A haircut changes everything!

When you’re a hairstylist, you make connections with clients, and as they’re sitting in the chair, they inevitably start talking about their lives. All types, from all walks of life. Some of them touch you in ways you never expected. Some of them are judged by others based on their outside appearance. You know what they say about judging a book by its cover.

A few months ago, a girl named Jennifer* came into the salon with her older brother. Her mother had passed away, and she had spent the last six months in her room, grieving. She had been so depressed that she had been unable to wash her hair, and her hair dreadlocked and had become a tangled mass. She was only 16 years old. A time when most girls her age are snapchatting and instagramming selfies at a staggering rate. She was secluded and alone. Depressed and lost without her mom. Her mother had been a judge, and wore a wig at work but underneath her wig, her hair had been dyed blue. Her mother had been Jennifer’s rock, and as a teenager struggling with her self-image, her mother’s death had only made things worse.

Jennifer thought she could get a wig too. Jennifer had been in to cosplaying, and she wanted to go to the Renaissance Faire, but her wig would not fit over the tangled nest of her hair. We told her that we couldn’t fix her hair unless we cut it short. It would take more than a combing to get the mass out of her hair. Jennifer didn’t want to cut her hair at the time, so she left, in tears. My heart was heavy when she left. I thought of my own two daughters and that weighed heavy on my heart. I ran after her and suggested perhaps a stylist that specializes in dreadlocks.

A month or two later, Jennifer called again. She was ready to have her hair cut. I asked “what changed?” She said she had a dream in which her mother spoke to her, and had encouraged her to cut it short. However nervous she may have been, Jennifer was ready. She arrived in a dirty beanie she had been wearing for quite some time. Shoulders slumped and confidence shattered.

First, we cut away the knots of hair, and as her scalp became visible, we realized Jennifer had a infection in her scalp. So, we used Nioxin Scalp Recovery to cleanse and help treat the scalp. A doctor would have just shaved her head. But we not only tended to her scalp (because a healthy scalp means healthy hair), we gave her a style she loves. The transformation was amazing. By the end, Jennifer had a huge smile on her face. Not only could she wear wigs again and cosplay, she could walk outside and feel more comfortable in her own skin and her own hair. That smile lit up the salon like a spotlight. The more her style evolved the more she sat up straight and became animated and chatty.

A hairstyle you love helps boosts your confidence, and unlike a shirt you wear for a day, a hairstyle stays with you. It is moments like these that we remember why we do what we do.

*Name has been changed.