but didn’t care if it
was. She’d never felt so relaxed in her life. They went to work on her hair
next, which did cause her to tense up a bit. Fifteen years of growth was a lot
to surrender without some measure of uncertainty. Tom insisted that she could
trust him, though, so she did. She gave him free rein to do whatever he thought
was best. He started by cutting somewhere in the neighborhood of eighteen
inches off her hair. An hour later she was wondering if she’d made a mistake.
They’d colored her hair once all over and now there were two people putting
enough foil in her hair to make her feel like some kind of monster from a
1950’s horror film. Tom kept reassuring her that she’d love the final result.
She prayed that he was right.
She had her nails and a pedicure done while the highlights
set. When they finally pulled all the foil out of her hair and rinsed it, she
was shocked at the results. Her hair was still brown, but now it gleamed with
golden and copper highlights that she could see even before it dried. Tom
started cutting again and she wondered how far he planned to go. When he announced
that he was finished her hair hung a couple of inches below her shoulders with
long layers that lifted much of the heaviness and allowed her natural body to
come to life. Her head felt like it was immeasurably lighter. He’d explained as
he cut that he was thinning it out to take away some of the weight and bulk,
but she didn’t care what he’d done once she saw the final result. He dried it
just so she’d get a good look at the color and cut. She was too stunned to do
more than stare.
It didn’t look anything like the unruly tangle she was
accustomed to seeing in the mirror. It was lustrous and smooth, falling around
her face and shoulders like a soft cloud. The layers he’d put in framed her
face and the soft edges did wonders for the sharpness of her features. She
didn’t look nearly as severe as she had before. Tom gave her shoulder a pat as
he told her it was just the beginning.
As the day wore on Claire realized she was becoming a sort
of salon-wide project. Word had spread among all the workers that she was
making drastic changes, and they all wanted to be a part of it, even if they
just offered verbal encouragement. After they finished with her hair, they led
her into a small boutique that she’d passed by but never entered. The clothes
were hardly the sort she typically wore, while the price tags were enough to
make her heart stop. However, she’d vowed to go all the way, and she was going
to stick with that promise to herself. A personal shopper had already gathered
up a number of outfits for her to try on. She threw herself into the usually
unpleasant act of trying on clothes with as much enthusiasm as she could
muster. It didn’t take long for her to truly become excited, though.
She went through so many different outfits that she lost
count. Almost every one of them looked completely wrong for her when she saw it
on the hanger, yet they each worked incredibly well once she got them on. By
the time two hours had passed, she’d purchased half a dozen new outfits, none
of which were anything she’d ever even dreamed of trying before. She was
starting to feel a little shell-shocked by the time they sat her down in the
chair to do her makeup. The woman who did it took the time to explain
everything she was doing and to teach Claire how to repeat it herself. She
talked about the colors that would work best for her and the various techniques
that would give her any effect she desired. When she finished and turned Claire
around, the woman in the mirror was a complete stranger.
She had a thick cascade of rich mahogany hair and smoky,
blue-gray eyes. Her mouth was full with a hint of a pout she felt certain wasn’t natural. She stared at herself for a long while,
trying to reconcile the woman in front of her with the one she’d known for so
long. It didn’t seem possible that the two could be the
was. She’d never felt so relaxed in her life. They went to work on her hair
next, which did cause her to tense up a bit. Fifteen years of growth was a lot
to surrender without some measure of uncertainty. Tom insisted that she could
trust him, though, so she did. She gave him free rein to do whatever he thought
was best. He started by cutting somewhere in the neighborhood of eighteen
inches off her hair. An hour later she was wondering if she’d made a mistake.
They’d colored her hair once all over and now there were two people putting
enough foil in her hair to make her feel like some kind of monster from a
1950’s horror film. Tom kept reassuring her that she’d love the final result.
She prayed that he was right.
She had her nails and a pedicure done while the highlights
set. When they finally pulled all the foil out of her hair and rinsed it, she
was shocked at the results. Her hair was still brown, but now it gleamed with
golden and copper highlights that she could see even before it dried. Tom
started cutting again and she wondered how far he planned to go. When he announced
that he was finished her hair hung a couple of inches below her shoulders with
long layers that lifted much of the heaviness and allowed her natural body to
come to life. Her head felt like it was immeasurably lighter. He’d explained as
he cut that he was thinning it out to take away some of the weight and bulk,
but she didn’t care what he’d done once she saw the final result. He dried it
just so she’d get a good look at the color and cut. She was too stunned to do
more than stare.
It didn’t look anything like the unruly tangle she was
accustomed to seeing in the mirror. It was lustrous and smooth, falling around
her face and shoulders like a soft cloud. The layers he’d put in framed her
face and the soft edges did wonders for the sharpness of her features. She
didn’t look nearly as severe as she had before. Tom gave her shoulder a pat as
he told her it was just the beginning.
As the day wore on Claire realized she was becoming a sort
of salon-wide project. Word had spread among all the workers that she was
making drastic changes, and they all wanted to be a part of it, even if they
just offered verbal encouragement. After they finished with her hair, they led
her into a small boutique that she’d passed by but never entered. The clothes
were hardly the sort she typically wore, while the price tags were enough to
make her heart stop. However, she’d vowed to go all the way, and she was going
to stick with that promise to herself. A personal shopper had already gathered
up a number of outfits for her to try on. She threw herself into the usually
unpleasant act of trying on clothes with as much enthusiasm as she could
muster. It didn’t take long for her to truly become excited, though.
She went through so many different outfits that she lost
count. Almost every one of them looked completely wrong for her when she saw it
on the hanger, yet they each worked incredibly well once she got them on. By
the time two hours had passed, she’d purchased half a dozen new outfits, none
of which were anything she’d ever even dreamed of trying before. She was
starting to feel a little shell-shocked by the time they sat her down in the
chair to do her makeup. The woman who did it took the time to explain
everything she was doing and to teach Claire how to repeat it herself. She
talked about the colors that would work best for her and the various techniques
that would give her any effect she desired. When she finished and turned Claire
around, the woman in the mirror was a complete stranger.
She had a thick cascade of rich mahogany hair and smoky,
blue-gray eyes. Her mouth was full with a hint of a pout she felt certain wasn’t natural. She stared at herself for a long while,
trying to reconcile the woman in front of her with the one she’d known for so
long. It didn’t seem possible that the two could be the
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