Mom's Day Out

Well today was quite a day for me. I spent most of the day out with my good friend Kristin, with NO KIDS! That doesn't happen often (she has 4, I have 5). This was a treat. It was Kristin's mission to find me a bathing suit for my ten year anniversary trip (leaving in 3 days!!) to the Grand Cayman (are you jealous?). Along with finding me a bathing suit, she made an appointment for me to have my eyebrows "done".
She assured me that I would love it and would never stop doing it once I tried it... I wasn't entirely convinced although I'm always good for trying something new. So she whisked me away, we spent the day shopping and having all kinds of fun until the appointment time arrived.
We left the mall and made our way over to the salon where a friendly receptionist greeted us and we drank a cup of water from the pitcher that every salon has. Soon enough, I'm taken back to "the chair" where the simple procedure is done. I have never thought about having my eyebrows waxed, and never desired to change them in any way. But like I said, I'm game for anything.
For some reason, almost immediately when I sat down in the big chair something came over me. I'm not exactly sure why, but I was extremely amused by all of the attention given to my eyebrows. I didn't want to insult the beautician, but on the other hand, I couldn't resist the impulse to laugh at many different aspects of the process.
First, she began smoothing my eyebrows-running one finger on each brow repeatedly, while carefully examining them. She took note of the light color of them, and commented on the shape of them. I have never had anyone look at my eyebrows with such scrutiny. This definitely hit my funny bone and started the giggles. Then started the actual waxing-ouch! She described it like a band-aid being pulled off, and I guess it was kind of like that, only she did it at least 4 or 5 times on each side and it was a very sticky band-aid! I literally jumped in my seat each time (I tend to overreact). My repeated overreactions to her yanking the hairs out contributed to my giggles even more. She was just so serious, and maybe part of it was that she was so close to my face and staring intently.
Then she got out this teeny-weeny pair of special scissors that somebody made just to trim eyebrows, and began brushing my eyebrows with her teeny-weeny eyebrow brush and trimming with the teeny-weeny trimmers. Since I kept giggling, I think she felt just a little bit awkward, and so she kept explaining what she was doing. "Now I am trimming some of the longer hairs. Just trimming them."
After the trim she got out the tweezers. Seriously? How is it possible that there is enough left to pluck more out? She began tweezing more eyebrows out, and I wondered if I had ever even looked at my own eyebrows. I never thought I had bushy eyebrows, but I was beginning to get a complex at this point. She tweezed at least 15 times, and I jumped every time, once again.
Then came the topper. "How about we dye your eyebrows? Your eyebrows are light, and I can just dye them a shade darker of blond if you would like." Has anyone heard of such a ludicrous thing? I have never in my life heard of anyone dyeing their eyebrows. When the beautician suggested it, I heard Kristin yell from her room, "Do it!!" I'm not sure what went on in my head, except that this was now over the edge-way over the top. I didn't even dye my hair until just a few years ago-but dye my eyebrows? What next? Highlights? So now I have to figure out if I am going to let her dye my eyebrows. I figure I can go back to blond if I want to. Wait, am I really considering this? Then I wonder if eyebrows will grow out like hair, and what does that mean? Will they have roots? Will I have to keep this up? I've always been rather spur-of-the-moment, and don't know much about eyebrows, so I guess I'll trust the experts. What the heck? Why not.
"Sure, let's do it." It'll be fine, I tell myself. Kristin is cool, and she does it, so why not. She returns with a teeny-weeny bowl just for the teeny-weeny eyebrow dying brush, and after mixing, paints it onto what's left of my eyebrows. The three minutes she told me turned into at least 10, and I am now a little nervous since my eyebrows are darkening with every minute. She finally returns, and my eyebrows seem to be nearing black. My humor is waning just a little being clouded with a nervousness that is beginning to make me question my decision to dye. She washes off the dye, and I am a bit relieved for a moment, until I get a good look in the mirror... I no longer look like Ronald McDonald, but I also didn't look like me, as far as I was concerned. My sense of humor comes back slightly and I'm just staring at my new eyebrows with the hand-held mirror, all trimmed neatly and now darker than before. I still thought I looked like a clown, but Kristin and the nice lady who did them assured me that they looked great...maybe that's because it was their idea in the first place...
After Kristin and I parted, I drove home and called Wendy, because I knew she would appreciate the experience and would laugh with me, but had to leave her a message. I found that I couldn't tell her about the waxing and dyeing and plucking and trimming without laughing out loud as I talked to her voicemail... I'm still not sure what I think of my new look, who knows? Maybe I'll be talking Wendy into getting her eyebrows "done" soon!