Tuesday, January 3, 2012

CONFESSIONS OF A T"HAIR"APIST

Prologue:

In search of a way to write about my life, I finally came to the conclusion that while I am just your ordinary middle class guy, I did have a story to tell which would hopefully set me apart from the rest. While I am not famous or from any rich aristocratic descent and have not been on the cover of People’s sexiest man issue, throughout my professional hairdressing career I have derived an incredible insight
into the psyche of women and the men that annoy them so. I also became aligned with the psyche of the male persuasion. In doing so I realized that men really are from Mars…void and distant and as for the planet of Venus, it could not possibly be big enough for the emotions that surround the female and which totally elude the male species. Being a male would give one the impression that I am a disgrace to
my sex, but being gay gives me the ability to “get” women and stand back in wonder when trying to figure out how most men comprehend information.

I have spent the better part of my life taking part in the creation of the images that stare back in the mirrors of thousands of men and women who have graced my styling chair. For each client there would be a bevy of information that easily spilled forth and became filed into the hard drive of my mind. It was not just the women that gave information freely, but also the men. It was both sexes that led me to acquire the knowledge of things that I probably never would have known and insights into many unimaginable situations. The world of information that arrived daily was my own private internet and I became the master of my very own info search engine. It became clear early in my career that I had a gift of conversation and was able to talk to people in the same way a therapist would do. While I did not
charge the fee a therapist would charge, my THAIRapy was gratis in the time it took for a haircut or color, perm or blow-dry. When the client was done they walked away with a new look and helpful information to think about.

I never really took the time to realize what I was doing as it all came naturally, but in the course of over forty years I have had letters and cards from clients thanking me for talking to them and sharing my insight. I have been privy to happiness, sadness, divorce, illness, sexual dysfunction, sexual identity and
perversion in ways I never knew existed. So, it came as no surprise that I had become the reality from a scene out of the movie “SHAMPOO”. Seduced and caught at the same time. My innocence gave way to knowledge and my interest and listening habits brought me close to the people I worked on. It became very easy to understand the client that sat in the chair and within five minutes I could tell where we were headed for the follicular part and how much they just needed to talk and vent their frustrations in the general aspects of their life. Albeit, relationships, work or personal health.

Within the chapters of this future book lie many, many realities of actual life experiences with clients that I have had the privilege of sharing time with. They may or may not recognize themselves as the mutual respect we share for each other will always keep the identities silent. These actual stories hopefully will
ignite awareness within anyone who reads their story. In the course of all these experiences both happy and sad, I walked away from each a better person grateful for having the life opportunity to be a part of a career that has helped me grow as a person as well as more intuitive in the realities of human nature.

With my trusty scissors, razor and color bottle I created many a new image for people and listened intently to the voices who reached out for conversation. The many hours standing behind the chair has shaped me into the person I am today. All the colors I applied changed the hue of how I see the world today and the remnants of the fallen hair have been swept away giving way to a whole new outlook in
understanding human feelings.

In respect to the former CLAIROL advertising slogan from the sixties
Does she or doesn’t she….only her hairdresser knows for sure”….
and that my friends is an absolute fact because we know more than you could ever imagine.

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