The 'do was due

To some people, getting a haircut is just something that needs to be done. Or it's an annoying thing that costs money, so they put it off until their significant other starts making offhanded remarks.

To me, getting my haircut is a deeply cleansing experience. It's like wiping the slate clean, and starting fresh. I always feel like a new person after a haircut, and if the cut was good, I feel like a super-charged new person.

Normally, I'm not above cutting my own hair. Gone are the days, however, when I could turn on the electric clippers and be my fresh new self within 10 minutes. Now that I'm representing my business full-time (even at the grocery store) I prefer to look a little more approachable. To attain a look that I'm comfortable with (one that says, "Hey, I'm hip enough to know what's cool right now, but I'm down-to-earth enough to talk to", or something like that... I hope...) I have to give someone else
the scissors.

My most recent stylists have been students in beauty school (cutting hair at their home) and a woman who hasn't moved past the 80's. Not that there's anything wrong with that. She could do some seriously big bangs, if you didn't leap out of the chair in time. Neither of these folks were really giving me what I wanted. In fact, the worst of it was when they nodded emphatically while I described the style I wanted, then swore up and down that they knew exactly what I was talking about and then cut my hair however they felt like. Not how I wanted.

I don't like a hairstylist who refuses to cut my hair how I want.

With all that said, I'd like to announce my new SFL (stylist for life), Becky, who works at DO! salon!! Becky is my favorite person ever, right now. She made an appointment for me the same day I called, which was unexpected. Then she proceded to ask me a ton of questions about what I wanted, and listened to me when I answered. We cleared up all the possible things that could be done before she started, and she even showed me the back multiple times to confirm that I still liked what she was doing.

And it's perfect. She wasn't afraid to make drastic angles and really short bangs. She used fancy techniques that I've never had the pleasure of experiencing. I even walked out of the salon loving the minimalist styling she did! Normally, even a great haircut can look awful the first day when the stylist goes crazy with the hairspray.

I'm still waiting for some of the mistakes from the last cut (too-wide-bangs) to grow out, but I couldn't be happier with what Becky did. The color's a bit dark since I just dyed it, but it will lighten up to a nice chestnut color after a few more washes.

The new haircut makes me feel empowered, somehow. I feel organized. I feel confident. So fresh and so clean, clean.

Oh, and the salon is really cool. There's a ton of colorful, frantic-looking paintings all over the walls, done by the couple who lives upstairs (one of whom works in the salon part-time). It was cool, but still looked clean and respectable. Like I'm trying to look. And it's only a couple blocks from my house, with only a small hill to bike up. Rad.

DO! rad cuts and color
3835 SE Lincoln St
Portland, OR 97214
Phone: (503) 233-2723