Another Hair Crisis

We’re getting ready for a trip. Trying to stay on top of things, two weeks ago I called my hairdresser. A computer said, “The number you have dialed is no longer in service.”

What?

I mean, WHAT???

I had used the number in my phone contacts, the one I’d always used. But I googled the business and used that icon to call, just in case I had made a mistake. Yes, I know that’s not actually possible. But while I do my best to live in today’s world, my brain all too often slides back several decades—in this case, to the one where it was easy to misdial.

It was a different computer voice, but the same message.

NOOOooo….! Imagine pathetic, whimpering sounds here.

Who am I kidding? Imagine disbelief. Imagine rage. Imagine building hysteria.

I drove over to the salon. There was no note on the door and no equipment inside--not a pair of scissors or a single spray bottle in sight. How could this happen to me NOW?

A couple of people suggested I google my stylist. But I never knew her last name and “Sharon the terrific hairdresser” didn’t get me anywhere.

I told myself not to panic. There’s more than one place to get a haircut.

True, but I shuddered remembering some of the cuts I’d gotten from a new person. There was one nightmarish experience when my stylist was away and I let someone else in the salon do it. Totally ignoring my directions, she grabbed the clippers and ran them straight up the back of my head before I could open my mouth to object. I had to let her do her thing to make it come out evenly, but it was practically a crew cut. I didn’t leave the house for a month without a big hat.

I didn’t know where to start looking. It was as bad as trying to find a new doctor. And so many of the places near me are a chain called Great Clips. Now if you get your hair done there, please understand that this is not a criticism of you. But I’m very visual and the word “Clips” sounds to me like something you do to a pet. I’m afraid I’ll leave looking like a poodle.

My husband and I had lunch out one day last week and I took a chance and tried the hair salon next to the restaurant. It’s been a week and I’m still reasonably happy with the result.

Thank goodness! A crisis was averted.