November 30 - I Like My Hairdresser

I like my hairdresser. Her name is Linda and she has been cutting my hair for a number of years now. I like her because when I go for my appointment, I don’t have to pretend that I can see. Nor does Linda make a big fuss about my sight or lack of it.

While it’s true that most of us go to the beauty salon to be made beautiful, we also go as a matter of convenience. I certainly don’t like it when my hair falls down over my eyebrows. I do like it when friends tell me that my hair is looking especially nice on any given day. While I can certainly tell about the hair over the eyebrows, I can’t see myself in the mirror to tell whether my hair looks nice or not.

This is where Linda comes in. She knows how I like to have my hair done. Instead of holding the mirror at the end of a cut, she gives me time to check out the length with my fingers. I like my hair short so the width of three fingers at the top is about right. Linda gives me time to do this. She never embarrasses me by flashing the hand held mirror around asking me if I like the way I look.

When I decide to have some highlights in my hair, Linda has to be the total judge. She writes down the formula for each time and Lyle is the last check when I leave the salon. I think that by now Linda has it down to a fine art.

I also like the familiarity of going into the same salon each time I need my hair done. Linda will watch for me. If she is still busy with another client, she will call out to me so that I can take a seat in the waiting area. If she is ready for me, she will call me over to her chair making sure that there aren’t any obstacles in my way. She turns the chair so that it is ready for me and on occasion has steered my hand to the side arm of the chair so I can “see” where to sit down.

 While all these things might seem trivial to someone who can see what is going on, they make a huge difference to me. It is surprising how such small things can be so helpful to someone with vision loss,  especially when the help is offered without fuss or drama.

As I wrote in the beginning, I like my hairdresser.