Combine mild depression, restlessness, boredom and a trip to the hairdresser and what do you get?

Yes, exactly that. A hairy recipe for disaster!

I ended up doing something which I have not done for more than 15 years - get a perm. Thanks to my hairdresser who coaxed me into it - though to be fair, she'd tried before but I never caved, until now. The magic words she uttered which finally did the trick: "I just want you to try it. If you don't try anything how will you know whether you like it or not?"

So in a reckless moment of abandonment, I said: Okay lah!

Before that, I cross-examined her on maintenance, hair damage, cost, how long the perm was going to take, if my puffy face was going to look puffier and to be specific, "just how curly is curly? wavy curly? afro curly?"

Wavy curly. Big curls. You will look soooo cute, she assured me happily. And young too!

$273 poorer and 2 hours later I emerged.

Owain ran out to greet me when I came home, stopping short and staring and finally saying: You look funny mom. And then he yelled for the rest: COME SEE WHAT MOM DID TO HER HAIR!

Cait's frank opinion summed it up: "you look like yoo-jin three years later."

That cryptic line is shorthand for godawful-ugly.

For non k-drama fans, Yoo Jin is the female lead character in Winter Sonata. Played by k drama queen Choi Ji Woo, she had short hair in the serial. But in the last episode, the story flashforwarded three years. And tada, here comes Yoo Jin in the most stilted, stiff hair extensions I'd ever seen. They seem attached to her straight hair as an after-thought. Back then, while watching, I'd rolled my eyes at the hair and got the girls laughing about it.

But now, its payback time. So I look quite the ageing (and puffy) version of Yoo Jin. Argh. Very ajumma.

Later my sweet Cait said, while playing Monopoly Deal with her depressed mom, "Mom, I actually think you look better in this hairstyle. Really. I'm not just saying that."

Sweet liar.

KH came home late so he never saw my hair last night. But this morning he said, very bluntly: "What happened to your hair?" When I didn't reply, he snorted: "Ah-soh hair!"

Yes, kick me when I'm down, why don't you?

There goes $273. Never. In. My. Life. I've never paid so much for mere hair. *sob* All that went though my mind as I trudged down Orchard Road after leaving Shunji was:

"$273 is half an air ticket to Japan."
"I could buy three $90 Japanese melons with that"
"That's like, 5 expensive freshly-shucked oyster laden buffets."
"A night's stay in a hotel here"
"Two nights stay in a KL hotel, or two rooms for the whole family for one night in KL"
"More than 10 CDs"
"About 13 DVD boxsets"
"Two family sushi treats"
"The price of one facial package at the Body Shop"
and
"WTF was I thinking????"

Live and learn. Live and learn. I thought I did. Thought I passed my salad days of bad hair decisions made while deep in the misery trough. Obviously not. 40 years old and I'm still making vanity mistakes.

I will be in hibernation until my hair grows out or until I get used to my hair. Whichever comes first.

Meanwhile, I'm still depressed.