don't quit your day job

I wasn't one of those little girls who grew up dreaming of modelling, even though my mother tried her best with frilly dresses, curled hair and bows. I was a tom boy. I loved sports, the outdoors, no shoes, and getting dirty. In high school I was a jeans and t-shirt kind of girl. I wore my hair simply and I had no style. Through university I tried experiment with hairstyles. Short, long, curly and blonde. As I look back on the pictures now, I laugh at how silly and awkward I looked at times. Once I hit my twenties I started to feel more comfortable and more feminine with my style choices. Though, living in Taiwan does make good hair difficult. Helmet hair, wind, rain, and humidity are my enemies ... daily.

This style however is not who I am now ... but it is fun!

My hair stylist here in Taiwan asked me for a favour. The translations were a little fuzzy at first as he is just learning English, and I speak little to no Chinese. He wanted my help with hair for special children. JP and I thought this meant he wanted my help with donating hair to kids with cancer? This was all being deciphered from a text message.

Later that week, I met him and his staff at the salon after hours to find this hair art waiting for me. I was not in fact helping with special hair for children. I was helping to model special hair for their website. 

ME? Are you sure? It turns out I am one of the few foreigner females they know and they did not want to hire a model. I am helping them out and in return I get the experience (which is pretty fun ... playing dress up) and he gave me a hot oil hair treatment for dry hair. Also, after the photo shoot the staff plan to take JP and I to dinner as a thank you. 


I am of course no model and I do not plan to become one. I would never even be asked to do this kind of thing Canada. However, in Taiwan, being foreigner means your considered beautiful a majority of the time.

This is a photo from the third fitting. The hair piece seems to grow and evolve each time I come in. I just sit patiently as multiple people work away gluing things to my face and pinning more hair to my head. They are always worried they are hurting me and carefully make sure I am okay. I smile and tell them I am fine, and that I am having fun. Everyone in the shop is excited about their work and the upcoming photo shoot. I am excited and nervous cause I have no idea what is going to happen!

Wish me luck!