It’s a Hairy situation….

What’s the Freakin’ problem!!! Well, ya see, I’ve been living here in Panama for nearly six months now and about two weeks before I got on that airplane with my kitties and my two suitcases, my dear friend Natalie gave me a haircut. Sooooo it’s been nearly six months since I’ve had my haircut! I know, I can get away with going a pretty long time in between haircuts with this wild, curly hair, but this is getting a bit ridiculous, even for me. Why? you say,is this such a big deal? Well….”Big deal?” Shrug…I don’t know that I’d call it a “Big deal”, per say. It’s just that ,well, I’ve never in my life walked into a hair salon , where I didnt know anyone, and sat down in a styling chair in front of a complete stranger, to have my hair cut ! I know, all my clients who are reading this right now are probably laughing! “Now she knows how we feel!”. And I will say, “yes, and it’s not fun!”

Even before my thirty years as a stylist I grew up in a household with two hairdressers so I’ve ‘never ‘had a haircut by someone I didn’t know. Both my parents were licensed stylists, as a matter of fact they met while they were in cosmetology school! I know, that’s a whole other story! But My Father was the one who ended up pursuing it as his career and he, like me,( or should I say , Me , like him) was a salon owner. As a matter of fact, his salon, where I grew up spending a lot of time, was located in the same small town where I also owned my salon. His salon was very large with about fifteen stylists who worked for him. But I never worked in my Dad’s salon. No, I liked him too much and besides that, I never wanted to be “the owners daughter”.

So Dad was the one who cut our hair, ( my sister and Me), and I’m here to tell you, we did NOT appreciate it at all! Oh, all our friends thought it was soooo cool that our dad was a hairstylist! But not me and my sister! No Way! “Why?” Well, because he was the type of stylist who cut your hair how he wanted to cut it and he didn’t really concern himself with how the person (me or my sister at least) who had the hair on their head wanted it cut. To be fair, my perspective has, of course, become a tiny bit more clear now that I’m not in my adolescence! Oh the glory of hindsight! But just for the purpose of this story I’ll say… that man did not care one bit what we wanted done with our hair and he just did whatever he darn well pleased with our hair! Oh, when I was in elementary school I was thrilled to be the only girl with a bouffant hairdo on picture day! And I bought into his ,”Oh their just jealous!” that he fed me when the girls made fun of all my different hiarstyles. Back when I was so young I just loved everything he did and thought he could do no wrong. Oh how he must have loved those days! But I’m here to tell you, when I was a teenager, I shed many a tear after he got done cutting my hair in our kitchen at night.

I can still hear the aftermath of many haircuts…he would throw his hands in the air and yell…”I’m NEVER cutting you hair AGAIN!” as I was crying in front of the mirror in the bathroom trying to fix it so that I could be seen in public. Oh the drama! It wasn’t just me, I wouldn’t want you to think that I was the sole “brat” in our house, noooo. I’ll never forget when dad decided that Rora, my sister, needed to have her hair “frosted”, ( such a dated term, highlighted would be the modern terminology!) a very similar post-hairstyle encounter ensued …hands were thrown up in frustration, and that oh so familiar vow, “I’ll never do your hair AGAIN!” Blah! Blah! Blah! And how many times did my dad tell me to “get back in that bathroom and fix the BACK of your hair! people see you from the back you know!” Oh the memories of growing up with a hairdresser as a father. All the while all our friends would say, “your so lucky your dad does your hair!” my sister and I would just roll our eyes!

But Alas! The universe has a way of giving us often ‘deserved’ payback for behaviors of our past…….I grew up and had a daughter! Yep! And you guessed it! Don’t you just hate it when you hear your parents words coming out of your mouth! !@#$ My daughter was “ME” all over again! And, yes, I said many times …”I’m NEVER doing your hair again!” I know my dad was laughing up in heaven as he watched all that familiar drama unfold! So, here I am, living in a new country, starting my life all over again and I find myself in very unfamiliar territory not knowing any hairdressers here in Boquete! I know all my former clients are very interested to see how this unfolds for me. Maybe I should ask their advice about this next new experience. How to find someone like me who wants first and foremost for the person sitting in that styling chair to feel comfortable. In this case I don’t get to be the one working hard to make the client feel comfortable, I am the client for the first time in my life, YIKES! I just hope I don’t revert to my childhood and start crying and ….You don’t think that hairdressers here in Panama know how to say “I’m NEVER doing you hair again!”? in English, do you? I’ll try to behave and to be a good client, Lord knows I know what a BAD client is like!!!! Now all my clients are thinking…”is she talking about ME?” lol! Maybeeee (I”m Kidding….Jeessh, relax!) This is one post that will “Be Continued”……