I KNOW WHAT I WANT

After all this time, I have made up my mind. No more searching movie star magazines and hair style booklets for me. I am tired of trying to explain the style I want to my hair- stylist (if you can call her that) because no matter how I tell her about a new do, she cuts it the same way every time. I know what I want but apparently, so does she and she wins. The one time she changed was when I was relaxing with eyes closed while she did the comb-out and gasped when I looked in the mirror. I said, "But I do not part my hair in the middle. My face is too round!" This woman has been my stylist for three years now and I have never requested a center part. She has conveniently ignored the torn-out pictures of every starlet from Alba to Zeta- Jones, and every modern style I have seen or devised. I know it is hard to concentrate on snipping while carrying on a conversation on a cell phone tucked under her chin. Perhaps that is why I get a blunt cut when I request a layered look. Perhaps that is why I get a curly perm when I want just body. Maybe that is why I get orange instead of champagne blonde highlights. I get anxious when the timer has gone off several minutes before she returns from the back. But the cut, (Oh, my, the cut!) everyone knows that is the most important part. Last time when I examined the final results in the mirror, I gulped audibly. Then I began telling myself, "Don't panic, it will grow out. Your hair grows fast, it won't take long." Ha! A bad cut lasts FOREVER! And you have to live with it in the meantime. Of course, all the important occasions come around during this time of exasperation. She had the nerve to say ,the last time I went for a trim after a bad perm (she had said, I am going to use pink, then gray, then pink rollers this time and hope it will give you more body") that "Your hair seems a little dry." I did not say, " I have just had two hot oil treatments and a deep conditioning treatment at home!" I am not a difficult client. I hide my displeasure and write it off as lack of communication. But, I think I have a solution. I have found a picture of my- self that was taken twenty years ago, that has the style I want. It is beside the point that the face was thin with only one chin, the skin was smooth and unwrinkled, and the hair was thick and glossy. I am not asking for miracles. I know she does not do plastic surgery or tummy tucks or camoflauge make-up. Just please, please, for once can we do it my way?