This semester abroad, I craved a major change. Of course, I definitely feel like my personality has changed majorly, but I'll go into detail about that in another post. I particularly craved a major physical change. Did I get a piercing? A badass tattoo? Nope. ✄ I got a haircut. Before anything, it should be noted that the last time my hair was shoulder-length was in middle school... I'm about to graduate university in a couple of months. It has been around 8 or 9 years. My hair has always been long enough to hit my hip bone. I kept it long because I always thought I looked ugly with short hair, and every time I went to the hair salon, my mom told me to remind the hair stylist not to cut off more than 2 inches. LET ME TELL YOU how much work I have to put into my ridiculously long hair. It took up all the shampoo and conditioner. I had to brush it for hours, and when I didn't, people would get stuck in it. Yeah, you read that right, random strangers in the crowded metros would just some how get tangled in my hair. It was so, so annoying. I knew I wanted to cut my hair short this semester, I just never had the guts to do it. You see, I've been purposely keeping it long with the thought of my mom in mind. She was diagnosed with cancer over a year ago, and that changed everything. I remember watching her hair fall out and that saddened me the most since she admired my long hair. I never cared for it as much as she did, but after that, I decided to keep it long enough until I could cut it off to give to my mom in case the cancer made her go bald. However, I underestimated my mom's strength. 'Til this day, she is the strongest woman I know. She is currently in the remission period, and we're praying that she becomes officially cancer free forever. She has lost a lot of her hair since then, but she's growing it back and doing very, very well. Since this semester, I haven't had to worry about her losing her hair, so I didn't have anything stopping me from chopping off my hair anymore. That, on top of my desire to alter my look, was what made me finally do it one day after the last of my Friday classes at Lucie Pham. I linked location and other information of the salon at the end of this article. Highly recommend, btw. Upon arrival, I realized the salon was Vietnamese owned. Last name Pham, duh, I should've known! I love the Viet influences in Lyon. I spoke French and Vietnamese to the manager, but she assigned me to a French/British guy haha, probably because I was most comfortable in English and would prefer not to have any miscommunication during this life-changing process. In the photo on the left side, my hair was actually longer than that, but I asked him to cut it to my chest. After staring at myself in the mirror, I decided I wanted a more drastic change. Not just the normal trim like how I always did it in the States. The stylist had to ask me twice, if I was "sure". I replied "yes", without hesitation. I longed for this all semester. And then the photo to the right happened. That's a genuine smile on my face. No regrets. My dark black hair was growing out from the roots, and it was starting to show as my dyed hair grew longer. Which is why I decided to touch up on the hair dye too. I wanted it slightly lighter. So here are the results :) I couldn't stop smiling after my haircut. My host parents noticed immediately, and so did all of my friends here. Even my students from my internship that I see once a week noticed. And they all loved it. I honestly feel like this was a major confidence booster. I felt free... from the tangles, the stress of managing it, the low self-esteem. I felt renewed and couldn't be happier with the results. Who knew a haircut could have such an impact?
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Christina TranA Vietnamese-American student studying abroad in Lyon, France. Always experiencing the world, one day at a time. Categories
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