a Thai hair washing experience

Mindy, Mary, and Amy have been talking it up for a while now about how Julie and I have to go get our hair washed the Thai way. they've been telling us about how long and drawn out the process is at the beauty salons here in thailand and it's such a fun experience. so, we planned for today to be the day. we did it! not to mention, they told us in advance to expect very straight hair when you are done, no matter how curly it is! hmm, i had to see this with my new curly hair.

so, around 3:15 this afternoon we headed into town. mindy, amy, julie and i walk in the beauty salon and there are two thai women working there. i hoped we weren't going to overwhelm them. they said two of us needed to go to the back and start getting our hair washed. so julie and i went first. it wasn't just an american's way of washing your hair. i don't think i've ever had hair as clean as it is today! they washed it three times each lasting several minutes. they lengthened out the washings b/c each time they spent several minutes massaging the shampoo in our scalps. our necks and face muscles also got massaged. yes, shampoo was on their hands when they massaged our cheeks and neck. i think i was a little surprised by the fact that my ears got washed inside with shampoo!!!!! yes, before i knew it, she was rubbing her fingers in my ears with shampoo. well, i thought we covered our ears up in america for a reason when we washed our hair, oh well. :) then she proceeded to rinse it all off. i guess i have clean ears too.

after the process of washing, we were then in store for the process of drying. julie and i waited and read books while the other girls got their hair washed. then one by one it was our turn to get our hair dried. julie went first and she said for them to do whatever. they did. they dried each strand forever with just a brush and blowdryer and then gave her small braids with the rest of her hair down. it was pretty!

my turn! i went and sat in the chair... they asked if i wanted them to use the straightening iron or the hairdryer. i said, whatever. they ended up using both. every second of seeing my hair straightened was a moment of glee. i was so giddy. it was the first time i have ever seen my new long hair like this. we had to share with them my story, b/c i was too excited. :) i couldn't help but sit there and just keep praising the Lord for what He has done. i kept saying thank you. it was as if i was going back in time and seeing the way it used to look like.

when we were finished, there were four girls strutting their stuff with their straight hair around in chiang klang. watch out world, here we come! the only sad thing was we didn't have anywhere to go tonight. tonight there were no activities planned as far as ministry went, so we all settled for a girls night watching a movie the girls have really harped on me for never seeing. i know, i know, "anne of green gables." okay, now i'm addicted. i love that movie! we're not done. it's forever long. after one of the first tapes, i saw credits and they said the quote for the night was me saying, "it can't be over!"

this was a fantastic day!