hair out one by one? Or is it neither and the dull edges of her fingers are the reason that he's running late.

Apparently, it takes a while to cut hair when you're using your fingers, and for good reason: you've got to mash the hair repeatedly until the heat generated begins to break down the molecular structure of the hair and allows for a clean break leaving a more natural look than barbaric, sharp-edged tools can provide. It takes years of practice and skill to accomplish this feat without leaving behind dead or split ends not to mention the painstaking detail of getting all the hair cut to an even length. I can't really afford that high-end of a stylist, so I just stick to the lady down the street and a set of clippers. Sure my hair looks like it's been cut after I leave there, but at least it's still the same day as when I went in.

Caci and I still aren't sure what's really special about using your fingers to cut hair, but we sure did enjoy laughing about it.

1 comment:

Caci said...

Hey, yeah....when Lynn told me she "uses her fingers" I said, "as opposed to clippers or scissors?" because I did need clarification. She just said I was being a smart alec....me????? NEVER!!!! ;-)