Hotashi

So I actually did something about my experience with CHAMELEON HAIR STUDIO AND SPA and I e-mailed the manager. It is my first letter of complaint ever, and I’m proud of it. I do hope that they take my seriously and don’t just brush me off. It would be unfortunate for others to experience the same disrespect, unprofessionalism and ethnocentricism that I endured. I wouldn’t be surprised if they just ignore me though. Here is the letter I sent them.

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The weather has been really nice lately. It’s put me in a good mood just because I’m so excited that spring is finally here. All the snow has melted…except a few patches from the HUGE piles that were there a week ago. Jack is coming up today too and I can’t wait to go for a walk together. It’s so nice to be able to get out of the house, enjoy the outdoors and not have to worry about getting an asthma attack. =D

Last Friday (not yesterday) I went to get my haircut. I wanted to get something like THIS. I wanted the distinction between the short top part and the long bottom part, so I drew a picture for the stylist (if I should even call her that). Well she refused to cut my hair like that. She said it looked like two different haircuts and it was a bad idea. So I asked her what she suggested and she said that there should be more blending. I actually tried to argue for a bit longer but she wouldn’t budge. So stupidly I went along (NEVER GO ALONG!!!) and she gave me a typical mundane haircut that every girl on my campus seems to have. I was so angry at myself for overpaying for a haircut that I did not like so I called in yesterday to tell them that I wanted to come back in and get my hair fixed. So I went back and printed off THAT picture so that the same *stupid* stylist could get a better idea of what I wanted. Honestly, it’s pretty much the exact same thing that I drew for her. And you know what she said? She told me that this was a totally different haircut and that I would have to go with someone else because she had a client coming in, in 15 minutes and I would have to pay for the haircut.

WTF?! How is it MY fault that she is incompetent? She should at least take responsibility for being close-minded. When I was showing her the picture I drew the first time I went in she wasn’t even paying attention. She took one look at the picture and decided she wasn’t going to do it. I personally think she doesn’t know how to do it and she wanted to brush it off like it’s a bad haircut. Well excuse me for thinking that East Asian haircuts are way better than Western ones for my hairtype. And to tell me that I have to pay again? Seriously! That is just bad business and poor professionalism. She should own up to not giving me what I wanted in the first place. It’s not like I changed my mind about what I wanted or that I got the haircut I originally asked for and wasn’t happy with it. No, I did not get what I asked for. I was disuaded from it by a close-minded hairstylist who cared more about the $50 she was going to make off of an unoriginal boring haircut than about giving my a haircut that suited me. I’m sorry but boring and unoriginal is not my cup of tea. I don’t want to look like every other White girl on campus. I would rather have my own personality with a spunky hairstyle.

So I asked her what she could do in 15 minutes and she was mumbling to herself. So I told her to adjust the front part of my hair and the back, which she only gave me five minutes for and only adjusted the front. What a useless twit. Never go to CHAMELEON HAIR STUDIO AND SPA in Waterloo. They are thieves! They overcharge for their services and try to exploit their clients out of more money for poor decisions on their part.

Anyway, that’s my rant for the day. My arms hurt from working out. D;

UPDATE: Official Complaint to Chameleon Hair Studio

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This summer my family will be going to India for a couple of weeks. I haven’t been there in almost ten years. It’s my paternal grandmother’s 80th birthday, so hopefully as much of our family can make it back for that. It will be really special. I can’t wait. ^_^

I’ve been in a pretty good mood lately. I think it has to do with me FINALLY finishing the second draft of my research proposal and the good weather. The past few days have been AMAZING! Around 12 degrees, which feels warmer in the sun. I wish Jack and I could enjoy it together. It would have been nice to take a few walks together. Sometimes I wonder what our lives will be like after we get married. We’ve had a long-distance relationship for 4 1/2 years and I’m used to living on my own. I hope it won’t be too hard to adapt to living with another person…who isn’t a roommate.

I also want to get a new haircut. I’m really tired of looking ‘cute’ and I want a more edgy haircut. Not necessarily shocking, but not something that isn’t mundane and boring. I need to start using better hair products too, because that makes all the difference. Actually, I think I want to change up my entire style. I think I’ll get some more vibrant eyeshadows and play with those a bit. For the past two years I’ve been wearing the same gold eyeshadow…it’s gotten to be a safe choice. So yeah, hopefully I will have time to do all this. We’ll see how much work I will have to do on my third proposal draft. =P

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In my race and ethnicity class last week we discussed some of the ways racialized peoples alter their image to try to fit in with the White norm. We focused more on darker skinned people wearing light coloured contacts or altering the colour of their hair. The topic really got me thinking. I had thought about these things a few years ago and had decided that I would not dye my hair, wear colour contacts or lighten my skin. I wanted to make a statement that I was proud of who I was and I did not believe I should change the natural beauty of my body to match that of a White woman (a specific type of White woman that most White women do not look like, but still strive to duplicate onto their bodies). But this time I started thinking about the texture of my hair.

Ever since grade seven I have hated my hair - hated. I don’t think I ever really liked my hair, but I really began to hate it with a passion in grade seven. This was when I started going through puberty and I started realizing how I did not fit the ideal beauty that was set out by Canadian society. I was not White, I did not have fair skin, I was not tall, and I did not have luscious hair that was soft to the touch. My hair was big, volumous (more than desired), black, and coarse. It was hard to maintain and I had not yet learned how to “manage” it. I got my first hair straightener in grade eight or nine and I have been straightening my hair ever since. Occasionally I would leave it natural, but this was out of laziness than anything else. I started thinking about why I hated my hair so much. It’s been 10 years of this hatred and I haven’t allowed myself to stop and think about why.

Last year I had seen a movie (I can’t remember the name) about Black American women talking about their hair. I had blogged about it previously, but I only discussed the comb test in that post. I can’t remember the entire movie, but I remember that a prominent theme was the struggle that many Black women have about coming to terms about their natural hair. For many they have been treating their hair for a good portion (probably the majority) of their lives, and they had to make conscious decisions about the statement they wanted to make with their hair. Many were fighting against the image of the ideal beauty having long, silky straight hair and they wanted to send the message that their natural “kinky” hair was beautiful, acceptable and desirable.

Thinking about the messages that Black women have received and self-inflicted upon themselves of attaining this desired type of hair, I have realized that I too have done the same to myself. Also, I have accepted messages that dark, “kinky” hair is undesirable and disgusting. I have always liked the feeling of my straight silky hair after it has been straightened, but I’ve realized that this is part of the socialization that I have experienced that has taught me that coarse hair does not feel good - that the kinks need to be straightened out and erased of any undesirability. How did I not see this earlier?

So this week I did not straighten my hair. I left it natural and went out to dinner with my friends. I received compliments and scowls about my “beautiful natural hair” which I previously used to shrug off, but this time I smiled and said thank you. I have decided that I want to unlearn the hatred towards my hair and relearn how to love it. I want to take back the power I so willingly gave up to an abstract, unrealistic model image.

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I don’t know if I’m going out of my mind because of this 20 page paper I have to write on the torture in Abu Ghraib, or because I’ve been living in my room for the past three days straight. Well…the two are obviously related. A pefect example of my temporary insanity. Seriously, this topic is very emotionally draining. It is sad to say, but I can’t wait until I’m done thinking about torture so that I can start on my 20 page research proposal. Yay =_=…WHY WON’T THIS TERM END?!!!

Anyway, I just needed to do something besides read about torture so I’m going to list things that I want.

1. This term to be OVER!
2. My legs to stop hurting from sitting and reading for the past three days.
3. More chocolate! Jack brought me chocolate the last time he was up and I finished them. Oh how I miss thee, Lindor chocolates. So deliciously smooth and creamy…yum. ^_^
4. A delicious glazed donut. Like the ones I had in Boston.
5. To finish watching Hana Kimi (Japanese version) with Noops.
6. To have better bangs. I think I will cut them myself this time. O_O!
7. Gotta think of a seventh thing since six is such an ugly number. Oh! Post-it notes that actually stick! Useless dollar store brand. >_>

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