So It Goes: True words from the hairdresser

For many years, I attended a lovely hairdresser whose son was a friend of my son.  On meeting her son, he pronounced my hair looked a lot like a “Kcut” -  one word that he felt that addressed most of his mother’s customers, who according to him all came out of the salon looking the same.

I do know of course that this is completely untrue, given the fact that my son had also visited his mother to have his dreadlocks removed and I definitely did not look remotely the same, and thank God for that mercy.

But I digress.  Because what I want to share is a recent visit to my current and much adored cutter of hair (who doesn’t adore their hairdresser?)  She was in a particularly cheerful and slightly mischievous mood and said several times suspicious phrases such as “trust me” and “leave it with me”.

The big clanger however came just after she asked what I would like to have done. I gave her the usual spiel but this time she didn’t look at me askance, head cocked to the side, eyes skewed as if to see the final look.  No, instead, she said “You know I’m going to do what I like.”

I mean I’m all for honesty, but this one was brutal.  We both laughed, because we all know that no truer words have been spoken by any hairdresser anywhere.  We know that most hairdressers look at you intently, while thinking they will do what they like, but few reveal their inner thoughts.

This all came after she assured me my hair wasn’t red.  She’d popped a bit of colour onto my hair. You know the drill, chat, colour, chat, colour, chat, chat, chat.  And so we sit and let her play.  Until you wake from the latest life saga and notice that you’ve become a red head.  

“Oh no, that’s not red. It will settle down. Trust me. You’ll love it. Just give it time,” she said. These are all short phrases I have warned my children about and here they were in one sentence. The thing is I do love it, and it has settled down.

– Linda Muller