Continuing on this theme, I read a story once about two oriental maidens.I believe it was from a book titled Geisha: A Life by Mineko Iwasaki, I could be wrong. One maiden never plucked her eyebrows and became known as Caterpillar Girl but her family loved her and allowed her to be herself and as a hobby she did indeed take care of caterpillars. When they transformed into butterflies, she would lovingly gift them to a childhood friend who was nicknamed the Butterfly Maiden. This girl plucked her eyebrows and wore make-up and as a fitting beautification tribute- collected butterflies. Guess which one had men flocking to her with presents of multi-hued butterflies, sweet things to eat and pretty garments? You guessed it, not the Caterpillar Girl whom everyone viewed as odd. However, that changed when a stranger came into town and knew that the wealth and beauty was not in butterflies but in caterpillars, especially their caccoons. For this stranger knew how to boil and separate the threads and weave them into a fabric now known as silk. And so he courted the only girl in the village that mattered to him-the Caterpillar Girl. She became quite taken with the man, they wed and soon had a thriving business. The Butterfly Maiden was still gifted the butterflies, and still was visited by all the handsome villagers but it was the Caterpillar Girl who found happiness and love first. Moral of the story? I wanted to be Caterpillar Girl: be a rebel, stand out, and trust that someday someone would discover my uniqueness and worship it.
So for years I decided to let my "caterpillars" grow how they would, and let my mysterious stranger find me in a natural state. My eyebrows weren't excessively bushy but they weren't standard. And there were plusses: my eyelids never seemed puffy, my eyes stayed warm in the winter and the tops of my eyeglasses didn't get too greasy from being up against my eyelids. But, I always felt they were a slight hindrance to first impressions, men would see them and make assumptions about me. I figured my caterpillars would reflect my not wanted to fit it, to be alright with being different; but they could also signify laziness or unwillingness to get along with conventions-which is mostly completely untrue. Well, I want to quell those misguided thoughts and give people a clear view into my inner personality. Instead of bushy brows = stodgy self, I want refined and shapely brows = organized and clear thinking mind. Therefore, yesterday I ventured into a beauty salon for the first time in years resolving to transform my caterpillars. Cue theatrical theme: "Bum, bum, bummmmmm!!!!"
Turns out I'd forgotten just how relaxing the ambience of a beauty salon is. I opted for a quieter, less peopled one- because it's been a full decade and some change since I've had my eyebrows waxed and if I was going to shriek or whimper I wanted as few witnesses as possible! For those local followers- I chose a beauty parlor on 4th St called Creative Hairworks Salon. Walked right in and asked for availabilities. The lady said she could fit me in right then. Turns out she's the sole proprietor and owner and worker. I asked for a haircut and eyebrow wax. She charged $30 for the cut (shampoo, conditioner, cut, and style) and the wax was only $15. I had cut an ad out of a magazine which featured a girl with eyebrows shaped how I wanted mine to look. She looked at it, look at me and said it would look nicely with a few tweaks here and there. Then she led me to the sink, washed my hair, and conditioned it until it smelled like a veritable flower garden, and then with my hair wet in the sink she leaned over and started sudsing my eyebrow region. I guess you have to clean the hairs in order for the wax to stick, makes sense. Then she got a stick with the tip covered in what looked like honey and proceeded to dab goo over the offending hairs. A strip of clothlike substance was placed over the area and she rubbed over the hairs for about 20 seconds. Then RIP! off it came and instantly her hand put pressure over my brow deadening the nerves. She did this for each brow and in between, because while I do not admit to having a monobrow I will concede there are some stray hairs from each brow that may be checking out the other brow's area and happen to meet at the bridge of my nose. Surprisingly this method did not result in the red eyelids and forehead I remember from years ago. She did finish with some antiseptic lotiony stuff. I'm proud to admit, I didn't twitch, whimper or even wince! Yay!
As for the haircut, she cut the back and the sides until I had nice healthy and symmetrical ends. Eventually, a total 4 inches were lobbed off the length of my hair. It still comes to the middle of my back but is much easier to brush now. :) She even put this stuff called silk therapy on my hair which calmed down the staticy frizzles which were escaping from my head in every direction. I will admit it, my hair was so soft and smooth I couldn't keep my hands out of my hair all last night. It looks awesome!
So I now have lost my caterpillars and my dead ends and feel much more girly than I did before. Not entirely self-confident but definetely more put together. And that's a good start!
P.S. I'll post a picture of my polished brows once I've found my camera, but for now just imagine a comet with the main core closest to the nose and the debris field lightly arching up and away from the eye in a pleasing manner.
Before (imagine a pair)&
After: see? I told you they were awesome!
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