Parrucchiere

After months of indecisive longing, I finally got my hair cut today. Yes, I've only been here for less than four months, but that's the risk I took with having short hair--the upkeep.

Back in March when I first felt pangs of coiffeur-need, I did an un-Giosian thing and looked up reviews for hair salons in Florence online. Hairforce seemed to have the best feedback so I saved it as a bookmark and filed its location in the back of my mind. And though it is a mere 10-minute walk from my house, I could never for the life of me find it even with full knowledge of its nearest main intersection. It wasn't until I jotted down the street address in my Moleskine this past weekend that I planned my mission of finding this elusive Hairforce and making an appointment.

Posh and I walked by on the way to gelato at La Carraia 2 (near Santa Croce) and I finally found it tucked away a few blocks farther than I had anticipated. I went in, said my standard entrance greeting (Salve!), and asked if I could make an appointment as early as possible, which happened to be 7:30pm tonight!

After some shopping at Zara and a very quick dinner I walked to the hair salon with a feeling of excitement and uncertainty. I never have a clear picture of what I want done with my hair. Back in Vancouver, I have the good fortune of knowing a family friend who happens to be a wonderful hairstylist, so I just tell her how I want my haircut to make me feel (or nothing at all) and she works her magic. What was I going to say to a new hairstylist tonight? In another language?! The opportunities for disappointment were endless, but in the pit of my stomach I knew that I had nothing to fear. Luckily I was right!

I ended up having the most senior hairstylist, a Sicilian named Joe who used to live in London and has travelled around the world, including Hong Kong. We talked about our love of Asian food and he recommended a couple of good Chinese restaurants. When the subject of gelato came up, I asked him what he thought of La Carraia and he responded, "Non è male" (It's not bad)--hardly the response I was expecting for my favourite gelateria!

As planned, I didn't give him any guidelines for my haircut; he just told me what he was planning to do and I said okay--even near the end when he said he would give me bangs.

And the hair salon had so many perks! Mondays are their aperitivo nights so they had sangria and finger food. Joe also gave me an iPad to use while he cut my hair, with which I only went on Facebook for a few seconds to type "Using an iPad as I get my haircut while sipping sangria. Am I in Italy?" I was seriously astonished at how high-tech this place was since, well, Italy isn't.

I was very pleased with my haircut and the price was reasonable for Italy (23€ without blowdry). When I arrived home, the first thing I heard was the pitter-patter of Posh's steps as she ran out of our room excitedly to see how I looked. It was one of the best returns home ever!

Today's word of the day is parrucchiere, meaning "hairdresser". Thanks, Joe!