Our Most Important Relationship
What is your closest relationship? You might say your spouse or partner. You might also say your friend from school or maybe even your child. But, if we’re honest– we might actually admit that our REAL ‘can’t live without’ person, our most important relationship is with… our hairstylist.
Lynnelle here.
A Most Important Relationship, OUR Hairdresser
For those of us lucky enough to have found OUR hairstylist, it is likely among the most important relationships in our life. You know what I mean, ladies. OUR hairstylist knows our hair, knows us, our secrets, our LIFE. They use that knowledge and their creative, artistic skill to create OUR perfect coif, the haircut/color that camouflages the worst, adds the missing, and highlights the best features of our being. Am I right ladies?? The right hairdresser can make us better women! The right hairdresser can make us BETTER HUMAN BEINGS!
Josef Campos. He’s MY hairstylist. I first went to Josef in the early 90’s, ’91 or ’92, referred by…I can’t even remember now. He was in his late 20’s, having just arrived in the US from his native Costa Rica. I was in my early/mid-30s. My relationship with Josef has lasted longer than any of my marriages, several friendships and any single job I’ve ever held.
Today, Josef is in his early 50’s and I am 60. He’s in Dallas and throughout the last 25+ years I’ve lived in Dallas, NYC, Portland, ME and now outside of Austin. And while I’ve moved around the country the last couple of decades, I love Josef and he’ll never NOT be my hairdresser. For me, Josef and I have a relationship that is more than hairdresser and client, although he does cut my hair – and we’ve never connected outside of my appointments at the salon.
They love us anyway
One of the great things about being over 60 is that I accept that I will never be totally happy with any haircut – ever. I’m happiest with Josef’s haircuts than I have been – and likely ever will be with anyone else’s. But, I’m not always faithful to Josef. I’ll wait too long between cuts and will trim my own hair; I go to “cut-in-the-box” places a few of times a year, try new salons now and again, and I almost always color my own hair. He knows all this and loves me anyway. I always go back to Josef.
Kurt is my main man. MY hairstylist, Josef, is a close 2nd. I wish all of you, YOUR hairstylist. If you’d like to visit MY hairstylist, I’ll share. You’ll find Josef at William Carr Salon in the Oak Lawn area of Dallas. Tell him Lynnelle sent you.
Barb here.
Yeah, no. I do love Darlene. She became my hairstylist when we lived in Maine. I can’t remember when. I know I followed her when she changed locations and would do so again and again if we lived in Maine. But she is not one of my most important relationships.
Nor do I cut my hair. (Shivers)
I NEVER cut my own hair. I am not sure whether I would color my own hair—beyond dumping a bunch of fresh lemon juice on it and sitting in the sun. Yes, I do that. Darlene actually suggested it back when I realized that I may miss getting my natural blond highlights restored every three months. She said that in the Caribbean, I could just lighten my hair with lemon juice every so often. That worked.
And as for covering the grey. I didn’t have any until two years ago, and it just makes my hair look lighter. (Sorry ladies.) Do not hate me because my hair is beautiful.
Now, I do agree with Lynnelle that Darlene was a VIP in my life and if I get to Maine and need a haircut, I’m all about calling Darlene. Darlene convinced me to stop
having perms, Darlene changed my hairstyle every year or so without telling me, and once she even lengthened it. I still don’t know how I got actual cuts and ended up with a new style and longer hair. (Yes, proving I’m oblivious to fashion, it took two or three cuts for me to notice my hair was longer, yet styled.)
Boating hair and a plethora of “stylists”
I told Darlene about our plans to sail from Maine when it was a deep, dark secret. That gave her time to work on my boating hair style. I love it—even when I haven’t liked a particular cut. EW has cut my hair when we were anchored near distant islands, I’ve had a haircut on a porch in the Dominican Republic, and was one charming young woman’s first white woman client in St. Lucia. (Good cut, a bit shore, and she used the iron on me as she didn’t have a blow dryer. Really.) Since being back in the US, I’ve struggled to find and keep a stylist here in Florida. I have one now. He’s…interesting and an excellent stylist. He’s not a VIP in my life.