Hair Salons: Finding a salon

I should love visiting the hair salon. What a joy to have a stylist massage my scalp and cut my hair in a straight line, unlike what I grew up with — a snippety father who left hair ladders and uneven lines, or worse, cut my hair into a mullet (a crown of thorns my sister called it).

Alas, with rituals and mirror avoidance to contend with, a visit to a hair stylist is less pleasing than visiting the dentist, which is why my ratio of dental treatments to hair cuts is about 10:1 and why my teeth are in better shape than my raggedy hair. I guess that’s a good thing. Hair can be put up and… wait, no, what was I thinking? Hair up, yeah right. For a moment I forgot who I was.

Finding a hair salon is itself a multi-step ritual.

When I search for a hair salon, I’m not scoping out their location. I’m not looking for the best stylist. I’m not checking their reviews or transformation photos.

No. I’m analysing its schematics.

• How big are the mirrors? Where are they in relation to the windows?
• How many windows? How big? How many?
• What colour is the interior?
• What colour lights? Many many? How bright? Direction? Sunlight?

And, of course, I’m not doing this because I’m admiring their interior decor. Welcome to my world of rituals.

Scoping out a salon

Step one is the salon’s website. There’s usually a good interior photo on the home page, though not always as detailed as my Bogey Maid’s requirements. So I’ll check the gallery for good measure. Failing that, it’s over to FaceBook where I scroll through the gallery of never-ending hair photos looking for anything but hair photos. And if I can’t find a decent interior photo, I do not visit that salon.

Case study

• Cream walls — not a deal killer in this case.
• Short mirrors — good job. I’m barely tall enough to see my face and shoulders in those.
• Chairs placed laterally to the windows — not ideal, but far enough away to diffuse the light.
• Foliage blocking some of the oppressive outdoor glow — nice.
• This salon could work. I’d do a walk-in.

That’s the salon located, still, committing to an actual visit is another step, or ten.