I cheated on my hairdresser.
I can explain. I needed to get my hair cut and coloured and she was unavailable during the times that fit with my schedule. If I was to wait for her, it would be weeks, maybe even months. It’s not like I wanted to turn to someone else. I had no choice. So I did it. I made an appointment with another stylist - at a different salon. I intended for it to stop there. This was absolutely without question a one-time thing. After all, I have a long-standing relationship with my regular hairdresser, Tina, and I had no desire to jeopardize that. I knew I’d have to confess when I next saw her; after all, my hair would be a different colour. However, I felt confident she’d understand when I explained my desperation.
What I didn’t bank on was loving the way the new stylist, Stephanie, did my hair. Sure, I hoped it would be good, but I fell in love - with the cut, the colour, the way I felt leaving the salon. And let’s face it, the salon’s “cut and colour for $46.99” deal didn’t hurt. Still, I wanted to stay true to Tina and our sometimes colour-ful history, and I do love the way she does my hair too. So when the receptionist at the new salon asked if I wanted to pre-book my next appointment with Stephanie, I said "No, thank you." We would part ways here. “You can always make an appointment, then call and change it if something comes up,” she said sweetly, making it difficult to refuse. So I didn’t refuse. I made a follow-up appointment.
Now, here I am. Two hairdressers waiting in the wings, one with whom I have a solid and happy history, another who is a worthy adversary, with lower prices and a salon much closer to my house. What’s a girl to do? Either decision leaves me cutting one person out of my life like split ends, to be swept callously into the dustpan.
It's a decision I don't take lightly. And with the hair affair three weeks behind me, I have just four weeks of growth in which to make the choice.
Ah yes, the hairdresser break up trauma. I too, had a long standing relationship with a stylist. He's funny, talented, and I always thought my face looked like I was thinner whenever I arose from the chair. But things happen. Schedules don't connect. Storms cause cancellations. Flu season strikes.
ReplyDeleteAfter several months in a row of delays, re-schedules and substitutions I made a bold decision. Try out someone else. Who could blame me? After all, it was one more cancellation the morning of the appointment...a day I re-arranged just to get back on track with him. So I called a friend who understands the need for someone who cuts short hair well, and I took the plunge....letting someone else take their scissors to my hair. And while my hair is a little different now and I don't look thinner when I leave the salon, it's ok. Relationships are like that.