When I moved to the East Coast, I had images of “the big city” – y’know, as in, whatever you want, you can get, usually at just about any time, day or night.
Silly me, I didn’t think that I wasn’t moving to the Northeast Coast, but to Baltimore – which is a city that has more in common with its fellow south-of-the-Mason-Dixon-Line cities than with, say… New York.
Even sillier me, I didn’t think that I was moving not to the city itself, but to a community outside of the city. A community that borders on rural. A community that seems lost in time, where modern-day technologies are not overtly evident.
Witness the small-town pharmacy where the pharmacist wears a white coat that lacks a large, corporate logo on the chest, and he calls you by name because he remembers you. Or for that matter, the fact that large corporate giants are in the community, sure, but they are far outnumbered by smaller, local and regional businesses.
Which means – sometimes, ya just can’t get what you want when you want it.
What this place lacks in urban niceties, it makes up for (more than makes up for) in charm. And I have to admit the slower pace of life is… well… refreshing!
And then I realized I needed to get my hair done.
Oh yipe.
I had a favored stylist for many years. A woman whose chair I could plop myself into and say, with no fear in my voice, “Have fun! Do whatever!” And I knew she would make my hair gorgeous.
A move to a different area meant giving her up, and I never did find a stylist I liked half as much.
In a totally new state now, I’m sorta stymied.
I’m freelancing, so asking fellow coworkers where they got their hair done is out. Most of the ladies I see around these parts are, um… shall we say… not like me. The older generation wears the ubiquitous bubble, and the sportier ones (we are in hunt country, after all) wear some version of a pony tail type do. Among my peers, the Soccer Mom look is alive and well in this community. As is the classic bob. Closer to the city, the look becomes more Political Wife than Trend Setter.
None of those things encourage me to go ask the wearer, “Pardon me, but your hair looks terrific! Where do you go?”
So, I’ve begun the sometimes painful process of locating a suitable hair salon – knowing I need a good cut by a stylist who knows how to handle a mass of super fine, wavy/curly/frizzy hair and who is a whiz with color. (what, you thought that red on my head came naturally? ha!)
So far, I’ve found the typical low-end salons – the places frequented by the younger crowd, college students, frugal types and those who simply don’t care about their hair cut. Sorry. I haven’t stepped foot in one of those for nearly 10 years, and the last time I did, it was the inspiration for me giving up hair cuts and growing my hair to the stunning, down-to-my-tailbone, all-one-length ‘do. Great hair. Not great on me.
I’ve also found the pricey, high-end salons – the places that make you feel like a pampered princess. While I’m not against paying a premium for their services, I’d kind of like to see some examples of their work. Because so far, I haven’t seen any ladies with incredible, fabulous, worth every penny of that several hundred dollars hair.
In the middle are the salons I’m really searching for – places that offer good service at reasonable (or slightly high) prices. Places where you’ll feel and look like a million without spending a million.
And therein lies my trouble.
I’m a techno kid – I want to see a web site. I want to see services and base prices listed out.
I picked up a copy of the community paper, flipped through to find the salon ads, and started plugging them into my handy-dandy laptop.
Guess what?
If you guessed that not one of them had an active web site, you’d be correct. Mind you, these were sites that were listed in their current ads. But they were still just place holder sites, some were even total junk sites, and one gave back that loverly Yahoo “Oops, we’re sorry” message.
Huh.
Go figure.
So much for that bright idea.
Guess it’s back to the drawing board, and scouring the local shops for ladies who have nice hair. I hope they don’t think I’m weird for staring at every woman sporting shiny, bouncy locks… It’s not that I’m a stalker, it’s just that I’m in search of a stylist!
