Fotografo de Bodas, Santiago

April 10, 2008

I chopped my hair off, what do you think?

The lady at the salon was quite excited by my blondness. When I sat down at the chair she called other the other stylists around to come pet my head. They were like, “oooooh, aaaaaaaah, tan rubia!” Again, this is not the first time in Chile when I’ve thought to myself, “You’d seriously think these people had never seen a blond person before.”

The woman who cut my hair was freaking hilarious. Let me set the scene for you. She was about 100 years old and kept squinting as if she could barely see. When she asked what kind of hair cut I wanted and I said short, she told to me hold on for a second and then came book with a book of “cute and modern short hair cuts.” The book was full of pictures from back in the day when Tara Reid was still cute and Britney Spears’ hair looked like this. Those were my options. Yeah, normal people probably would have asked for somebody else but I just care way too little.

The lady did her thang, and fortunately, it turned out surprisingly well. As she began the styling process she started showing me what I could do with it. I kid you not, she said, “These are your options. You can tuck it behind your ears.” And then she demonstrated how to tuck it behind my ears just in case I didn’t know. She continued, “Or you can not tuck it behind your ears, like this.” She then parted my hair on the left, the middle and the right, each time pausing to make sure I understood how to do that. Cutting my hair actually took all of a 15 minutes. Showing me how to let my hair fall to it’s natural part, tuck it behind my ears and how to flip it out or under with step by step instructions took at least another half an hour. What can I say, old Chilean hairdressers like to cover their bases.

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32 Comments

You look like a cross between Jodi Foster and me!! Seriously we now have almost exactly the same hair cut. You were very brave to let that lady cut it, but if you don’t like it, it can always grow back. I think it is a lovely cut an you look very sophisticated!

Comment by Ritamae — April 10, 2008 @ 10:46 am

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Oh mah gawd!

Comment by EvilJoy — April 10, 2008 @ 11:07 am

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Hi Kyle, I just found your blog through a rather unexpected source, and I’ve enjoyed what I’ve read, which, admittedly, isn’t much. I used to live in the Santiago area, so reading about your life in Santiago brings back a lot of memories. I’ll be sure to read more later, but I guess I should get back to work for now. Del

Comment by Del and Tina Mecham — April 10, 2008 @ 11:23 am

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P.S.S. – Oh yeah, and you look about 25 years younger than me (and Jodi F. too for that matter)!! Just wanted to make sure you didn’t misinterpret my post.

Comment by Ritamae — April 10, 2008 @ 12:05 pm

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Lovely!

Comment by Carlos — April 10, 2008 @ 1:36 pm

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I like the second pic of you super a lot. Looks great and totally suits you!

Comment by Mexico Way — April 10, 2008 @ 2:22 pm

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I love it! You look so young, then again, you are…but thank heavens that she spent so much time going over your options…very thorough you know…

Comment by Chickenbells — April 10, 2008 @ 2:52 pm

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You look soooo good!!! I really love love love that cut.

Comment by kirida — April 10, 2008 @ 4:20 pm

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Your hair looks way cute. I stopped getting my hair cut because no one knows what to do with naturally curly hair. I kept getting a mullet, I kept getting the hairstyle that I had in the late 70s and early 80s. If I run true to form, I will let it grow until it reaches my elbows, at which point, I will go to the estectica and say “cut it off”. I can’t even go north to get it cut because in California I have wavy hair, not curly.
Enough about my hair trauma, your looks really cute.
regards,
Theresa

Comment by Theresa — April 10, 2008 @ 5:11 pm

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Your haircut looks so cute! I second that the second picture looks a lot like a young Jodi Foster.

Now your hair is shorter than mine. Neener-neener.

Oh and, you can also curl it with spiral curls from a curling iron when you want. It can be a cute “different” look when you want a change. I know you generally blow dry your hair straight when you style it (like I used to) and maybe you have enough curl that you don’t worry about a curling iron.

I use a curling iron to make my curls more uniform, otherwise I have striaght and curly pieces all in a frizz. I can even sleep on it wet as long as I take 20 minutes to curl it the next morning!

Comment by Ordinary Girl — April 10, 2008 @ 6:37 pm

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Ooh, I love it. It looks super cute!

Hi, by the way! ::smiles::

Comment by Jeannette — April 10, 2008 @ 7:06 pm

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Too cute. I have been going back and forth about cutting my hair but I am such a chicken!

Comment by TD — April 10, 2008 @ 7:57 pm

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Kyle! It looks great! It looks so much thicker and with more body… I really like it! What did Seba say?

Comment by Amanda — April 10, 2008 @ 9:09 pm

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Cute! Cute! Cute!
Jayna

Comment by Anonymous — April 11, 2008 @ 3:35 am

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Oh wow, you look great!!! Your hairdresser sounds much more entertaining than mine at Sebastian Ferrer behind Falabella who had a glum look throughout and didn’t say a word; never again, I don’t care how good it looked (which it didn’t really for the million lukas I paid for it) I’m going back to Cesar who cut my hair a few months back and made me laugh the whole time, it looked great and was nice and cheap

Comment by Tamsin — April 11, 2008 @ 5:41 am

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Looks great! Your experience sounded similar to mine when I got my hair cut here. They were in such awe over the blond-ness!

I am about ready to chop mine off too. It is so freakin’ hot here right now. I thought we were headed into fall and winter. lol!

Comment by Lori - Blondie in Brazil — April 11, 2008 @ 6:14 am

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Very attractive style! (Damn, you look young…)

Comment by the Bag Lady — April 11, 2008 @ 6:37 am

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I love it! I am glad it turned out well for you. Did I ever tell you about the time I got a mullet in MÃ©xico? So believe me when I say I am very glad it came out looking so good!

Comment by Rachel — April 11, 2008 @ 10:59 am

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nice new do, kyle! hilarious story about the stylist…i would have been sweating bullets! =]

Comment by rik — April 11, 2008 @ 11:18 am

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You are not going to believe how similar that is to my haircut! I showed my husband (because OF COURSE he needs to know what my “work friends” look like), and he was all “Wow, you guys even look alike!”

Crazy! Oh, and it goes without saying that I love it, right?

Comment by kgseymour — April 11, 2008 @ 7:26 pm

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CUTE haircut! I just love it…

Comment by Rebecca — April 12, 2008 @ 12:17 pm

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After reading all these comments, I just hope you like Jodie Foster…hehe.

like I said in my last comment, very stylish. And perfect for hot weather.

Plus, you’ve got options: To tuck, or not to tuck…

Comment by That girl — April 12, 2008 @ 10:27 pm

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Hey K! LOVE the new DO.

Right now I have my hair really long (it’s been over 8 months since my last hair cut) and I’m seriously thinking about cutting it.

Your new style looks so tempting, short and practical yet still elegant and chic! The thing that is keeping me from going to the “coiffeur” is that here, when I ask for a specific haircut for some reason I NEVER get what I want (hence the 8 months since last hair cut)….

Gulp!

=)

Fned.

Comment by Fned — April 13, 2008 @ 3:43 am

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Love the short hair. Looks like you got a pretty decent cut too…I am still on a quest to find a really good stylist here, I’ve been spoiled by having an amazing woman cut my hair for the past 13 years (!!!), so now everyone else I try is crap compared to her. And of course it doesn’t help that in Chile I have had “layers” interpreted as “mullet” or as “give me pokemon-style overdone layers so that little bits stick out all over my head”. Can’t wait to see hte new look in person!

Comment by Emily — April 14, 2008 @ 7:51 am

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I`m not a rocket scientist, but I know what I like; very cute!
John
Sayonara

Comment by Anonymous — April 14, 2008 @ 6:50 pm

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Very cute cut! My first thought was “OMG she’s so young!” I still haven’t mustered the courage to go get mine cut now that it has grown back. I like the curls and I’m afraid they will disappear again.

Comment by Reb — April 14, 2008 @ 7:34 pm

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Nice cut, it will be fun to see it in real life (vs virtually). And I totally agree with Emily with the Chilean hair stylist interpretation of “layers” interpreted as mullet and pokemona. Word. That just happened to me last time I went in to get my hair cut. I was trying out a new place and only confirmed I should have stayed with the place I always go which is this little salon deal in Bellas Artes. I believe it’s on Monjitas. It’s pretty close to El Emporio La Rosa and next to a Capoeira shop. Anyway they charge 7.000 or 8.000 pesos a cut and are excellent. I think the name of the salon is Punto or something like that.

Comment by Maeskizzle — April 15, 2008 @ 7:55 am

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Both (long and short hair) look great on you… And yes, you look so young! And have such a sweet face…

If it makes you feel any better, as I was in a german salon, I also had to hear everyone there saying “what a beautiful hair you have! so dark brown! and natural! amazing!”… I was like “im not the first latin person coming to Germany, am I?”…

So, it happens here and there…
The difference is, you had luck with your peluquera, I didnt I finish shaving my head! Yes, almost bold, a thing that I always wanted to do… She gave me a good reason (short ugly hair).
Now after 3 years its long again…

Comment by Irantzu — April 15, 2008 @ 8:58 pm

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El corte da lo mismo. Tu no puedes dar lo mismo: esres preciosa.

Comment by ForÃ§a al canut! — April 18, 2008 @ 5:39 pm

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kute!!

Comment by claude roubillie — May 1, 2008 @ 10:53 am

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Came across your blog â€¦I am Chilean blonde and blue eyedâ€¦ as is my entire family. I have never been accosted by anybody in Santiago (or anywhere) to touch my hair. There are many true blondes here and it is insulting that some you feel the need to belittle a culture because of your ignorance! It is no wonder you people have enemies in most parts of the world! I am not sure were you got your hair cut, but that hair dresser is probably laughing at the stupid gringo with what is now a ridiculous hair cut!!!

Comment by Anonymous — July 24, 2008 @ 2:58 pm

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Dear Anonymous,

Well go figure! I’m a blond and a blue eyed MEXICAN and I can totally relate to JMCS’ experience!!! Sorry to bust your bubble but people in Latin America DO have a thing for blondes. They look at us, they point at us and they treat us differently… little does it matter if you’re actually one of them.

If this has never happened to you I have two pretty good theories why:

1/ You move in really small circles and don’t hang out with the “lower classes” or go to the popular hangouts. In my country we call these people “fresas” or “hijos de papi”… I’m sure there’s a similar definition in yours.

2/ You have a really low sense of your sourroundings.

Sorry dude/girl… but wake up.

Fned.

Comment by Fned — July 24, 2008 @ 10:25 pm

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