Bad Hair Day

(Photos purposely withheld)

I’m having a bad hair day. Make that a bad hair week, month, looks like this one could go on for a while. Now normally I wouldn’t bore readers with a hair problem, but I keep thinking about a question that was posed to me numerous times before we started this cruising adventure. Women wanted to know, “What are you going to do about your hair?” This was second only to “Husband and wife living together 24/7 on a 27 foot boat! I don’t think I could do it!” We’ve adjusted to living in close quarters. Apparently I still need to work on the hair thing.

Gone are the days of going to my hairdresser every five weeks for color and a cut. Gone, but not missed are the mornings spent blow drying and curling my hair before I set off to the office. Now I wash my hair in the ocean, give it a quick, fresh water rinse and let it dry in the wind. Most days I don’t care. Every once in a while I wish I looked better.

I went to the same hairdresser for almost 20 years following her to 3 different salons. I trusted her! She knew how I liked my hair. Now, for the last three years I’ve had to spin the wheel and see what I get, with varying results. I’ve had other cruisers give me haircuts and bravely walked into salons in the Bahamas, St. Lucia and Grenada. I’ve been pretty happy with the results up until now.

I figured that St. Martin was a good place to get a haircut. St. Martin is a cosmopolitan island of food and fashion, right? So when I asked another cruiser for a recommendation on a salon and walked through the door, I was confident I would walk out looking good. The salon was bright and clean, the hairdresser/owner was friendly. She asked how I wanted my hair and I thought I did a good job of explaining what I wanted. I just wanted a trim, just cut the same way only shorter. I figured she could just follow my old haircut like a seamstress follows a pattern. We chatted while she began working away on the back of my head but soon it became clear that she was taking a lot off. And by then it was too late! I have very little hair left! The back and sides are cut about as short as possible when using a scissors. The top is a little longer. It really isn’t a bad haircut (the hairdresser was very meticulous) if you look good with hair this short. I just don’t think I do. Besides, I liked my old cut. I’ll be growing this one out for a long time. So now when women want to know what I do about my hair, I’ll just tell them the truth. I wear a hat.

Renee and Mike on S/V Jacumba (very good friends who would never laugh at my hair!) arrived in St. Martin the other day. We have been having a great time. Yesterday was the day for the long overdue Domino rematch. You see, at our last domino game in Grenada almost 6 months ago, we awarded a booby prize to the biggest loser. The dreaded Domino Dunce Hat! Renee was the unhappy recipient and she has been dying to pass on the prize ever since. Armed with rum punch the battle began! Several hours later Renee happily gave up the dunce hat. Even better yet, it didn’t find its way to Merengue. Only nine points apart going into the final round Mike slipped past Renee to lose. We made him take a lap around the deck to show off his new hat! Cruel, I know!

After more than five weeks in Simpson Bay Lagoon we are finally back in the blue. The ocean swell is finally coming out of the east so we were able to move out to Marigot Bay on Saturday. We’re just rocking gently and we have this gorgeous turquoise water to look at and swim in. The prop needed a good cleaning after that much time in the lagoon. We had very little power when we motored out. And the dinghy bottom was looking pretty bad after all that time. So for now we’ll enjoy our surroundings until the northerly swell roles back in and drives us back into the protection of the lagoon.