Intimate Body Waxing???

So I am a hairstylist. Hence the name of my blog. I recently stared working in a Suite, which is one of 39 suites in a salon. A suite is a private room we design as our own small salon. Among the suites we have a lot of hairstylists, several massage therapists, skin specialists and one Intimate Body Waxer.
OK so I probably will never use the Intimate Body Waxer, since at my age I am losing more hair than growing any and since Mr. Wonderful's testosterone level has dropped I don't see any need for a design between my legs. Not that he would notice. I come home with flaming red hair and it takes him three weeks to say "Oh, you have red in your hair".
We have five hallways where our suites are located. The intimate body waxer is a hallway away from me. Am I curious?? Well yes. Unfortunately I can't see when anyone comes or goes so I am out of luck at who uses her.
I have wondered how soundproof the walls are because I have to let you know..in case anyone really ever pondered this question, but there is NO WAY IN HELL wax would be used in that area. Shall I repeat that? NO WAY!!  Should I ever venture to that hallway and decided that possibly, maybe, perhaps I would ever have that done my screams  the first time a strip was removed would pull all other 38 suites out the door wondering who was being sliced up in another room.
We had an open house last week and I met "Kat" the intimate body waxer and saw her suite. It had a thick, furry spread on her table.
I wax eyebrows and all facial components in my suite. I occasionally drip a little wax on things. My wax is about a foot from where it will land on skin. While I am not sure how far her wax should travel to get to the intimate So if you lay on this thick, furry blanket while being intimately waxed, you better be a good aim or your client will have that fur stuck in her ( or his) intimate areas.
Kat is a lovely person and I am very sure she is excellent at what she does.
I am excellent at what I do too.  I will stay in my suite one hallway away working on hair, extensions and an occasion eyebrow wax. If I hear an unrecognizable sound or a very loud "OH SHIT" I will know what intimate parts are being ripped off.
Just saying.

Never Too Old To Dream!

Never think you are too old to start a new dream.

I said I would never sell my salon..really thought I would be carried out on a stretcher, but here I am, going to a new place. To top it off I am excited about it!! Yes, excited.
I think of all the "old" people term.  Never too old to teach an old dog a new trick. When I am old I shall wear purple ( I'm thinking plum for the walls)
"The excitement of learning separates youth from old age. As long as you're learning you're not old."

Rosalyn S. Yallow

That's me. Without a doubt.  The last year, besides being filled with another replaced body part, seems to have been a down in the dumps years for me. No feeling of really wanting to do anything, just getting through. Oh, I have loved what I do for a living. Always, Not much enthusiasm though.

Until I made the decision to close my business, sell it, get rid of it, stop being an owner, lose the headache that comes with wondering when the toilet will stop up or the air conditioner go out in 100 degree weather.

I became "joyful" again. Almost a giddy joy. Even more so the fact that I am leasing a suite in a mall of suites. Apparently that is the direction a lot of stylists are heading and by God I want on that wagon 

When many women my age in this business are working a couple days a week, doing a few older clients, trying to get cheap booth rent because they can't afford much more, Me???? I am heading into the most expensive rent I have ever paid, in a very upperclass salon with thirty nine suites. Yes, you read that right. THIRTY NINE people will eventually work there.  

That's a lot of egos. I don't care. We will all be in our wonderful rooms with our own little salons and our clients and our privacy.  I am very stoked about this.   

OK, not all stylists have big egos, but one of the reasons I loved my little salon was because I have worked with some divas.  It's also fine that the first stylist I was introduced to in the suites told me right off the bat she was a "DIVA".  She smiled though and I think she is just a happy bouncy person with loads of confidence and it's just fine. Why?? Because I will be in my own room.  Love love love it.

So much more to come!

No Resolutions!!

Yay!!  I'm back. Ok I can get excited. No resolutions, mind you. Just the fact I made it here twice in one week.
Speaking of resolutions. I never make them. I have sworn them off completely.
Why set myself up for disaster? I used to. Of course.
I will lose weight. (Ha!!)
I will exercise. ( Really?)
I will be kinder . ( now that one I do try, but all the time)

Aren't the top two the most popular?  January 1st. Eat healthy and lose weight. Oh yea, after a night with my friends who the heck wanted to eat anyways. Now that I have decided the new year will come without my help and my bed looks great at 10 PM, I'm faced with myself. New Years day is usually when I'm clearing out the junk from Christmas. Some makes it to the trash, some to my mouth.

Exercise? Years ago it was cleaning the house after my friends left. It's so nice to wake up to a clean house.  I make breakfast for hubby and settle in for a day of watching football, taking down the Christmas decorations and enjoying more of the Christmas junk.

By January 2 I had forgotten my resolutions and when I did remember I had made them, I felt horrible.

So for many years to come I will continue my NO resolutions. I live healthier, happier and am not disappointed in myself.

So as blogs go this is a bust.  My brain wraps around things but I never get it written down.
So here I am again.
New Years Day 2015
During the last 30 days of the year my ex-husband, dear friend and father of our two boys suffered a major bleed in his brain and was taken off life support after 13 days. It was a horrible decision for his 18 year old son and 39 year old daughter. Ol Doc Dennis would not have wanted to live the way he was though and so, as sad as it became, it was for the best.
On Christmas Eve a friend from church discovered her 30 year old son dead in his apartment. He had medical issues and they believe it was a mix of medicines gone wrong.
At 1:45 in the morning on December 26th, my cousin, was killed by bullets from a group of youths who had come out of the hotel he was staying at.
Today is a new year.  Everyone hopes the next year will be filled with good things, with hope and happiness not realized the year before, to overcome obstacles in front of them, to come away from heartbreak and sadness and have a new outlook.
No. It's still sad.
My son, who last week signed up for the Air National Guard, has to grow up faster than he ever imagined because his dad didn't really teach him how to stand on his own two feet. Yes he is a man going into the guard, but inside he is a frightened young man who has lost his father. His dad and I had been divorced for 10 years. We remained very good friends. We had the nicest divorce compared to horrendous divorces I have seen others go through.  I miss him. My now husband, Mr. Wonderful, was beyond understanding though his time in the hospital. Through my tears he knew that Dennis and I were friends and he would leave a hole in my life.  Thank God for Mr. Wonderful.
Shawn, my son, will grow into a decent young man, holding onto what he will learn through this. Nothing lasts forever. New years aren't always great. We can get through Christmas with a deep loss. His girlfriend looks good in auburn hair as well as she did in blonde and life will go on.
My friend suffers from the loss of a child. We expect out parents to go before we do. Not our children. Her new year will be difficult as she and her family deal with this loss.
My cousin, who left behind a daughter, son and grandchild, was in the wrong place at the wrong time.  When I get angry about guns, this is why. Yes I know guns don't kill, people do. Tell my cousin that. This one makes me angry. Very angry.
For the three people who's lives ended last month, you touched my life in so many different ways. I will miss all of you.

Firing an old lady.

I had to fire a client recently. It was sad. She was 84, which made it even sadder.
She was mean. Not just cranky mean. Not just "I have had a bad day" mean. Insulting mean, make me feel inadequate mean, want stick my pointed comb into her head mean.

I've been a hairstylist for over 30 years. I know how to do the "Big" hairstyles. I backcomb hair ..tight.
I can do the little curls that women of that generation love, I can even do a roller set. Does this mean it is something I love to do? No, but I love my elderly ladies and I will do most anything to please them. Except Wilma.
Wilma called me to ask if I backcombed hair. "Yes" Could I backcomb it tight? "Yes" She lost her hairstylist due to a back injury and needed in that week.
You must understand that only Ashley and I do the "older" ladies. She was busy and while I am not taking new clients for a "weekly" spot, I felt sorry for Wilma and booked her in. First mistake.
She was bossy, demanding and not very nice. Like a trooper though, thinking it would get better over time, I held my tongue, did every little thing she asked me to with a smile to end with " Maybe you'll do better next time".
Mind you, I don't take that from clients. I've been doing this too long to be treated in a demeaning way. I am not perfect, I don't always nail a style the first time, but I work hard to please clients.
I knew this was going to be a tough one.
Next week, same thing. I didn't shampoo right, I didn't put the color rinse on right. I'm seething inside all the while thinking how I could get out of this. By the end of each appointment there would be a glimmer of niceness so I'd stuff my "let go" speech away.  Then she started bringing her "Wal-Mart" products in because those would help me do better.
I do not embarrass people. I would never say anything in the salon to make anyone uncomfortable, but I had to get rid of this client. Plus her products.
I decided to call her and tell her how I felt, then mail her products to her.
Do you know what a 555 telephone number is?  It's what you hear on TV when someone gives out a number. They do that because that number does not exist.
Wilma's number was 405-555-0012  I get people's info off of checks. That was on her check.
84 tear old woman, fake elephant number. What was she hiding?
Time was running out though. It was Friday and her appointment was the next Thursday. I mailed her products along with a letter explaining why I no longer wanted to do her hair.
Done!
Monday I checked the tracking number to see if it had been delivered. No such address. Returned.
WHAT??
Fake phone number and nonexistent address. How did she even get checks??
One of my other clients knew her so I had to call Betty to get her number, which meant I had to tell Betty I was firing her friend. Betty Said " I don't blame you, she's a mean person  Well, if nothing else my feelings had been validated.
On to the call.
No answer. So I left a message.
"Wilma, I hate to leave this on your answering machine but seeing as your phone number and your address are nonexistent I have no choice.  I no longer want to do your hair. I can't please you and you would be much better off finding a new stylist".
Hey, that wasn't so bad. I tried everything I could and finally left the message. Problem resolved?
No, she called back.
"I'm not mean. I don't understand what you are saying. Would you do my hair this week?"
Lordy. So I had to talk to her. "No Wilma. "
I had never fired a client before. This is tough stuff. Especially when they don't understand why.
I finally got through to her, she picked up her Wal-Mart products and life in the salon has gone on.
I told my protege Ashley if I ever get like that she has permission to send me to the looney bin..or fire me.

Hanging on to old styles.

In an ever changing world of hair styles, colors , cuts, texture and more I find, even at my old age, a fascination with what can be done with hair.
Very few of my present clients will ask for the pastels, or rock the vivid colors, but I wish they did.
Anyone who knew me years ago, knows I would be a veritable rainbow if I could. Gray hair has a life of it's own though and is not condusive to brights or pastels. Hell I have a hard enough time going one week before the crap comes through. That's a post all of it's own though.

One of the hottest colors right now is the silvery white blonde ( at my age, we call that gray) but it is gorgeous when done on the right head. Add a few lavender pieces and my tongue hangs out at how beautiful it is. My clients usually say " Isn't that awful?"  "Can you imagine someone doing that to their hair?" when all the time I'm drooling wishing I could do it.
Not all mine are that bad, but as many of my clients and I have grown old together, I have discovered how strongly women hold on to their hairstyles.

Client: Thelma   Age: 72  Hair type:  Thick, straight, steel grey  Hairstyle: Roller set ( ugh)
I started doing her hair when she was 64. As I have always at some point or other had ladies with roller sets, this one was a thorn. I was hard to roll her hair, took a long time to dry and while it looked good,  I thought something else would look so much better.  Fast forward 5 years. Conversation in salon about women who hang on to hairstyles never wanting to change. Thelma asked what I would do if I could change it. I would cut it short, over the ears, give her the volume on top she needed but make it much more stylish. She said "Go for it" Once I got over the shock I started cutting. The salon was watching as was Thelma. It looked fantastic. Thelma looked in the mirror and said "We'll see how it does through the week"  While I wanted her to jump for joy at the new style I also knew she was the type of person who didn't throw out compliments and needed time. Of course everyone gushing over her about how much younger she looked and how much better it looked, added to the possibility she would come back the next week appreciating the new look.
I don't think she ever flat out said how much easier it was, but she kept it for a few months. After about 4 months she started letting it get longer and longer until it was close to her own style.  I never said anything because this is a "comfort" zone for many women.  Try something new, then gradually go back to the old style.  While she never again let me cut it as short as I did the first time, at least we got away from roller sets and it was a much softer looker.
May she rest in peace now. She was a wonderful client.  She would have rocked silver and lavender.

Roxie and Kleenex

My cocker spaniel. Roxie, eats kleenex. Lots of kleenex. Why her poop isn't white, I will never know.
I read somewhere that dogs are similar to goats in what they can ingest and not be ill.
I have been sick this week with a respiratory infection. you know, the kind where tissues are your best friend and they can't get too far from you?
Have you ever seen a dog so enthusiastic she is drooling right next to you?
She was waiting for me to fall back asleep and loosen up my grip on the tissue I had just used.  Like it was a piece of raw steak.
I moved my small trash receptacle to the top of my nightstand. When I would drift out of sleep. it looked like snow. Yes, she had managed to push it down and have every used tissue spread around the room. Some eaten, some awaiting her. The good thing about illness is you don't care. I looked at the sea of white fluff through my hazy eyes and rolled over back to lala land.She is a kind loving dog, always at my side if I am sad or upset. Always with a wiggling bottom, excited to see me. Grabbing her toys to play. Unless I am blowing my nose or using a tissue while applying makeup. Then she is a sneaky, conniving hound.
She gets about 50% of what I use, through some device of her own. I absently set it down ( while applying make-up) or miss the throw shot.  She will sneak up on the other side of an end table, then pop up and swipe it off, running away like she has performed an act.
I read they like the texture of kleenex. Well, so long as she doesn't get sick, poop white fluff or bring it back up.
 This is her busted. She had the evidence in her mouth. See those innocent eyes?  All my trash receptacles are above the floor. All my tissues are up high, but she will always manage to one.
 Have a great day,
D