CurlyNue
New Member
ffrant:Who better to have a hair discussion with than a licensed beautician?
Conversing with a beautician in her early 60’s who is considering a mild career change I ask if she has given consideration to opening a salon specializing in natural, unprocessed hair. She provides with the location of the one salon in the city that works with strictly natural hair. In addition she offers a couple of recommendations on products for defining curls (Redken’s Ringlet 07 Curl Perfector and SoftSheen Carson Sta Sof Fro) after telling her about my current transition to natural. “You would look wonderful with natural hair”, was her response. As I tell her about my intent not to cut my hair until this time next year. She interrupted with, “Oh no, you must cut your hair every two to three months in order to keep the split ends away. If you don’t cut the hair will split all the way up the hair shaft. Trimming will get rid of frizz and dryness. She then shows me an example of a hair shaft with her fingers and how the hair splits; it’s not two hairs it is one hair splitting in two, she explains. Mind you I have already explained to this woman that although I am not a cosmetologist I went to school for cosmetology, so there really is no need to explain to me the basics of split ends. I tell her that I have already thought through my transition process and would not be cutting my hair. She says something about the training received during her schooling which advocated frequent trims for all the above reason and then some. I counter with, when I went to school for cosmetology I was trained that black women should only wash hair twice a month unless you were active; that was 10 years ago (I still got them books).
I explained to her that I was resigned never to touch my hair with a pair of scissors until I was ready to BC. Her response, “Black women and trimming their ends”, as she shakes her head at me.
I had to tell her, I do not have a problem with cutting my hair. Every four or five years I cut my hair into a cute super short style so cutting my hair is not an issue for me.The last thing she said to me as she got up to walk away was everyone has an opinion about what will work. Don’t ask for advice if you don’t want it and that’s the last thing I’m going to say about it. (What just happend? Is she upset?) I had to tell her I never asked about my hair, especially not cutting it. This whole conversation started because I asked a question about natural hair salons. Not once did I ask for the product recommendations or the advice on cutting my hair. All of those things were offered to me after hearing something I said.
She seemed offended that I would not take her advice to cut my hair, advice I did not ask for. I didn’t realize that listening to someones advice relinquishes your ability to refuse to use the advice. I thought I should be able to listen to a recommendation and decide for myself whether or not to follow it. (I could be wrong)
By the way I still plan on taking her recommendations for styling products for defining curls.
LOL
