Ivana Atmojo

One of the things that we do in Jakarta to go against the monotonous stream is: salon hopping. Since we’ve never quite found a hair-stylist whose sense of style we really like, having our hair cut in different salons every couple of months seems to be a fair bet.

A few days ago, Ivonne (who has long straight hair) went to get her hair cut in this salon we’ve never been to. The stylist was a very dainty guy, girly & confident at the same time. We thought:” Hmm..he seems like he knows his stuff “

The Salon Guy: “So, what can I do for you?”

Ivonne: “I want my hair just slightly shorter.”

The Salon Guy: “Oh, you want it this SHORT? Yea? You want BOB? Like this?” (showing Nicole Richie’s picture) This is nice, it’s IN right now. It’s really good, everyone wants this. You want short bob, yea?

Ivonne: “Oh, no no no. Just a little shorter than this. Just make it look neater, I don’t want a major haircut.”

The Salon Guy: “Oh okay. Hang on a sec.” (He then searched for magazines, flipping pages). “You want this?” (Showing a picture of Jennifer Anniston)

Ivonne: “Well, no. I don’t want that much layers. Just cut A LITTLE bit. I like my layers now, I don’t want it overdone.”

The Salon Guy: “Oh okay…”( * CHOP CHOP CHOP CHOP CHOP * )

AND…..voila!!! The hair is done and I think it looks catastrophique!!! The layers were awfully uneven that they look like cleopatra wannabe. Even when tied into a pony-tail, you can tell that it’s a terrible cut! The pony tail looks like a skewed paint brush!

After we paid and left, I just started laughing. We had never seen such cut and wondered how someone who admitted to be a hairstylist could do such an abominable work. We really wondered whether he knew that it was such a terrible cut, or if he actually thought it was a job well done! And I think that’s the mistake that a lot of people often make: NOT listening to what the client wants, and imposing what we want instead. If we want to work it out, really..we have to start LISTENING

Luckily, Ivonne never takes hair-accident that seriously. “Hair grows” she always says so calmly
Well, she’s right! And I’m so glad it does…

If I’m to be asked what one should do if one just had a hair-cut accident that’s so irreversible, my answer would be: “Keep smiling! So people notice your smile, not your hair”

On a more serious note on accident: On the other side of the globe, our friend Hadi hurt his left middle finger badly—after attempting to catch a falling speaker (weighing about 30 kgs) from a theatre-standard height. (Gawd…can you imagine that?!) He has 6 stiches now on his poor finger. I hope it will recover really really fast, & that he’ll be able to play his jazzy tunes back on the piano!