Barbarella Salon Party

I'm one of those girls who lets her haircuts grow out much longer than I should in between trims--not because I'm too cheap to go to the salon regularly, but because I'm always busy. A haircut falls lower and lower on the priority list as I find other stuff that needs to be done. I left for San Francisco before I could get to a salon and spent the entire trip with my bangs clipped up and my hair in a ponytail; by the time I came back I was dying for a new 'do. Luckily for me, Miranda had arranged a hair party for the ladies of Stylefinds and Jenn Wint from The Conveyor Belt at Barbarella Salon (3277 Main Street, tel. # 604-876-1414).

By the time I arrived, the party was already getting started. Each stylist had paired herself up with a girl. Serena and Miranda sat patiently in their chairs as their stylists put foils in their hair. Shallom and Jen were chatting, and Karen was in the corner with her head under a blow dryer. The hum of pleasant conversation and laughter filled the air.



Over pizza and a refreshing Pimm's, my stylist Barbara and I discussed what to do with my hair. I'm fairly low-maintenance: I like a wash-and-wear style that doesn't require tons of time with a straightening iron or multiple products to look good. My hair also has to be long enough to put up in a ponytail when I'm dancing. I warned Barbara about how thick my locks could get. She grabbed a handful of wet hair and said doubtfully, "The individual strands are probably thick, but there doesn't seem to be a lot of hair." We decided to trim 3" off the ends, layer out some of the bulk and heaviness, and freshen up my bangs.

Barbara shampooed my hair and cut off a lot of the length, then blow-dried my hair before moving on to my bangs. About halfway through the blowdrying, though, she collapsed into a fit of giggles: "Okay, I take back what I said earlier. I just dried your hair and there's twice as much as there was before!" Inspired by my "really classic" look, she curled the ends under for a retro-inspired touch.

The appalling before shot (my hair looks extra weird here because I'd just shaken it out of a hairclip)...

...and the adorable after!

A big, big thank-you to the ladies of Barbarella, and to Barbara in particular, for a great job hosting the party and doing our hair! I love my new cut.

The Barbarella crew

The post-makeover results

Want to find out what the others thought of their hair? Hop on over to Stylefinds for the full re-cap!

All photos in this post by Yvonne Chew.