The hairdressers. Where do we stand with this? It’s marketed as enjoyable and luxurious and supposedly happens in a ‘salon’. For the money you part with sometimes you should expect a goddamn Broadway show with your cup of herbal tea (or glass of champers if you’re very lucky). Sure you get some o.k. chat if there’s a charismatic queen involved, otherwise I’d prefer to cut the chitter-chatter and enjoy the feeling of a moderate strangers hands in my hair (coupled with the occasional crotch rub against my arm).
One of the best things about getting a haircut (and this is surely a flaw in the English language, you’re not getting one singular hair cut, its more of a hairs cut…) is the part where you get a shampoo and condition. But why do they bother asking if you’re comfortable? Sure the temperature should be pleasant, but is anyone really comfortable when they’re practically sitting up, head backwards, staring at the ceiling and neck halfway in a basin? I always tell a lie and then regret it when the bitter-sweet ‘head shiatsu’ goes on for longer than my neck muscles can handle.
I am crazy loyal to hairdressers to the point where I dodge my ex-cutters in the street. There are several grounds for giving a hairdresser the flick. Some include: jacking the price up each time you visit, taking too much off, not taking anything off, charging you a small fortune to dye your hair the exact same color, bad décor, bad lighting and mirror combo, not sticking to the brief and being ‘experimental’, giving you an asymmetrical doo (which is definitely a don’t), having an out of touch style themselves, taking too long, getting the apprentice to fill in, double booking your appointment so they’re doing two cuts at once, not sweeping between jobs, not brushing the hair off you’re face, being too cool that you feel intimidated, pushing product on you (it’s a haircut not an infomercial) …
