A Souvenir from Bogota

On the day we decided to leave Bogota we rolled in at 10 am in La Peluquería looking our normal disheveled morning selves.

   

B’s hair had gotten a little bushy recently and he kept asking me to cut it. R had trouble combing through hers. She was set on growing it out but was completely unwilling to put in the basic effort of brushing it every day. Me? Well, if I didn’t tie my hair every morning it would look like a giant furry animal that had landed on the back of my head. Traveling wasn’t good for it either. I kept loosing ton of it every day and the ends were splitting like crazy. I guess Kuba was looking the most normal as I regularly cut his hair with the blunt scissors we carry and his shaving machine.

We knew that the creative hair saloon that was a block from our hostel offered free haircuts on Wednesdays, but it took some convincing to get the family on the same page. The rules of the free haircut were simple, but also intimidating~

You sit on the chair and keep your mouth shut. The cute girls in charge can do !ANYTHING! with your hair. 

So we showed up on time, each of us dealing with his/her own fears.

 

R, the sensitive one, was terrified. She is already developing an awareness about her looks (how does that go with no brushing her hair I have no clue) and has a very clear idea of what she likes and what she doesn’t. She is also easy to cry and I wasn’t ready for drama that early in the morning, so in a way I was nervous too.

Kuba, the smart one, decided that his hair was short enough and that he was exempt from having to be a guinea pig.

B, the traditional one, was opposed to being a puppet in the hands of someone with a buzz cutter in hand. He had been fighting my attempts to give him a Mohawk for… 7 months total. Agreeing to the free haircut meant that he might end up with a crazy hairdo after all. What a nightmare!

I was the one needing most help as far as hair goes. I have been growing my useless long hair because Kuba had been insisting on it, but was frustrated with it every day. I had no illusions that short hair would be better too. When cut short mine gets puffy, curly and flies in all directions. In a nutshell, from my point of view, I had nothing to loose.

La Peluquería is cool, artistic, very Asheville like. It doesn’t look like a conventional hair saloon, rather like a center for cultural events, art exhibitions, new musical proposals, clothes designers venue and a pleasant cafe away from the sounds of the city. I could see no mirrors only three high chairs waiting for us. The kids and I sat on them while the girls chatted behind us in Spanish, while looking at a book with drawings of flowers, birds and butterflies?! Hmm, not a promising start, we thought, but it was too late to run away.

And then they put on a good beat on and started working.

R’s hairdo took no time. Vanessa quickly layered it and then with one swift move cut short asymmetrical bangs that perfectly accentuated her eyebrows and big eyes. Wow!

Her face was totally transformed by the haircut. I breathed a sign of relief – she was smiling a happy smile totally in love with her new looks!

 

Well, looking at B though I couldn’t help but laugh out loud. He was getting a bold haircut that worked beautifully with his hair texture but was for sure out of the box. Talking about opening the mind and letting go! Well, sitting on that chair and letting the girl play with his hair must be the symbol of a full surrender:)

He looked at his new self in the mirror, shrugged his shoulders and then went back to weaving bracelets.

As for me? The moment Vanessa switched on the buzz cutter I knew that the days of my ‘long’ hair were over. It took her a while. She was busy buzzing a painting on the back of my head while I was sitting there guessing the design by the movement of the machine.

Ok, brace yourselves. This is the back of my head, y’all! And the front.

 

And the side. My neck was totally shaved off and my head felt lighter. I might have to accessorize accordingly. A new tattoo? A nose stud?

Kuba was observing all that was happening with a slight amusement till B’s hairdresser motioned him to the chair. I couldn’t imagine what she could cut more, but I could totally see her drawing on his head with the buzzer. That was exactly what she did.

 

And here we are the four of us with our unforgettable souvenirs from Bogota 🙂

When our friend Mauricio saw us all he could mutter was ‘Interesting‘. In my experience this is a word people use when they are confused and don’t know how to react.

What word does our new look bring to you? Crazy, weird, brave, bad, good, different?

~M.