A conversation that I had with a male client today (as a disclaimer, he’s a church friend; otherwise I wouldn’t publicly humiliate him):
Male client, “How long are you growing your hair?”
Me, “To here.”
I communicated “here” by placing one hand on my waist. 
You know, the waist?
Consider the waist: If you dressed up as Peter Pan for Halloween, this is where you’d place your fists.
Or if you were scolding someone, you’d hold a hand on at least one side of your waist (while the other hand is shaking a finger at the offender), right?
The waist. It’s along the belly button horizon and is my goal for a couple reasons. First of all, I’ve never had hair long enough to cover my boobs. The last time it was long enough to do that, I was 11 years old and didn’t have boobs. Secondly, as a hairstylist, one style that I’ve never had the patience to see through is long, 70’s hair. I’d like to get that out of my system while I’m still in my 20’s.
To recap:
Male client, “How long are you growing your hair?”
Me, “To here,” gesturing to the waist.
Male client, “To your BUTT?”
Me, “No! To here. To my waist!”
Male client, “Isn’t that the same thing?”
Me, “No, it’s not the same thing!”
Male client, “Well, it is for a guy.”
Me, “It isn’t for anyone! The waist is above the butt! It’s always above the butt! You have a waist don’t you?!”
This went back and forth for a while as I insisted that the waist and the butt were, in fact, not the same thing.
Then Brian came in for a haircut and I filled him in, expecting him to laugh along with me. But naturally Brian took our friend’s side. I’m currently mulling over putting this on the list of differences between men and women. Surely not all men think the waist and the butt are the same thing… do they?
ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!
Maybe they see it as the whole middle is one big body part…the “i like what i see” part. lol
I get this, but only ’cause I work with men. Lots of them. Something about ‘she has hair to her butt’ just sounds better than ‘hair to her waist’. There’s something kinkier, weirder and image-conjuring about saying it one way and not the other.
I also think it’s related to this strange compliment: “man, she has legs up to her butt”.
1) my coworker (male) brain thinks : ugga ugga
2) then about a nanosecond later, my female brain cuts in …’what a funny thing to say, I mean, everyone’s legs go up to their butt! Boys are wierd.’
and then, the final me chimes in one last time with a mutually appreciative…
3) okay, I need to go to the gym, ’cause she really does look hot, and I need to have this effect on men too….is his mouth STILL open?’
🙂