Colour Me

At our salon, we've always had the arrangement that stylists cut and style without doing any chemical work, and colourists do their thing without cutting and styling. We've done this for a couple of reasons; it helps with the overall level of skill if people specialize, and clients are less likely to leave the salon altogether when a staff member leaves if they still see another staff member for services. Also, it's geographic; the colour room (which has a special ventilation system, so that the bleach doesn't make anyone pass out.) can only hold about three people and their clients at once.

After twenty years of cutting, I've decided to switch over to the colour department. (Actually, "decided" isn't quite the word. That would indicate a level of introspection that was wholly lacking. The Mister said "why don't you" and I said " 'kay". That was about it.) Colouring hair is a fairly sophisticated art, as those of you who have tried to do it at home can attest. Apart from the fact that one person's "honey" is another person's "ear wax", there's always the aspect of unpredictability; hair colour reacts to what's underneath it, and unless you know what you're doing, the outcome can be a nasty surprise. I've been training for about a year and a half to make it so that those surprises don't happen, and I haven't made anyone cry yet. Including me.

As much as I abhor change, it's kind of nice to be trying something new after two decades of "are those bangs short enough". (Just to give you an inkling as to my abhorrence, I live on the same street as my parents, I've worked at the same place for 25 years and it took me 6 years of marriage to finally switch from my maiden name.)

Most of the clients have been very supportive, even if they are a bit unhappy about the new arrangement. (I've been seeing lots of these people every six weeks for 20 years, we've become quite attached. ) One cried. (I'm not altogether sure I was entirely the cause though; she's a little squirrelley.) A couple I'll be really sorry to not see anymore; they were a hoot. (I'll confess, though? There's a couple I'm very happy to see the backend of.) I won't miss the crazy-ass bridesmaids.

For someone who thought she'd only stay in hairdressing until it wasn't fun anymore, I'm as surprised as anyone to still find myself at it. Maybe I've always found enough fun to stay. Some things shouldn't change.