Extreme makeover

I blame my friend Jana for pushing this notion that women deserve to be pampered on occasion. I blame her ... and I thank her.

In an unprecedented move for me, I took the morning off to have my hair done. Jana did, too. She came with me for moral support! Why would I need moral support? Well, for me I was venturing into the unknown and I wanted a friend to hold my hand, so to speak, along the journey.

Yes, the unknown. I don't think I've spent more than the Cost Cutters minimum on any sort of haircut ever. And I certainly haven't paid anyone to color or style my hair either. So this was something new for me. Plus, I had decided I wanted a change -- a bold change perhaps -- and I needed Jana there so I couldn't talk myself out of it.

I think I owe her a consulting fee, too. She helped pick out the color "recipe" and advised on the cut and style as well. I loved the new color -- a mix of red, brown and blond -- but it was tough to see the hairdresser cut off 3 inches from the back of my hair. (Do you know how long it took me to grow that? It takes forever for my hair to grow!) In the end, I was OK with that, too.

Of course, now I have the challenge of replicating her style on a daily basis! I'll see how I do. I was going to post a picture but I just got home and it's lost some of its fluff and flips. So I'll have a new one taken soon. Just know that change can be good -- and you can like it!

It helped that I had such a positive response when I returned to work (including thumbs up from hubby). I heard: "You look great!" It made me wonder why I hadn't done it sooner. Then I heard a few times: "It makes you look younger!" And that made me wonder how old I looked when I woke up this morning and again, why hadn't I done this sooner.

Thanks, Jana, for being so pushy on the pampering thing. You're right, we do deserve it! I encourage you all to try it sometime.