#hairdressing? possibly? trades? oh wait

[snowynightlight]

I’ve been staring at college applications and slowly feeling the dread more and more

[asarahworld-writes]

A Fiance for Christmas

Doctor Iain Prydon has been invited to a Christmas party, hosted by an old friend. The only catch - he’s supposed to bring his fiance of three years, a woman who doesn’t exist. (Human!AU)

@doctorroseprompts - Fake Relationship, Twelfth Doctor Month, 31 Days of Ficmas - Ring

Chapter 2

It was half-five and Rose was pacing the floor of her little flat.  She knew that Iain would not be arriving until at least quarter to, yet could not help but pace.  She was, if she were honest with herself, more than slightly nervous about the venture. It wasn’t as if she’d pretended to be someone’s girlfriend before.  She smoothed her dress flat and went to the loo to fuss at her hair.  Waiting.  She’d spent too much of her life waiting to be very good at it.

The doorbell rang.  It was only five thirty-six, it was too early for that to be Iain…was it? Rose cracked the door open, undoing the chain when she saw Iain’s lined face opposite hers.  “Hello,” she couldn’t help but smile.

“Hello,” he nodded.  “I’m early, I know, but I was expecting there to be a few more cars out this way… you look, nice,” he finished awkwardly.

“Only ‘nice’?  You better watch it or you’ll be sleepin’ on the sofa,” Rose jested.  And yet, she couldn’t help but wonder…

“I suppose I ought to do this properly.  It’ll help our cover if there’s an element of truth in it,” Iain stepped into the flat.  “Rose Tyler, no, wait, it’ll sound much more romantic if I knew your middle name, which if we’d been dating the way we’re going to say that we have been, I would know it.”

“Marion,” Rose’s whiskey eyes were dancing.

“Rose Marion Tyler,” Iain knelt on the floor, “we’ve known each other for five years since you transferred to my facility. Three years ago today, I agreed to go out with you on our first date.  It wasn’t much, just a basket of chips shared between co-workers, but I think that we both know it’s grown to so much more,” his smile was tender, “so would you do me the honour of being my wife?”

“Oh, Iain,” Rose’s voice was choked, “yes.  Yes, of course I’ll marry you.”  She held out her left hand, and Iain slid a diamond ring on her fourth finger.  “Iain, please tell me that you didn’t go out and buy a diamond ring for a fake engagement.”

“It is real, but I didn’t purchase it for today,” he replied, his voice hinting that he did not want to talk about why he had a diamond ring in his possession.

Rose studied the ring, enjoying the weight of it on her finger.  She imagined ever so briefly that this was not a fake engagement, that she and Iain would go on to be engaged after this dinner.

“Your chariot awaits, my darling Rose.”  Iain opened the door as Rose slipped into her coat. They left the building and Iain started the engine.

“Icebreaker time, I suppose,” Rose said as they pulled out of the drive.  “What’s your middle name, then, Iain Prydon?”

“Don’t have one,” Iain signalled, merging onto the A40. “What’s your favourite colour?”

“Pink.  What’s yours?”

“Blue.  Dark blue, like the old police boxes when they were new.”

“Why do you drive such an impractical car?”

“It’s classic.  What are your parents like?”

“S just Mum.  She does the odd hairdressing and works odd jobs.  She’s…protective.  What about your family?”

“Just me, now.  Have a daughter, married now, couple of children.  Three – Ian Junior, Barbara Junior, and Alex.  They live far enough away that we don’t see each other often.” Iain said with a sad smile. “Still, she’s happy.  That’s what’s important.”  Normally a very private man, even this admission felt like he was opening his entire heart to Rose.  They continued trading questions the rest of the drive, each one more personal. “Open the glove box.”

Curious, Rose acquiesced.  And nearly burst out laughing.  “Fifty-five questions you should be able to answer about your significant other?”  She looked from the magazine to Iain.

“Thought it might be a good starting place.  We’ve been dating for three years, remember?”

“What is their mother’s maiden name?”  Rose glanced at Iain.  “Well?”

“Lambert.”

“Prentice.  ‘What colour are their eyes?’  M going to assume it’s no longer referring to our mothers.  Your eyes are blue.”

“And yours are chocolate brown.”

“Oh, you’re a romantic, aren’t you?  What’s one place you desperately want to travel to?”

“Everywhere.  Anywhere. I love meeting people.  Ordinary, everyday people.”

“I used to think it would be really romantic to visit France,” Rose’s voice held a tone of regret.  “I suppose as my fiancé you ought to know that my ex ran off to France with another woman.”  She paused for a moment.  “What foods can you absolutely not stand?”

“They have a very strange way of wording their questions,” Iain remarked.  “This one’s easy.  Pears. I hate pears.  And apples.  Apples are complete rubbish.”

“Anything else?”  Rose stifled a laugh.

“Beans,” Iain shuddered.

“Do they shower in the morning or at night?”  Rose read.

“Hold on, you haven’t answered the last question,” Iain protested.

“Not that I can think of.  M sure there’s something.”  They continued through that list, and three more, memorizing the important/common answers and laughing at the lighter ones.

Iain pulled into the drive.  “Well, Miss Tyler?”

“Let’s do this, Iain,” she smiled.

“You’re nervous,” he remarked.

“Those magazines were actually useful,” Rose laughed, taking Iain’s proffered arm as they walked to the door.

The door opened before Iain had the opportunity to ring the bell.  “Iain, you came.  And you actually managed to bring a date with you.”

“How many times, Alistair?”  Iain shook his head.  “Rose, dear, I would be sorry that it has taken so long for you to meet Alistair, but that doesn’t appear to be entirely true at the moment.”  Iain was scowling, though there was a twinkling in his eyes.

“Rose Tyler,” Rose offered her hand to their host.

“Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart.  It’s so nice to finally meet the mysterious girlfriend of Iain Prydon,” Alistair shook her hand, “now do come in before you let all the heating out into the street.”

Iain looked at Rose and smiled.  She looked beautiful.

“Really?  Why, thank you Iain, darling,” Rose said with a light smirk.

“For a fake date, that is,” Iain whispered in her ear, grinning.

“If you lovebirds could possibly deign to join us,” called Alistair from the dining room.  Iain and Rose looked at each other, clasped their hands together (the ring prominently displayed) and entered the room.

[freakflagbyiana]

In favor of LAZY hair & SHAMELESS beauty

Hello, my name is iana & I'm in the business of beauty, not shame. 

"Lazy" is normally a four letter word. In most contexts, its not a compliment.  But I believe Lazy is a great approach with hair, and I fully intend on starting a Lazy Hair Revolution. I mean, I have held this belief for a long time and I believe the revolution has been slow burning for years.... but now I wanna get on a soapbox and publicly discuss it. It's fun to change your hair texture and get it to do things it doesn't naturally do, and I do enjoy doing that, but its not realistic for every day here in Austin, Texas.  Everyone here, myself included, wakes up in the morning with bedhead and tries to figure out the shortest shortcut for having it look great (polished, even) with minimal effort. Because in order to put real humidity-proof effort in you would have to wake up 2 hours earlier. (YEAH, NOPE!) If you have straight, fine hair like me, that usually means flat ironing the pillow dents out. If you have curly hair, that means wetting down the stuff that got floofy in your sleep. If you have long hair, there's prob a ponytail or top knot going on. If you have short hair you probably don't have to do anything because THAT IS LITERALLY THE POINT OF SHORT HAIR.  Like I always say,  Short hair is the least maintenance styling wise, but the trade off is having to get it cut all the time. Long hair is the most maintenance styling and coloring wise, but the trade off is that you can be lazier about getting it cut, because the shape doesn't grow out as quickly. Long hair just gets longer and more ragged, whereas short hair automatically grows out into a mullet if you wait too long. (Mullets aren't bad but if you didn't intend to grow one they are simply "unwanted") My definition of "lazy hair" - basically, not wanting to mess with what its doing. Styling it as little as possible, washing it as little as possible, using the least amount of product. Not only are these things okay, but it is actually better for the health of your hair.  Styling: People who heat style their hair get split ends more frequently. Virgin hair that gets ironed every day needs to be trimmed more often than virgin hair that doesn't.  Washing: People who wash their hair every day are stripping their scalp of its natural oils, and this makes their scalp produce oil more frequently to make up the difference, so its a self perpetuating cycle.  Its the scalp equivalent of exfoliating your face every day and then never using moisturizer and wondering why your skin is freaking out.  Products: You probably should use one type of thing every time you wash your hair  (like a leave-in, whatever that means for your hair type/length) but I'm talking about additional product use. For example, using hairspray every day is going to damage your hair more often than someone who only uses it for special occasions. Using dry shampoo regularly is cool but remember that means when you do wash it you're going to have to pay extra attention to massaging the buildup off your scalp so it can breathe. Using salt spray is cute, but its going to dry your hair out and will likely strip your color.  The more you want your hair to do something different to what IT wants to do naturally, the more work you have to put into it and the more TLC you have to give it. The lazier you are about your hair, the less effort & TLC you have to put in.  It is exactly like Newton's third law: for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. The bigger the action you are giving your hair, the more your hair will react, meaning more nourishing is required to maintain it. The lazier you are, the more your hair will just chill and be healthy on its own.  (NOTE: I am talking about everyday styling routines, not about color, there's all kinds of factors to maintaining color both high maintenance and low depending on the hair in question)

Now let's get serious about shame for a spell...

I was raised by two free-spirited creative individuals. I feel so lucky that they attempted to raise me outside of shame because our civilization has been rampant with a cornucopia of shame for centuries. Class Shame, Hereditary Shame, Nationality Shame, Profession Shame, Body Shame, Gender Shame, Sexuality Shame, BEAUTY SHAME....  Despite the support of my parents and my strong sense of self, I still consider it a miracle I made it through childhood without an eating disorder. That's how widespread this problem is, y'all. As a young girl who was creative, outspoken, non-binary, and curvy... I had to work very hard to be conscious that there was a shame disease in society, not something wrong with me.  There are so many layers to the various types of Beauty Shame, it's hard for me to even know where to start. But mostly overall what I'm trying to express is that I consider it my duty as a Beauty Professional to heal Beauty Shame.  People sit in my chair every single day, saying things like: 1. "I'm sorry my hair's so dirty"  Girl. A) LOL because if dirty hair disgusted me I wouldn't make it very far in this work. B) you are talking to someone who has a tradition of "dirtiest hair contest" with her BFF during SXSW, to see who can go the longest without shampooing, because that's how in favor of lazy, dirty hair we are. C) if I need to wash your hair to cut it, guess what, I have a sink and shampoo and its not a big deal.  In summary, feeling shame about this is 100% unnecessary.  2. "I'm sorry my hair is so boring"  Oh no! I may be a freak that wants to have crazy hair all the time, but that doesn't mean YOU have to. If you are content with your natural color and your natural texture, so much that you've never desired to change it... I don't look down on you, my friend, I look UP to you! It is so rare in our society to feel self confident without a lot of extra grooming or otherwise assimilating your look to the norm, and I truly believe it is something to be admired. You've cheated the system, you not only have natural beauty but YOU SEE THE BEAUTY YOU HAVE! If you want to dip your toe in the waters of change, I'll be here. But If you don't, feeling shame about this is 100% unnecessary.  3. "Sorry, I have a lot of hair"  Its okay, I do too, so I grew up with the experience of having hairdressers being intimidated by the density of it. I'm not afraid. Also if you want less of it, that's a really easy fix that I have all kinds of sharp objects for. But the amount of hair you have is not your fault, so feeling shame about this is 100% unnecessary.  4. "Sorry you are spending so much time doing this"  Oh, you are going to pay me accordingly so there's definitely no point in additionally feeling sorry about it because I need to make a living. But also, if you're treating yourself to a hair makeover spa day, what is the point in feeling shame about it? That totally defeats the purpose of treating yourself. I call it Enjoyment Guilt and its a habit you should work on breaking.  5. "I've got a round face so I can't have short hair---"  That's where I'm going to interrupt you because that is simply untrue! If you are a round faced gal (or guy) and especially if you are a bigger fuller figured gal, I would bet money on the fact that you have been told this by a hairdresser (or several) in the past. You "CAN'T" have short hair? Personally, nothing makes me want to do something more passionately than when someone tells me I "can't" do something. Oh I can't do this? WATCH ME! And I fully intend to instill that attitude in my clientele. When a hairdresser says that you "can't" have short hair, what they are really saying is that they do not know how to give you an attractive short haircut. But that is their shortcoming as an artist, not your shortcoming as a person. I am 100% confident I can give you a short haircut that will suit your round face. You would be surprised how many times I've given someone the big chop when they wanted to "maybe just try it once and probably grow it out after summer" and they've liked it so much they keep it for a year or longer.  These are a mere 5 of MANY examples of society-induced shame I deal with every day. We are always hearing that we are not enough and I will proudly, loudly, violently fight against that. I'll go as far as saying even if I'm not the right hairdresser for you, at least GO TO ONE THAT LIFTS YOU UP, NOT BREAKS YOU DOWN. I believe ultimately my job is making sure you leave feeling better than when you walked in, whether that's a total transformation or a mere split end trim and a glass of wine.     In conclusion, there is enough shame in the world and I refuse to make it part of my business strategy.