Small-town dilemma: What do you do when your hair stylist seriously botches your hair?
I got my haircut at a salon here in town right before Thanksgiving, and one side is noticeably longer than the other. By a whole inch. I cringe every time I look in the mirror. I look like a doofus. I’ve been wearing my hair in a pony tail every day since November 21st. I know I should go back to the salon and ask the stylist to fix it, but I find the risk of small-town salon gossip is a substantial impediment. Small-town salon gossip is real, very real. (This is the same salon where an esthetician took it upon herself to wax my chin without asking my permission several months ago. Geez, I didn’t realize I had a thicket of whiskers on my chin.) Do I switch stylists? Or will my betrayal get back to my original stylist? Or should I get in the car and drive an hour to the nearest city and have it cut by Aprill Chocolate, a supposed hair connoisseur who comes highly recommended by a professor friend of mine?
What to do, what to do….
As an aside, I’m typing this at the library right now and I just overheard an IT staffer respond to a tech question from a customer with, “I don’t know, color me confused.”
Color me confused too.
All original content © 2012 by Jessie Knadler
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
I feel your pain. When I first moved here, I ended up with orange, skunky looking highlights. Then I had hair that after a trim (I asked for just a trim–an inch off, all the way around) I ended up with hair that was longer AND shorter on one side. (Read: my hair had three lengths. Two of these lengths were on one side of my head.) Four salons later, I now have the perfect stylist. She’s in suburban Detroit, and I have an appointment while I’m up there to visit my parents. Not ideal, but… that’s Lexington, right?
So I’m not the only one! Sorry, but I take comfort in that.
I think you have to get a new stylist unless wearing your hair in a ponytail all the time is a reasonable solution for you (and I don’t think it is.) I think with a minimalist cut you could probably get away with going 13 weeks (4 times a year) before your next one, and surely you’re away from the farm on business & close to an alternative hairstylist every 13 weeks? And if not? You’re worth the drive!
Okay, true confessions right up front, I have been reading your blog daily since November… It seems that we are living somewhat parallel lives, albeit on different ends of the globes… You see, I have moved to a rural property in Australia from New Orleans (certainly not NYC, but definitely more metropolitan than where I find myself now) – I would fall somewhere between what you are living and the experience of our “friend” the ruralpolitan in Westchester… about me: 8 acres, chickens(numbers vary, due to fox activity), no roosters, thank you very much; 2 pregnant alpacas, assorted dogs, horse, cats, lizards, and birds… recently got rid of an oversexed sheep, but that’s a story for another day… I certainly sympathize with the dilemma of oversupply of fresh eggs and am keeping note of all your recipes! Ditto on the slow combustion heating situation – in winter we keep ours burning “nonstop” as well – On my first day at home solo with the “beast who must be fed” my better half mentioned that I would need to keep an eye on things and perhaps add some wood to keep things going…not sure what I got up to, but somehow or other, 6 hours later, the fire was out… I, of course, had assumed that the heat would just “keep coming”… I suppose full disclosure at this time would be the proper thing to do… It is nearly midnight here and I have had a bit more wine than your bible study group would probably deem appropriate… in fact, I am hoping that one of my sisters sends me the awesome wine glass from Kotula’s catalogue ( how I discovered your blog in the first place…) But back to your most recent post – in a small town situation, it is most difficult to “break up” with your stylist ( and I mean that in the loosest terms)… what I have found to be most effective is to embrace the “growing out”period – I only have it cut
when I am stateside…by the same person who has cut itfor over 16 years… Take comfort where and when you can!
All joking aside, I love my new life and am forever thankful for all of the wonderful people I have met – I just won’t let them be cutting and colouring my hair… Thanks so much for your blog – it truly is a bright spot in my day, and I really look forward to hearing about your adventures…
Hi Margaret: So nice to hear from you. It really does sound like we’re living parallel lives, doesn’t it? Though it sounds like you have a sunnier outlook than I do! Or maybe that was just the wine talking. And let me know how that Kotula’s wine glass works out for you! I trust it will work out quite well. Ha ha ha! Thank you SO MUCH for reading. SO VERY MUCH!!!! JK