A Hair Salon For the Rest of Us

I got my hair done yesterday; I don’t enjoy the experience of having my hair done. Never have, really.

The time spent seems like such a waste to me. Oh sure, I come out with hair that will behave itself for a few weeks. (I’ve often wished I could just freeze my hair style at the one perfect phase so it will stop growing and I can eliminate trips to the hair stylist).

The ambiance in hair salons seems counter-intuitive to that which would impart a sense of serenity and pampering to the clients. I don’t like the racket that plays in the background. It’s music that the beautiful and young stylists enjoy but it does nothing for me. I wonder if they have given any thought to the way that the “music” sounds in the industrial-looking places they seem to favor for hair salons these days?

Then there is the incessant chatter. I am thankful that my Megan is not one of the ones who go on and on about personal details about their lives. Even so, I can’t help but overhear, and I know more about some of these girls than I ought to.

So I got to thinking. What about a hair salon for the rest of us? There are more of us than there are of them, and by “us” I mean Boomers and beyond. Surely some enterprising woman would be able to design a hair salon that would be a peaceful experience for women of a certain age.

In case that certain enterprising woman is reading this, I have a few ideas.

• Get rid of the racket and replace it with soft classical or light jazz playing in the background.
• Big screen TVs, strategically placed, tuned to the Hallmark Channel or the Food Network. Closed captioning only, please.
• A lending library in the foyer. You know we’ll be back in a few weeks, and it’s probably just the right amount of time for us to finish the book we choose to borrow. Offer a variety of genres that are of interest to us – no “chick lit” and no “memoirs” written by popular young singers. (Don’t even get me started on that topic.)
• Replace the Vogue and Glamor magazines with Mother Earth News, or Mary Jane’s Farm, or Good Housekeeping.
• Make it okay to be quiet; we don’t need to chatter all the time just to fill the void of silence. Send the message that it’s okay, even encouraged, for clients to read or just sit quietly while their hair is being cut.
• On the other hand, it’s perfectly acceptable to ask about our grandchildren and to exclaim over the latest photographs of them.
• Have a Starbucks in the building so we can enjoy a frappachino or a latte.

So, there you go. There is someone who could make this happen, I’m sure of it! Take it national so we could all have a hair experience that we would enjoy!

In case that certain enterprising woman is reading this, let us know what would you add to the list of “must have’s” at the perfect hair salon?