Straight Hair

So, today I did something that I've never done before in my life. I had my hair chemically straightened. Believe it or not, this is actually quite a popular thing to have done in Thailand (trust me, when I was first told that my first thought was, "why? don't Thai people already have straight hair?"... but I guess they do it to make their hair uber straight...). I guess the reason for me doing this (I know all you guys are really wondering why I would do such a thing because I've always loved my curly hair and expressed no desire to have it permanently straightened) was because I feel like I've changed so much (on the inside) during my year here in Thailand, so I really need some kind of physical change on the outside to kind of represent that (or in Patch's words.. I just need a new look). At first I thought about getting a tattoo while here, but kind of decided against it (even though I have a super cool idea for one) just because I'm not sure how comfortable I would feel going into some random tattoo shop in Bangkok and being tattooed (also not very keen on getting HIV from a dirty needle)... would much rather be tattooed back in Canada where I can actually speak the same language as the tattoo artist, etc. So, I decided I'm just going to drastically change my hair.. starting with making it straight. The whole process took 3 hours (I won't bore you with all the details) and cost 1,200 baht (about $40) which I thought was uber cheap (despite the fact that apparntely they made me pay the foreigner price.. Thais would only have to pay 800).. Patch came with me and kept me company, and at one point La and Mah came and hung out with us in the salon. As of now my hair is super straight, and the hair stylist told me to wait 3 days before washing it again, and also not to put it in a ponytail or tuck it behind my ears or anything until I wash it... But then Sah (host mom) told me I should wait a whole week rather than just 3 days :S oh, and apparently my hair is really dry (weird because I always thought I had healthy hair and took good care of it...). Now I'm just in need of a new haircut.. have no idea what cut I will get yet.. maybe I will go for a typical Thai teenage girl hair style, but to be quite honest I'm a little worried about that idea, because alot of Thai people have hair cuts that vaguley resemble mullets....