Is it me, is it my hair, or is this some kind of challenge against my vanity? Or, is it possible that San Diego is tangled in a conspiracy of bad hair styling?

For a while I thought the hair problem ran in my family since my mother, brother, father, and I all have a full head of hair. Our strands have unique waves about which there is much discussion and confusion.

I thought that maybe it was just my family that had hair problems.

No, it isn’t me and it isn’t just my family! I have talked to numerous women and men here in the San Diego area. They’ve been there done that. One woman I know paid $200 for a cut and a highlight and walked out of the salon in a state of shock. When her friends told her to go back to the salon, the stylist wouldn’t attempt to fix it and the salon wouldn’t give her her money back. I know the feeling.

Too many times I have walked out of the salon with stiff hair after the stylist had done her best with various hair products in an attempt to compensate for the deficient ‘do. As I left the salon with product I bought because I was feeling insecure about my recently mowed hair, I would sneak around the corner, where nobody could see me, and run my fingers through the sticky ‘do. I’d sigh in resignation. Is this really how one should feel when leaving a beauty salon?

Here are a few possible solutions to this San Diego hair problem.

Option 1: Drive to Los Angeles

When I lived in L.A. I discovered that it is possible to get a decent hair cut. Wasn’t Edward Scissorhands from L.A?

I found a woman in Hollywood who understands my hair. She keeps a chair at an inconspicuous salon on Fairfax just a few blocks up from Melrose. Why is she so good? Well, the owner of her salon works on the alternative Hollywood set. I have seen a few TV show actors there as well as some rock’n roll types.

She told me that she had to first work as an apprentice for a few years. She washed hair, held hair driers, clipped hair, observed, swept, observed, assisted the owner with highlights and complicated cuts, and observed some more. She is an artist, she makes a decent living doing hair, and she likes what she does. If she didn’t have a knack for it, she wouldn’t have made it through the apprenticeship.

Thanks to what San Diego considers to be Los Angeles’ superficial culture, a hairstylist won’t survive if he or she isn’t any good. Where do those who don’t survive the demands of the L.A. clientele wind up going?

Option 2: Don’t cut your hair

We live in a city that happens to be surrounded by tons of nature. Why over-groom?  Whether you’re male or female, just let your hair grow out. Women, you can put it in a ponytail or a bun. Hair is much easier to care for this way. Don’t wash it everyday, just rinse and condition on your shampoo-free days. This way the ends won’t get too dry and your hair will stay healthy. If the ends become a nuisance, just ask your friend to trim it a little bit for you. Nobody will notice if the hair isn’t cut perfectly. After all, it’s supposed to look natural and free, isn’t it?

Option 3: Go to SuperCuts

Sometimes you get lucky at SuperCuts. You have to take a risk, but the low cost is worth the risk. You’re better off paying $15 for a bad cut than going all in with $75.

Option 4: Visit Jose Eber at the Four Seasons Resort in Carlsbad

I am not exactly sure how much he costs, but my mother seems to think he can do a cut for about for $140. But then, she added that for the $140 he merely looks at your hair, evaluates what kind of style would work well with your facial features and hair type, and then instructs one of his underlings on how to do the cut for you.

My mother never had her hair cut by Jose Eber, but she did go with one of his trainees and was happy with the outcome. That was a first for my mother! The trainees’ cuts cost much less than $140.

Option 5: Buy extensions

You can get natural hair extension on the Internet for a little over $150. They are simple to use in that they come with clips, which gently attach to your own hair. Raquel Welch has her own line of extensions that can be bought from various hair shops online.

Option 5: Get over it

It really is a shame that a decent haircut is so difficult to come by around here. What can a San Diegan do?

I look at photos of my pre-Hollywood haircuts and wonder, How in the world did I manage to deal with these awful cuts?

I must have been pretty laid back:

Big deal, my hair was super short when I wanted it to be long,…I had orange hair when I wanted it to be blonde,…a purported New York City stylist of the runway models shears off two years’ worth of growth and gives me a lamp shade cut.

The San Diego hair problem may be in our heads, or at least in my head; but the hair on our heads is certainly big deal to most of us. In San Diego, should we sit back in the stylist’s chair or do something about it?

Send Romina a message at hair@vyuz.com with your thoughts on this subject. She will periodically write articles about hair challenges in San Diego.

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