Craft Scissors

written January 17, 2009

One afternoon, after three months in Kazakhstan, I made a drastic decision. I took a pair of craft scissors (purchased at the local bazaar) to my head. I hadn't realized how long my hair had gotten until I saw it all lying on the ground around my feet. Yes, that's right, I cut my own hair with craft scissors. I didn't even really think about it. It wasn't something I had been planning. I just looked at the ends of my hair, which desperately needed to be cut, knew that I wasn't going to be going to a hair salon any time in the near future and so I picked up my scissors (usually reserved for school projects).

I think when it was all said and done I cut off about two inches. I felt THAT immediately. I didn't mean to cut off so much, but I'm not exactly a hair stylist... But now, two months later, my hair is actually really healthy. Maybe it's all the grease from only being able to wash it twice a week. Who knows? But, I don't have any split ends. I'm thinking maybe I will become my own hair stylist while in Kazakhstan.

I won't lie... a lot of this has to do with the fact that there are some pretty drastic hair styles going on in Kazakhstan at the moment. There's Dima Bilan (Google him if you get a chance). He's the "Russian Idol" winner - basically Russia's Kelly Clarkson. He sings in English and Russian, and he's really popular among the younger kids in Kazakhstan. But his hair... It's like a partial mullet, but he's made it "fashionable" simply by being famous. So, boys in Kazakhstan have started growing out the back of their hair to look like Dima Bilan. It's hideous.

The other popular hairstyle among boys that I've noticed is the shaved head with bangs. Yes, at first I thought I was just seeing things, but no. One day, in Almalybak, my host brother came home and he had obviously just had a hair cut. It was shorter all over, except right in the front. I kind of thought that maybe the hair stylist had just missed that section. Stupid me. Now I see it on a lot of my students. It's this short cut all over and then in the front, right above the forehead, it fades into "bangs". I'll try to get a picture, but as I'm sure you can imagine it's quite awful.

For girls, it's not quite so bad. But, just as a general rule nothing ever looks even. One side tends to be longer than the other, or the top is shorter than the bottom. This obviously isn't true of every girl in Kazakhstan, these are just the trends that I notice and secretly fear. As a result, I haven't asked about a hair salon in Merke. I'm simply not interested. For now, me and my craft scissors are a great pair. But next time I'll try not to cut off so much...