ANOINTED WORD MINISTRIES :: Joyous Women Only

JOY and hair. I was thinking about this the other day while driving to my hair appointment.
Specifically, I was thinking about all the hair stylists I’ve had over the years, both good and
disastrous. I can’t say “bad” because there really is no such thing as a bad haircut or bad color or
bad perm. Nope, it is a total disaster. I think it is funny that there is a line about having a “bad hair
day,” but there it is. When your hair looks bad, it can ruin an entire day, no matter how perfect that
day should be. So, that’s a disaster, correct?

I have had so many various forms of bad hair, it verges on the ridiculous. Cotton candy hair is
probably the most common disaster I have endured – when a stylist did not know what I meant
when I said, “I want some body but not curls” and they forgot they also bleached my hair two weeks
previously. Now it would probably just be called, “80’s hair” – that poofy BIG hair we all cringe at
when we look at old pictures. Yikes!

I have fine hair so it sometimes needs some sort of perm. I can’t tell you how much I’ve spent
money-wise to have my hair turned into cotton candy. Oh I can, but it would make me weep so I
won’t. And I love that line, “well, coloring your hair always makes it appear thicker because it swells
up the hair shaft.” Yes, but you add that with a perm and you have way more than swollen hair.
You have swollen, red eyes from crying and serious thoughts about hiring a knee-breaker to go after
the offender’s styling tools. Oh, you thought it would hurt to break fingers? I beg to differ. Fingers
heal. Hit ‘em where it hurts – they sink a LOT of money into those styling tools. And they have a
very special, personal relationship with their styling tools that the uninitiated have no concept of.

Then there is the hair stylist who creates a small “oops” in your hair and decides not to tell you. The
joy is that that “oops” led me to the best stylist I’ve ever had – Ruben Medina, Studio M (Russellville
AR), so I’m sort of grateful for that “oops.” He’s so good that you can’t get into his salon without
booking months in advance or praying for someone to cancel. I have standing appointments – I
book one every so many weeks for the entire year. If I didn’t, I would have to borrow the above
mentioned knee-breakers and find someone and convince them to cancel.   HEY! Great hair is very
important.

I know now there is a secret language hair stylists know and use, and it is vital we, as innocent lay-
guinea pigs, learn it, too. At my next appointment mid-March, I am going to ask Ruben, my very
wonderful stylist, some of the secret words we need to know and pray to God there are no secret
handshakes that must go along with those words. It is an entirely secret world of knowledge some
of us only learn after that aforementioned disastrous hair day. There is power in that secret world.
They hold the knowledge and power to make or break us.

Do you realize that if you don’t want to go to beauty school to learn what to say about how you
want your hair, you’d better have, not only a darn good stylist but also a darn good relationship with
that stylist? And huge note here – always, always, always tip your hairdresser, even if they are the
owner of the salon. Tip is a polite word for “give them more money than they charge you for what
you receive.”

An ideal amount is 15-20 percent to the hairdresser (if a different person washes the hair, around $5
to them for that). Some people claim to be math-illiterate so here’s a quick example. If your hair cut
is $20, ten percent would be $2. Another five percent would be half that 2 dollars, or another dollar.
Added together, 15 percent is around $3. I think you can take it from there, right? If not, dig out a
calculator and figure it out, write it on a small piece of paper and put it in your wallet. There is no
excuse for not tipping at least the minimum amount. It’s never good to be tacky.

You squawk at 15-20 percent? Obviously you haven’t had a history of bad haircuts, bleach jobs and
perms. When you find someone who takes the time to learn you, your hair and your habits, they are
worth GOLD. When they become a friend who remembers to ask you follow-up questions each visit,
they are well worth more than gold.

And tipping is not just good manners, either. You’ve been provided a service and tipping is an
expected thing in the service industry. You may be charged for a wash, color, perm, cut, blow dry,
etc., but that money doesn’t all go into the stylist’s pocket. Some rent a space in a salon and pay a
percentage to the owner. Some, as owners, have the overhead to pay for – electricity to blow dry
your hair, water to wash your hair, products to clean your hair, tools to style your hair.   Don’t be
stingy. And don’t even get me started on waitresses and how little they are paid and how much
they depend on tips.   Been there, done that!

Oh the joy of a great hairstylist.   Express your joy to the great hair stylists in your life. Thank God
for a great hair stylist. I believe it does take a miracle to find one!

Go to the JoyBlog and tell me about your hair stylist or best hair day. This is a JOY blog; no need to
rehash that nightmare green hair. Tell me something good!

Article Copyright © 2007 Nan C Loyd
All rights reserved. Used by permission.

JOY AND GOOD
HAIR STYLISTS