Discrimination or Keeping it Real? PART 2

This is part two to the haircut story. Part one is essential to this so check it out here.

We are now an hour and a half into what should have been a 30 minute or less haircut. Esther and I have gone back and forth and I am hoping she now knows what to do. "It has been a while since I cut this angular of a bob" she tells me "so I'm going to have someone come help me." She turns to Melinda and says "she wants a more angular cut and I can't remember how to do that. Could you help me?" Melinda looks annoyed I'm sure is thinking look biaatch I have my own three clients I'm working on. It is now actually only just two. Melinda says "I need to wash the dye out of her hair and then I'll be right there". 

I sit and wait 10 more minutes and then Melinda comes over and looks at my head and asks "what exactly are you trying to do Esther?" Esther begins to explain and Melinda says "no, no you are going about it all wrong. You see you need to cut from  the front to the back." She takes the scissors from Esther and begins cutting my hair on the right side. "See how I do this? You see how I pull each piece back to the start point? You see Esther?" She explains in haircutter language just what she is doing so that Esther can get it. Now you try. She gives Esther the scissors back and Esther cuts a piece or two of hair. "Good Esther. You got it now? Just remember, front to back, front back. Whatever you do, do not cut back to front. That will give you an entirely different cut" Melinda walks off I glance at the side Melinda has cut in less than 4 minutes, it is perfect! Okay now Esther has it. Esther spins me to the wall again and starts cutting. She is muttering and mumbling and seems stressed. She calls Melinda back over to check her work out. Melinda comes over and yells "What did you do? Esther what the hell did you do? Does this side look like the side I did? How did you cut it. Did you do front to back like I told you to?"  "No" Says Esther with her head down like a scolded child. "I did back to front" she says ashamed. "What did I tell you Esther? I said don't do it that way! Now you have messed it up! There is no way to fix this, just give me the scissors while I try to fix this!" she yells and starts cutting angrily at my hair. I am in the middle of this and am quite uncomfortable. But hope that at least Melinda will fix what ever the hell Esther has done to my hair. Melinda walks off annoyed and leaves Esther to "tighten up the ends."

Esther says "I'm sorry I just couldn't do it." "It's okay" I tell her "Melinda seems to have fixed it." "Well still, I am sorry" she says again "I really am." I tell her not to worry about it it is fine. She says "I just get so nervous." "I understand" I tell her. Although I am pissed it has been over two hours and my hair is still not how I wanted it. I do not want to make her feel worse. She must be horribly embarrassed. Melinda did chastise her in front of everyone. But Melinda probably has to bail out Esther quite a bit and is sick of it. Anyway, Esther finally finished. The result? The side Melinda did is perfect. The other side?...not so much. But it's not horrible. But it still was better than the first style Esther gave me. I get to the front to pay and hand Esther a sympathy tip and she says "no I do not deserve it" and hands it back. I give it back and tell her "hey you tried." "No, I do not want this tip."she says. I did not even cut it right." "True, but you did spend a lot of time on it. And please give this to Melinda" I hand her an additional tip for Melinda. "She had to take time from her clients to help so she should get something." I explain. "I will  give her both tips" Esther says pathetically. I just no longer have the energy to deal with this "Esther" so out the door I go!  OMG what an event.

These pics suck but since you all asked for them here ya go! You can't really tell it's lopsided but trust me it is.

Old Hairdo

New Hairdo

Discrimination or Keeping it Real? PART 1

I have the WORST luck when it comes to hair salons. The worst! In fact, I've blogged about it before. Well this time is even worse than the last. This experience is so hard to believe that it will take two posts just to share it. Here goes...
I realize you get what you pay for but I am a budgeter and $50 on a haircut just doesn't fly with me so  I usually go to the cheap place. I can sometimes get a cut for less than $10. I decided to step it up a bit and go to the $15 salon, in the hopes that the slightly higher price will mean a better quality cut.
I arrive there at 11am. there is a glamour looking girl with three customers lined up in the back. She is dying one head, perming one, and cutting another. She must be good, I thought. I step up to the sign in sheet and notice where you select a stylist everyone had "Melinda". I did not know Melinda so I just signed in. Melinda, whom was doing 3 girls head at once, hollers to the back "ESTHER!"
A lady who looked a hot mess peered out from the back room. Melinda yells to her "she's here for a haircut." "Oh, says Esther, I just assumed she was here for you, since everyone else is." Esther comes up to greet me. I notice she has a pretty sever limp. That worries me. 

Looks like Esther

Hey don't judge me!




As she drags her limp leg behind her I am panicking I can just tell this is gonna be bad. Esther's hair looks dried up, frizzy, out of style etc. 
Esther is old. 
Esther looks absent in the brain. 
Esther is squinting like she can barely see.
Oh Shit Oh shit I am panicking. I want to run out of the salon but I decide that is not the right thing to do. Calm down I tell myself her leg has nothing to do with her haircutting abilities. So I smile at Esther and ask if she will be cutting my hair, I am secretly hoping she is just the shampoo girl. She says she will be cutting my hair. She then rears back and tosses a deadish arm onto the counter. What the hell?  I try not to stare at the arm but come on you got to be kidding me? How can she cut my hair with no feeling in her arm? Oh My god. Okay now I am freaking out. Her arm does not work. I look around the salon nervously hoping someone will save me but.... nope. I know it is wrong and I do not want to discriminate but I do not want a one-working arm person cutting my hair. Oh god, this can't be good. But then I tell myself if she could not cut hair she would not be working here. I chastise myself for discriminating and decide to put a smile on my face and trust Esther. 
 I feel it in my gut. This is not gonna turn out well. But It would be very discriminatory if I walk out now so I am stuck. I ask Esther for a hairstyle book. She hands me one for men? Damn Esther can you even see? I am a woman! That worries me. I tell her I will need a woman's book and she apologizes and takes 15 minutes locating a book for me. I quickly find what I want, a simple bob.

A Simple BOB

I ask Esther if she can do it, she says a "piece if cake." So off we go. When we arrive at her booth she turns my chair completely around from the mirror. She gets to work a snipping and cutting, never once turning me to face the mirror, so I am clueless. An hour later she is done. I look in the mirror. 
What the hell Esther? 
This is not a bob! 
I look like....................................................................................................................................................
Esther. 
I have shoulder length choppy uneven hair. She raves about the great cut and says "don't you love it?" I do not want to hurt Esther's feelings but I am so sick of leaving a salon with some crap ass hair cut. So I act like it is me. I say " I know I did not make it clear (lie, because I did make it clear and showed her the picture) but I want it shorter."  "Shorter?" she asks in disbelief. "Yes, you know, like the picture." I remind her. "Oh well I like it longer" she says. "Well that's nice Esther but I want it shorter, like the picture." "Are you sure?" she asks me. 'Yup" I say. "Okay" she says. She then cuts again for about 30 minutes and then spins me around to face the mirror.
 It looks exactly the same! 
"Esther I really would like a short, blunt defined cut." I say trying to decide if I should just give up and go home. It's already been an hour and a half. "Oh she says. I like this cut better" "Well it is not your hair Esther and I want a short bob." "Can you do that?" I ask her. Yes I have been cutting bobs for years. I am capable of cutting a bob. I just do not think you would look good in a bob." Odd that she did not tell me that an hour and a half ago when I choose that particular style. "Well I want one and its my hair I say." becoming a bit irritated. "You are right" she says and recoils as if I had scolded her. "Okay, okay. I'll cut the bob" Esther relents.
You won't believe what happens next stay tuned for part two.
Question though...Honestly.


Do you think It was discriminatory for me to feel the way I felt about Esther's capabilities to cut my hair once I saw her handicap? Would you have allowed Esther to cut your hair?

MARIA...WTF!!!

I am not one of those women who get my haircut every other month or obsess about the color/cut. I color at home and get a cut about twice a year, sometimes less. Well it was my kids decision to send me for a cut for mothers day. Sweet huh? Once I had the kids secured with an adult I decided to go on in. I had been having a particularly bad day as usual and really was excited to get some me time. I drove by a couple of our local salons and they were all packed. So I decided on my least favorite one, it too was packed but had several stylist and the shortest wait. As I sat in the lobby waiting for my turn I noticed that everyone checking in was requesting the same lady. I then noticed the lady who cut my hair last year, she was very sweet but did a terrible job. I wasn't too worried, I mean after all what was the odds of me getting her again?

After 20 minutes or so the manager and that lady(names Maria) stepped up to the checkin counter to discuss who was next and I heard Maria ask if she could go home. The assumed manager said "no, its way too busy." Mary politely explained that it was her day off and she had come in and had been there all day, she was tired and quite frankly just did not want to cut anther head.

I felt for Maria however I thought that conversation was completely inappropriate since we the customers were two feet away and heard the entire thing! The manager told Maria "just give me one last cut and then you can go." Maria smiled and said "ok but give me an easy one."

You guessed it....she got me! Damn!! I was immediately disappointed not only does Maria suck but she made it clear she did not want to cut anymore hair. I tried to think of a way to get out of it but could not think fast enough. Again let me say Maria is so nice. I reasoned that if she sucked that bad surely others would have complained and she would not still be here a year later.

Because I was stressed and irritated I paid extra for a hair wash. When you pay for a hair wash it is supposed to involve a head massage and a really good washing. Well Maria slapped some shampoo on my head and rinsed it right out. It took her about 1 min or less. My mood worsened as we headed over to the cutting chair. She asked what I wanted and lucky for me the girl cutting hair beside Maria had exactly what I wanted. Just cut off the dead ends and add lots of layers. I pointed out that the girl next to me had exactly what I wanted and since my hair was longer then hers she had lots to work with.

As I watched Maria switch scissors many times and really concentrate on cutting randomly throughout my head I felt that maybe she wasn't giving me what I wanted. I reminded myself that she was the stylist not me and maybe she was getting to the end result in her own way. 30 minutes later Maria shouted "beautiful! you're gonna love these layers!"

I looked in the mirror and did not see what she was referring to. She handed me a mirror and spinned me around to see the back as she went on and on about how fabulous it was, quite proud of herself. When she asked me if I liked the back I lied and said yes. I didn't see anything that even closely resembled what I had asked for but I gave Maria the benefit of the doubt. I thought maybe b/c it was wet I could not see it and once it dried I'd be as delighted as Maria was.

Well Im not. I hate it. I do not know what in the hell Maria did. I have some crazy style. The back of my head has one huge layer that flips out!!! WTF!! The front is angled and straight and the whole thing looks like some jester from the kings court a century ago. The worse part is its too short for me to go back and have someone fix it. AGGGHH

Maybe I'll post some pics of it so you all can have a good laugh.