It seems that my blog is doing better when I am not actually writing anything...Is this a hint, lovelies?
During my posting absence not only did I receive 2 blog awards from talented Nabby from This Old Life and generous Miss Dee from Of pearls and petticoats..., but I also gained 7 new followers. Thank you so much everybody for your kindness!
Now my absence was due for the most part to a very stressful period at work - remember that great job that I started not so long ago?!...Yeah, right...Things are looking bright though, if only because I have a holiday coming soon. No money to go anywhere though, so I guess I'll spend more time with you :).
But I had other mishaps lately. At the end of February I found myself very brave and decided to walk into a hairdresser and have my hair cut. I hadn't steeped into a beauty parlor of its kind since 5 years ago, when I had a very traumatic experience. From gorgeous waist length hair I was left at the time with a poorly chopped shoulder length that made me 10 years older and took several other cuts to correct the terrible layering. Ever since, it 's been only my sister who cut my hair - she is a trained hairdresser - with the yearly frequency of my trips back to my country. Of course that no cut will last a year, and this time around I was due one since about November. With old wounds more or less healed , I decided it was time to be an adult and do something about it.
Now you will find hard to believe this, but the history repeated. In spite of me taking some precautions - in the sense that I tested the hairdresser's skills on my husband first, who also wanted a classic vintage haircut, and who pretty much obtained that and looks wonderful! When it came to me though, the nightmare returned: in with long, nearly waist length hair, out with badly cut shoulder length something. Not quite as awful as 5 years ago, but bad enough for me not to be able to face how I look in the mirror, let alone actually wearing it like that. I thought I was too old to cry anymore when coming out from the hairdresser's, but I was wrong.
So at the moment I am curling the life out of it and try and make it work, without much success so far. I am really tempted to have it cut shorter - I was contemplating a bob for little while now, with still enough curling length, something to be more sympathetic towards 30's fashions. But I am too scared to try anything, as there are plenty of things that could still go wrong, and the recovery would be a lot more difficult from a bob gone wrong than it will be from the present length.
To make matters worse, I fell in love with a dress. First sight, huge lust ! My size, velvet!!!, great color on me that I have been coveting for a while, and from a period that I am very much trying to buy into, with not much success so far because everything is in general outside my budget. My "wonderful" job pays very little, and in no case can sustain my taste. Story of my life that, with my taste being my only fortune, and yet at many a time is more of a curse.
Not the case now, as this wonderful creation was actually very attainable. But since last time I bought things in a hurry I ended up a little disappointed I wanted to clear a couple of things with the seller first. Of course the damned dress sold before they even had the chance to read my email!
I cried my heart out, and I am still upset beyond words. It would console me a little to think another person just like me got it and will love it dearly, but part of me expects to see it again at 5 times the price in someone's shop! I suppose it's because that's what happened last time I had something snatched from under my nose like that, again while being under the process of actually acquiring the garment. I then saw it popping up again, but that time at a price as far beyond my reach as Mars is.
So now I keep whining and moaning and wailing about missing out again on something I wanted very very badly, and thinking that good things only happen to some, that beauty is only available to those who can afford it, and that everything has always got to go wrong in my life...there's no level of self pity that I can not reach. Once an acquaintance of mine said : "When your ship finally sails in, you'll be waiting at the airport".
At the losers terminal, that is.
At the losers terminal, that is.
So sorry about the hair! I completely understand. I had mine cut last week and I made the major mistake (I should KNOW better!) of assuming the stylist remembered how she cut it the last time. I have done this before. Well, she did not, and, the top layers are all way too short and when I came home my husband started calling me Kristy McNichol. (circa 1978 KM) Anyway, it will grow, as will your own, and, you always look so fabulous I am certain no one will know the wiser but you! Chin up!
ReplyDeleteSo sorry about your bad experience! If it's any consolation, after I curled mine and still didn't look any good my husband called me "a Dallas reject"!...
ReplyDeleteOh i myself didn´t dare to go to an other hairdresser to try if that one know what i mean with a vintage haircut..tried three with more or less terrible outcomings.
ReplyDeleteFor that dress, thought about making your own?
It looks not very complicated. :) you can give it a try!!
Oh, but I didn't even ask for anything vintage - i just wanted a U shape, with a lot of layers to five me volume at the right level and aside fringe that would blend in nicely with the rest of the hair and not look like a series of steps! Nothing specifically vintage there, and something I would expect any hairdresser to be able to deliver.
ReplyDeleteAs for making my own dress, I am alas incapable of it.
oh dear, what a rough old go you've had! I've had a terrible fear of hairdressers, since the age of seven, when one actually CUT my cheek with her shears (there was blood, there were tears) (she was busy talking to someone and snipped me while she was cutting with her head turned away). I must admit, though, that I am fearless when it comes to going from long to short...but then I don't generally like long hair on myself (makes my long face horsier), so I usually only grow it to get that flapper-esque feeling that only comes with a dramatic chop. In the end, I know it's probably cold comfort, but your hair will grow back and you can have fun with hair accessories and hats if the current length isn't your favourite in the interim??
ReplyDeleteAs for the ones that get away...yes, it can be a galling experience to lose out on lovelies. That's the pleasure and peril of loving vintage. The fact of the matter is, the vintage buying and selling market is incredibly competitive and the prices are going up and up and up because the demand is greater than ever before, but the supply just is not there. It may seem ruthless, but you are right that it is possible that your coveted green dress may pop up in another vintage seller's shop at a higher price. These days, most vintage sellers (myself included) buy their stock from other sellers (whether thrift or vintage or antique malls) and then resell at a higher price (some gouge more than others!). That is where vintage comes from, since it can't be made in some factory, and that is how the profit margin is achieved! If you can source from an estate sale or a charity shop, then your profit margin is higher, but the fact is that most of these are really inconsistent sources of vintage these days, as these shops have caught on to the value of vintage and some even have monopolistic agreements with specific sellers or vintage, so other sellers don't have a chance to source directly!
Anyway, with people like Livia Firth having frocks made out of 11 other chopped 30s frocks, we can only expect the situation to be even tighter! There's no two ways about it: if you love the 1930s but are on a very specific budget, you have to be patient and tireless in scouring for the perfect frocks....or you have to buy fewer pieces, put funds in reserve so that your bank account is ready at "go time," when you see the perfect item and know that you just can't lose out on it, but the price is a little steeper?
Thanks Baroness, you always know how to make me feel better about things. It's not like it was the first time I've missed out on something, it's part o the game and just goes without saying with the vintage hunt, but like you said certain opportunities are getting scarcer and also sometimes when you keep losing it gets to you. While I have learned in general to be more phlegmatic about my losses, some of them, like this one, do cut deep.
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