26 March 2011

the beauty shop

this week i ran into two of my students, brothers, 8 and 11, at a most inopportune time - as i was arriving for my hair appointment. turns out they had their hair appointments then, too. what are the chances?

what ever happened to privacy in such places? time was when the "beauty parlor" was a woman's refuge - a place to go alone, to yak with your neighbors, to dish with your hairdresser. who cared if other women saw you with rollers in your hair or smelling like permanent solution? there was common ground there among women with the unspoken rule that what happened in the hair salon, stayed in the hair salon. except for the gossip, of course. 

then men were invited in. they came in such droves that numbers of barber shops dwindled considerably. no longer happy with a haircut, men were now invading sacred lady-spaces in search of hair styling. so women ran the risk of running into their ex-boyfriends or their bosses while they were being curled and dyed.

and now, children? what's a teacher to do? allow her students to see her sitting in a paisley plastic cape for twenty minutres with orange goop all over her head? or in one of those clear plastic shower-caps with the cotton all around the edges? or with bits of hair poking out all over her head and looking like a koosh ball?

perhaps i'll need to take my business far out of town. or become a l'oreal girl (because i'm worth it!) and get rid of my gray in the privacy of my home. or better yet, i could just have my stylist slick my wet hair straight back when students come by. then i could put on my best accent and convince them that they must be mistaken, that i'm not at all who they think i am.

and what did i do? i chose to leave. reschedule. i ran like the gray-haired, shaggy coward that i am.

11 comments:

Fashion said...

Regarding cosmetics I believe not to depend entirely on what is in vogue. I think what fits and suits me should get more preference than what is in fashion. Thank you

Mon-Mon said...

well I'm only 15 so I don't really know how hair places were like back then, but the way you describe it seems fun! Now when I occasionally get a haircut it's just snip snip and leave no chatting really involved lol but that sucks, it must have been awkward!

Lynne said...

As a teacher, I relate! I would have run too!

R. J. said...

OMG! Good for you for leaving. I wouldn't have been able to stay either. I am a retired teacher and I can really relate to that feeling. They already think we sleep in the furnace room of the school, but it isn't as hard to run across students at the supermarket as in a hair salon. I agree that I like ladies hair salons and the men should have their own. What's the point of going through all of that stuff to look better while they watch you at your worst? I like a barrier of mystery and respect between teachers and students as well as between men and women.

Crosby Kenyon said...

I use a hair-stylist, now, a good one, and I'm not a student except for the usual continuing School of Life. Public libraries have changed, too. All that chatter everywhere that librarians don't usually bother to shush. People on the computers, social-networking in every way imaginable, phoning, etc. Blogging.

Janie B said...

I do not blame you one bit. Wise choice to leave. Students see me at the grocery store or Walmart sometimes, and that's enough. But, the hairdresser??? No way!

Laura Aanenson said...

Running was a good choice! With cell phone cameras, YouTube and Facebook, you could have been the most popular teacher in no time. LOL

~she~ said...

Ha ha...that's so funny! As a child, if I would have seen my teacher at a salon, I might have died. I never realized they were real people too!

Anonymous said...

I LOVE this! Good for you for running! Mary D'E~B

Mimsie said...

You were right to reschedule! I would do the same thing if I were a teacher.

Gail Underwood Parker said...

AS a teacher myself, I laughed till it hurt. I had the same experience, did the same thing! If it were just a shampoo and cut, maybe I could handle it. But getting my roots done... not a chance! I did have some success switching my appointments to first thing Saturday morning.... I taught middle school and most of them didn't see the light of day until at least 11 am!
Good Luck!
Gail
Gail Underwood Parker
www.upbeatsanddownbeats.blogspot.com