September 10, 2013

Hair Rant

Warning: this post has nothing to do with riding, endurance or goals and everything to do with me ranting about a recent experience.

I love hair. You really can't do anything to mess it up. Even if you get the worst haircut of your life with terrible highlights that glow in the dark and make you look like a vampire all you have to do is wait a little bit and it will grow out. Or re-cut it. Until you get old enough (or have a medical condition) that it begins to thin and fall out, the sky is the limit. It is the simplest way to make a big change without really having to commit to anything. It is great. When I get bored, I get my hair cut.

Personally, I would love it if just for once a patient would show up to my office and allow me to do whatever I need to. But no, they always say they can't stop running a million miles a day to allow things to heal, or they can't wear a fracture boot to work and can't take time off, or they don't want a steroid injection or they refuse to wear anything but high heel shoes etc.... Then they return and wonder why it still hurts.

When I go to a hair salon I sit in the chair and tell the person to do anything they want to. I'm game. I've had my hair shorter than the hubs' and as long as I could stand to grow it. It has been straight and curly (it is naturally curly). It has been almost black and bleached blonde and everything in between. When I tell you to be creative and do anything you want to, I mean it. Liven it up a little. My only restrictions are 1) it still has to look semi professional for my job and 2) it either needs to be long enough to allow even the smallest, bobby pin filled pony tail or so short I couldn't even think of doing it - the in between length drives me crazy. Everything else is fair game - super straight, lots of layers, bob, pixie, reverse bob, textured, highlights, all over color, low lights etc.....anything. I better walk out of that place knowing that my money actually made me look different.

So when I finally got some extra dough to get my hair cut and ended up with a big blank spot in my schedule I was excited to sit in that chair in a brand new-to-me salon and see what magic would be conjured up. I told the girl the above and sat back.....

And she trimmed a half inch off my hair, told me it was pretty the way it was and asked for $30. Huh? A half inch? Really? That's the only thing you could do with shoulder length hair and a lot of wiggle room? So I made her flat iron it and put some gel in it and left very deflated. Yes, I could have been cranky and told her to redo it, but it wasn't worth it. At least it looks nice and no bridges were burned, so when I get it done the next time they will still have plenty to work with.

Oh! And to make matters worse, I went to pay with my debit card and she told me they don't take cards. Really? It is 2013. Everyone takes cards. Or at least understand you are rare enough to warn people when the make the appointment. I didn't just walk in. I called and spoke to her first. Luckily for her there was a bank in the parking lot with a drive up ATM that I walked through. I am usually a very generous tipper (she would have gotten $10 on a $30 bill), but since the bank charges $3 to use the ATM and mine charges another $2 on their end, I deducted that from her tip and gave her $5.

I may return to the salon again - it was clean and open and modern looking, but I won't be using her again. Frustrating.



1 comment:

  1. Well, hair, now that's something I can relate to. I also say the same thing to my hairdresser and so much so that she tells me " Boy, that do is not working for you"! I was there for my 4 week trim/cut yesterday and came away with a very short cut. I, like you always think that hair will always grow back so it is just a wait ing game until it grows back. I only wish it were a bit thicker but there are a lot of worse things in life! I do like what she did for you but different would have been nice. A.J.

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