Highlights In My Parent's Kitchen...

Oh, culinary as well!

My mum, apart from being a mum is also a fabulous hairstylist. There are still legions of her fans back in South Africa but now, I am fortunate that she is my stylist. Even though I have worked a whole lifetime in a Hair Salon, I don't tend to fuss too much with my hair.

Every so often, I get the parental summons into the kitchen.

" We have got to do your haircolour. It is a bit dull. Let's do highlights and a cut. "

Who am I to complain? Yesterday afternoon, I arrived for my appointment at my Salon, which coincidentally happens to be in my parent's kitchen and my chair was sans mirror. A plain Jane kitchen chair.

Not having a mirror to espy every tiny move a hairstylist makes, is rather a relief and a blessing. The colour is only revealed once the hair has been blowdried in the bathroom, and the only way to know how much of a trim you are getting, is by seeing the odd cut pieces sail past your face onward to the floor. Never enough to panic and most hairstylists learn early on to flick the evidence behind the chair out of eyesight!

Wouldn't stylists the world over be glad to have a no mirror policy during the appointment? Those seemingly casual comments often made...

" Should you be cutting the sides so short? "
" Are you sure this colour will suit me? "
" Don't cut too much more, will you? "
" You know, last time your boss did it differently. Are you sure you know what you're doing? "

...do have an impact. Quite frankly, if your stylist wasn't 100% sure before these comments, after them, he or she would definitely be beset by doubts and a quick trip to the staff kitchen for reassurance. A whispered comment to a colleague happens more often than clients realize.

That quick excuse to get you a cup of coffee etc can often be a whispered aside to a colleague:

" Do me a favour. Just casually go past my client and have a look if you think the colour is done? "

Back to my kitchen appointment and some funny highlights...the Aga stove is always on the go and often it feels as if the temperature is in the 30's. Despite this, my hair takes forever to yield to the bleach's bidding and I often have to move my chair in front of the stove to speed up my highlights. When my stylist mentioned

" There's too much peroxide with the colour and let's hope it works. "

I had a few mental images flash about, but so far I have only had wonderful experiences at Salon Mum, and after all, hair grows and it is Winter after all!

Biggi