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I can’t believe it’s…

…my own hair!

Believe it or not, there is a fundamental relationship between having my hair transformed and the work I do as a musician. I didn’t know that until I experienced the artistry of Zaidah Martin Green.

On Saturday, March 5th between 5 and 7 pm, I was transformed. I also learned some things. The transformation was a gift and testament to the artistry of our own HOBN member Zaidah Martin-Green and it occurred at the Sebastien 1 hair salon.

Zaidah Martin Green

Now, just in case (guys! especially) your thinking it’s “just” a haircut I’m raving about and going overboard about, I invite you to drop that and read on.

For several months now I have been growing my hair. I kept telling myself I would get it cut, but then something happened. People started calling me Beethoven. Then when it got so long the only way to manage my hair was to tie it back I started getting called Mozart. It was kind of fun being compared great classical geniuses and I saw that there might be a marketing opportunity for myself, what with me being a musician. Many people told me they loved my long hair and a few more outspoken people told me they hated it. But it in the end it is about what I think and I’ve always known underneath all those conversations that I don’t like my hair long.

You see, this underlying dislike for my hair has been reflected elsewhere in my relationship with myself. My fundamental experience of my long hair has been feeling grubby, tattered and old and the impact of that has been I’ve stopped caring about what I eat and have been gaining weight. I’ve also stopped going to the gym. There’s been an underlying conversation with myself that simply put is, “Why bother, there is nothing you can do about the march of time. It’s time to accept that you are “old”. I didn’t become conscious of these internal conversations and their impact on me until I accepted Zaidah’s invitation to go to work on my hair.

I don’t rationally believe all that garbage about being old by the way, but that conversation was hiding out in the background and running the show. I know it’s garbage because I only have to look at my own parents to see that conversations about age are more a state of mind than a physical reality. Yes we all have chronological ages and our bodies do age and become less resilient and strong. But have you not noticed people in life who seem to defy the impact of their aging bodies. My parents are examples. Mentally, my parents are younger than people my own age. My parents are responsible about their aging bodies but they are not victims of their aging bodies. They adapt and continue to live active and vibrant lives both physically and mentally.

When I said yes to Zaidah, I immediately felt excited and adventurous. I was unconsciously letting go of being a victim of my aging body. I felt the energy of youth suddenly running through who I was being.

But even then, I just thought I was going in for a haircut. I was excited because I knew it would be a fabulous cut – I’ve known Zaidah for awhile and I’ve seen her work.

Uh uh! Not just a cut. When I arrived at the salon and sat in Zaidah’s chair, she looked me in the eye and said “Craig, today I am prepared to do “everything” for you”. Not knowing what that meant, I decided to plunge into the adventure and I said “okay”.

So – everything – hair colouring (a first for me), a Brazilian Blowout (now reformulated, “safely” back on the market and again another first for me), a haircut, and new exciting hair products to finish it all off.

I was floored by the results. So were all the other stylists in the salon – the consensus was that 10 chronological years had been wiped away. I went home and kept looking in the mirror like Narcissus because I could not believe the transformation. One of the first thoughts that came to my mind after this experience was “I want to go to the gym” because I suddenly saw that I was the one who got to say how it’s going and that it is possible to transform myself physically at anytime and that more importantly physical transformation does impact who you are being mentally and emotionally.

I’m left realising I was dishonouring myself and what matters to me by not taking care of myself. For those of you who know me, you’ll know my number one passion in life is “beauty”. Not beauty as in ‘pretty on the surface beauty’, but beauty that transforms who you are being in the presence of it. Beauty that connects you with the world or even the infinite universe. This is what I create with my music improvisation for people as they lie under my piano. To my surprise, this is what Zaidah gave me when she coloured and styled my hair. She gave me transformational beauty and I saw it not just in the result of my haircut but in Zaidah herself. She gave me the gift of seeing that she is much more than a professional hair stylist, she is an artist. As she worked I watched her and was transfixed by her excitement and joy as she worked. She was clearly in the zone, just as I am when I create music.

I think Zaidah and I might be playing the same game in our lives. We just have different vehicles for expressing our passions.

{ 1 comment… add one }
  • Michelle March 14, 2011, 6:04 pm

    What….no pictures????/

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