When the "after" is the "before"

Went to my professional hairdresser yesterday for my six-month fixup after numerous hack jobs at the walk-in. It's always a crap shoot, but for $11, I usually go to the cheap place 'cause I keep it so short. Blogged about Dan last October 10th, when I went before our trip to Vancouver...........it was called "What you look great really means". Love going there because after 20 years with the guy, we have a very tight relationship. Anyway, walked in and spotted a 30-something woman at a station looking in dire need of help. "Man," I thought. "She just got here in the nick of time. That hair! All hanging in strings, flopping all over her shoulders -- a mess. Almost as hideous as mine. Good for her, it's time someone her age got rid of that 80s look." The thing of it was that as I stared, the hairdresser handed her the mirror -- the clue the visit is over. Whaaaaaaaaaaat?!?!?! She was at the "after" stage, all done and ready to go. I said to Dan, "She looks like the "before" picture!" He burst out laughing. That's what we do, laugh throughout the visit. He tells me I have given him some of his best lines -- like how the British Virgin Islands look exactly like Maniwaki. All shacks, slums, shanties, wandering chickens, lost toddlers, drunk unemployed men, pregnant teens, withered old women, car parts and bikes littering the landscape...........Seriously.

There is another young lady there, Star, and I also love her. I have literally watched her grow up from a teen washing hair to a beautiful stylist. She always says how great everyone looks and we old bags appreciate it. She looks absolutely fabulous these days, having gone through a few purple, spiky, choppy phases over the years.

Face it, we are our hair. Our hair tells people what we value, what we think of ourselves, who we are. I take one look at someone's hair and immediately categorize them -- just as other women do me, I am sure. Why else would we spend more than $50 bucks getting it done?! Hair speaks volumes -- much more than do clothes or shoes. Well, maybe not shoes. It's the very top and very bottom of a woman that tell the tale. Women walking around with dyed hair when they are in their sixties and seventies telegraph quite a story, usually not a contented one. So do ugly shoes. Anyway, those are my two cents' worth.