Since it looks like I’ll be travelling soon (more on that later!) I thought I should get a quick trim today, which I will follow up next week with a quick at-home dye job. Since I found out a few months ago that my hairdresser of more than twenty years, Joaquín Curiel, had died of Covid (I still can hardly believe it) I have gone to a little place in my street that will wash and cut my hair – no blow dry! – for 20€. Well okay, this was my second visit. I mean, look at this haircut. It’s a simple just below chin-length bob and I’ve had this same haircut for almost 40 years. Takes approximately seven minutes to cut, double that to dry and “style” it, which was always a waste of time for me since I go home and wash my hair again anyhow (especially since Covid). Anyhow, this was the second time.

And I think this is a great option for me as it is maybe a thirty second walk to my house (so wet hair? who cares?) and it’s cheap, BUT… I hate the smell of the shampoo they use. In fact, I asked them this time to just wash my hair once (they usually do it twice, with massaging, etc) but even still, after coming home to shower, and after washing and conditioning my hair again with MY products, my hair still smells like them! I find it really disconcerting. It’s like when I ask them not to use fabric conditioner on my duvet at the cleaners (duvet is too big for my washing machine) and then they do it anyhow and I have to hang the fucker up on the roof in the sun for five days before I can bring it back into my house.

I have this nose, you see. It smells everything. It smells things most people wouldn’t even notice. And especially when it’s something I find unpleasant (ie incense) it can leave me feeling quite nauseous. Okay, this cheap shampoo isn’t making me feel sick, but it’s just so PERVASIVE that I can’t ignore it. Am thinking next time I’ll bring my own shampoo? Or just ask them to spritz down my hair with water and then cut it?