Our Unexpected Beautiful Makeover

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Our names are Emily Hellqvist and Kathy Shi, and we underwent a hair makeover in the name of journalism. While both of us have never really been to the hair salon for anything other than simple cuts, we didn’t quite know what to expect on the big day. We both went in with an idealistic view of what could come out of it but were soon faced with reality. Things never go according to plan, even if the styles that we wanted were completely different.

Emily’s Experience:

The only times I’ve ever been to the hair salon were to trim or cut my hair – never for anything else. I had always been discouraged from dyeing or curling my hair as my mom is fond of saying that, “Doing anything unnatural to your hair damages it.” Call it the prime teenage rebellious era, but when the opportunity arose for me to do whatever I wanted with my hair, I hopped on board. Hey, what excuse will work better on my tiger mom than, “It’s for work!”

I went in with reference pictures ready. Like the stylist noted, the style I wanted was very European-American, while what Kathy wanted was more Korean. I had been so nervous and excited in the week leading up to it, that when the day came, I was a little bit scared. I was right to be scared though because my emotions were about to endure a roller coaster ride.

It was my first time doing something different with my hair, so I was very new to the environment. When they pulled out the tin foil that they were going to use to bleach my hair, my internal dialogue was a mixture of confusion and horror. What were they going to do? I was like a cat seeing the outside world for the first time – I didn’t know what to feel. Then, after a lot of tin foiling and a lot of waiting, they washed my hair and I think that’s when they dyed it? I did feel some burning sensation on my scalp so that’s what I assume it was. It seemed like he had washed my hair several times but by the time he was drying my hair, I noticed something that seemed different.

The highlights that I had asked for were…not there. Instead, the bleached strands were replaced with grey locks. It wasn’t the light brown that I had asked for – unless I’ve been color blind this whole time? When I asked, the reply was a relatively simple one: “We thought this would look better on you.” At that moment, my heart did about three somersaults and wanted to jump out of my chest. Even if this altered style did look better, shouldn’t they have asked first? Maybe tell me what they were planning on doing instead of letting me find out after they had finished the job. This attitude threw me off – but maybe it’s a normal occurrence, and I was just a rookie in this whole new world.

As they dried and curled my hair, it began to take shape. The colored highlights were growing on me, but I just couldn’t quite get over the fact that they had switched the colors up without letting me know first. But, I’ve been getting compliments since so it all worked out in the end.

Kathy’s Experience:

“Unexpected” would be the perfect word to describe my experience at the hair salon during this seemingly ordinary, but entirely extraordinary Tuesday. As a girl whose long hairstyle has remained unchanged for years – until very recently, that is – going into a hair salon and asking a hairdresser to “create art” was a challenge.

So then why would I describe it as unexpected? One week before I even stepped into the salon, I was already very excited about the makeover and began looking up photos and styles to capture the “ideal me.” Initially, as a K-Pop fan, I wanted a Korean-styled girl kind of look. However, when I showed the photos to the stylist, he firmly rejected the idea and suggested that small curls would suit me better. He suggested that for a magazine shoot, we should go for something a bit more complex than what I would normally wear in daily life. So, this is what happened…

The final look was a far cry from my original plan, and I can’t say I was 100 percent satisfied with it, but this modern disco lady look was a big breakthrough from the normal me.

This was my first time having my hair styled somewhere other than the small hair salon near my home, and it left me with a good impression. I enjoyed the whole process of putting on the makeup, getting my hair done, and doing the photoshoot. It was particularly interesting to watch the transformation taking place in real time. The four hours passed very quickly, and the salon’s staff were super friendly too.

The whole experience was quite enjoyable. My hairdresser was an easy-going person and very professional. I have to compliment the effort he put into turning my long and messy hair into a shorter, neater version by cutting it into several layers again and again. Unfortunately, those small curls disappeared after a single hair wash – or perhaps fortunately, since in any case, I can’t go out with the exaggerated curves in real life.

大象造型 (三里屯店)

北京市朝阳区工体北路4号院78号楼南侧首层 4 Gongti Beilu, South side of Bld 78, Chaoyang District

Tel: [phone]

大象造型 (祥云小镇店)

北京市顺义区安泰大街3号楼南侧底商 3 Antai Dajie, Shunyi District

Tel: [phone]

This article appeared in the jingkids 2021 July-August issue

Images: Uni You

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