Recently I had the pleasure of a ‘walk-in’ client, I’m usually pretty booked with my regular assortment of clients so to meet new clients is always a ‘pleasure’, except this time….initially. Now, I love a good conversation and can chat-it-up with the best of them; but this client who will remain nameless, was more than I bargained for. Let me preface this post by stating, in this profession of hair styling, you wear  many hats such as; the ‘comforter’, the ‘therapist’, the ‘magician’ (let’s be real), the ‘fashion stylist’, the ‘disciplinarian’ (now you know you should not have keyed that man’s car), the ‘lawyer’ (maybe you should turn yourself in), the ‘cheerleader’ …’motivational speaker’ etc. etc. Based on my appointments any given day, I know what to prepare for based on who’s coming in. I have been the support while my clients have grieved relationships, deaths, unemployment and bankruptcies and the cheering section after promotions, childbirth and business successes.

Mostly, I enjoy being the go to person for whatever victory or defeat my clients might be experiencing and bask in the glory of making them FEEL BETTER simply by LOOKING BETTER. This ‘nameless’ patron was neither a regular client nor a friend but felt within the first ten minutes of meeting my acquaintance that I will be privy to family issues (sexually abused by her father…. but her family doesn’t believe her), mental (feels she has multiple personalities and suffers from depression), domestic violence at the hands of her ex-husband and her father  as well as a myriad of drug addictions…..all before I could finish her haircut.

I reiterate, I am very familiar with  a certain amount of personal information being hurled at me, unprovoked, during the execution of beauty services….. but this was too damn much. To quote a true poet of our time….’…AINT NOBODY GO TIME FOR THAT’ (thank you Sweet Brown) if you don’t know ….see YouTube!!! By the time I finished this young ladies hair, I needed two sessions with my psychotherapists!!!. That’s who hairstylists SHOULD talk to ‘ the New Hairstylist’s hairstylist’ ….drumroll please; the PSYCHOTHERAPIST!!!