Myanmar

One of the best rewards of being a hairdresser is the connection to others. There have been so many times in my life where it has crossed from profession to spiritual gift. Years ago I decided to volunteer in Mexico at an orphanage. On the application it asks you to list your profession, I thought that I shouldn’t even bother, thinking that they probably only want “important" jobs like doctors or dentists.

I couldn’t believe it when I got a call back from the agency, they were excited and told me to bring all my tools. I had such an amazing experience, getting an up close and personal view of the people behind the orphanage. I cut all the little cute kids, and all the workers that had lived there, sacrificing themselves for years to run it.  To be honest I was thinking. “I’m going to have to cut hair a lot faster down there, no one is going to want to sit for an hour like they do at home”  It couldn’t have been farther from the truth. Everyone kept saying, “no one has ever taken this much time on me” they were so happy to be pampered and taken care of. I left there filled with love!

I just got back from vacation in Myanmar with my husband, where I saw these lovely ladies at a temple. I took their picture and showed them, they were all laughing at how each other looked in the pic. They didn’t speak English and seemed so sweet, I wanted to bond with them, so I did the only thing I knew how…hair. 

I just took the one woman’s hair down and starting doing a fishtail braid. It was so fun! All of them were sitting around, totally laughing and loving that I just started doing this, and interested in what was happening. I felt like my heart was going to burst! It was so awesome! Here I was hanging with these women, connected and bonding. I felt so lucky, I wasn’t just a tourist snapping a picture and walking by. They shared their homemade food with me (tealeaf salad! a Burmese tradition), and I felt like the luckiest girl in the world. 

This is a long first blog. But I wanted you all to get to know me on the first one. Here’s to life, love and hair!