It sounds a bit outdated, the job title hairdresser. Enrolled in Cosmetology school in 1995 our class began working on clients 3 weeks into the course. One haircut on a mannequin and we were ready to start sculpting hair into trendy little styles. That’s how it felt. Our instructor was a beautiful, blonde businesswoman. She started the school on her own, always poised, dressed in heels and expensive suits everyday. If she had a bad day, we never knew it. She wore expensive jewelry and had exquisite taste in everything she had her hand in. I had no idea in that moment the influence she and the guests that visited her school would have on me the years to follow. Our instructor molding us and demonstrating why were called to the path and job title, HAIRDRESSER.
Path to becoming a HAIRDRESSER
Most of the clients that came to the school were either friends of our instructor, or the less fortunate in downtown Fredericton, New Brunswick. They were all looking for miracles on a dime. It was here that I learned no matter who walked in those doors you would learn to treat every person equally. The rich and poor women all wanted the same thing, to feel good about themselves.
It was spring as I was contemplating the path I had decided to take. Hairdressing is physically hard work. People are hard to please and I realized that this job was so much more than the basic job title of hairdresser. We were doctors, lawyers, psychologists, therapists, politicians, cooks, business analysts, marketing managers, and human resource specialists. We would become HAIRAPISTS.
She wasn’t my first client, but I’ll never forget her. When she phoned for her appointment, she asked for a permanent wave and a haircut. A service that would take me four hours as I had never done it before. Jesse was living on a tight budget, a single woman who never married. She was the most beautiful 90 something year old I had ever laid eyes on. I learned that she worked as a Cosmetologist when she was young. Behind the chair from the time she was 16 until she retired. Revealing beauty secrets and past loves from her 20’s, tales of gorgeous men who had proposed marriage and how she turned them all down.
Hairdresser since the ’20’s
Her conversation turned toward her career as a hairdresser. The lives she had impacted and how salons changed since the 20’s and 30’s. We had just studied hairstyles from that era, so I was hooked. I wanted to know more about what a salon looked like in those days.
She said, “We had privacy curtains around every chair. The ladies didn’t want anyone to know they weren’t natural blondes.” I giggled because women still didn’t want anyone to know they have gone to extreme lengths to make their hair look good. There were no hairdryers, they gave perms with huge electronic machines that would cook hair into curls. Hair colour was not sophisticated, so bleach blonde hair was the trend. One thing they did very well in that generation was sculpt hair. Performing finger waves and pin curls like nobody’s business. This is how they finished all hairstyles! Ladies would return the next day for the comb out after their hair dried.
“Happiness is…
…A good hair day“
–Unknown
I often think of the career I would have had if I never met Jesse. I had become a hairdresser because I was struggling with simple tasks like reading, concentrating, and getting out of bed. In my teens I wanted to pursue drama and theatre. I had ambitions of becoming a producer in Toronto, and thought a career in hairdressing would be mindless and easy. Jesse revealed to me the full life cycle of the title, hairdresser, and what my career might look like. It was going to be exciting, and I would meet many influential people. There will be fun parties, hair shows, colourful characters, and the very best friendships.
Influencing the World
Hairdressers influence the world! It is the only profession on the planet, besides being a doctor, that have permission to touch people. We touch people and manipulate their hair so they can look in a mirror and like what they see.
“Therapy is expensive, Get a haircut instead. We’re great listeners”
–Unknown
Hairdressers hear their guests secrets, their pains, and their victories. He or she will tell their guests to visit a doctor when told of their ailments, and pretty them up before they are laid to rest. Guests tell us when they are dying, they tell us when they have lost their children, when they have lost their businesses, jobs, homes, and families. We touch them, and they pour out their hearts looking for comfort, and we are there to pat them on their backs and tell them everything will work itself out. After all that, we show them a mirror how beautiful they are and schedule their next appointment.
Jesse’s experiences shaped and molded her to the woman she became. Knowledgeable in all things worldly. She reminded me why I was called to the path, and job title of HAIRDRESSER.
This path will not be kind all the time, but you will look good and everyone you touch will look good too.
That is why we call ourselves Hairdresser.
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