Many years ago, I had a fantastic hair stylist. She started doing my hair when I was sixteen, and she did my hair and my family’s hair for fifteen years. Sadly, she moved to another state due to her husband changing jobs.
Two months had passed since she had left and since she had highlighted my hair — it was blonde, the same way I’d had it done for years — right before she moved. This is now where the story begins.
My mom called me and told me that the local college’s cosmetology students performed services there for a small cost. She asked if I wanted to go with her and have a manicure and pedicure and have my hair styled. I agreed. At the time, I was seven months pregnant.
The mani and pedi were great, and the student who did those really was nice. However, the student who was doing my hairstyle was not. Let’s call her [Student #1].
[Student #1] approached me and looked me up and down. The first thing she said was:
Student #1: *With disdain* “You must be pregnant.”
Me: *Smiling* “yes”
Student #1: “Well, I sure don’t envy you, that’s for sure. I already got two kids.”
I thought that was a strange thing to say, but I let it go.
She led me to the shampoo bowl and I sat down. She did not put a towel on me. She didn’t speak to me at all, even when I asked her if she could straighten my hair out.
She told me to lift my head up, and as she was washing the shampoo out of my hair, she sprayed water down my back. “Maybe it was an accident,” I thought. My back was soaked, though. I didn’t think at first that she was doing anything deliberately.
She led me to her chair, told me to sit, and walked away. She said nothing to me. I thought maybe she went to the bathroom.
Several minutes passed, and she wasn’t back. I patiently waited and waited. My hair was almost dry at that point, and it takes a good while for it to air-dry. I stood up and looked around for her. I saw her having a lively conversation on the phone up front. She was smiling and laughing.
Another student walked by me.
Student #2: “Did she really just leave you here?”
Me: “Yes.”
[Student #2] saw [Student #1] on the phone and shook her head.
Student #2: “I’m so sorry. I will dry your hair for you. She shouldn’t have left you like this. Your hair is starting to get frizzy. I can add some product, and maybe it will help. If she doesn’t come back soon, I can cut it or whatever you wanted it.”
[Student #2] started drying my hair, and then [Student #1] came back.
Student #2: “Since you just left her here, I decided to dry her hair. It is really frizzy.”
[Student #1] didn’t say anything. [Student #2] gave [Student #1] a disgusted look and walked away.
[Student #1] started drying, and then maybe a minute later, she said:
Student #1: “You are done now.”
I looked in the mirror, and my hair was a big curly frizzy mess, and it was still wet in some spots. Initially, I told her I wanted my hair straightened out. She didn’t even attempt to straighten it out. This is how my hair looks when I blow dry it at home with no products or a straightener. At that point, I was just ready to leave.
Student #1: “By the way, your hair is an awful color. I don’t know who does your hair, but it’s really terrible. I mean god-awful. You should find someone else to do your hair who knows what they are doing. Hopefully, you won’t be pregnant again.”
This was my second and last pregnancy. I had enough of her. She was really just being over-the-top rude.
Me: “By the way, your attitude is awful. I mean god-awful. You are rude. I haven’t said or done anything to you, and you have been nasty to me for no reason since the minute you laid eyes on me. You really should find another career because this one is a terrible choice for you. Hopefully, it will not be working with the public.”
She looked at me in disbelief. I walked away, found the instructor, and let her know of [Student #1]’s behavior. I don’t know what happened afterward.
I’m normally try to avoid confrontation, but this lady was out of line. I really wish I would’ve said something sooner. I had been polite to her, but enough was enough. If she thought my hair color was terrible, she could have put it much nicer. I don’t understand why she was deliberately being so rude to me.
I did find another stylist, and not only has she been my stylist for the past seventeen years, but now she is one of my best friends. I told her about [Student #1], and she was appalled that a cosmetology student would be so rude to someone she was performing services for. She said a stylist wouldn’t last very long in a salon treating clients with that behavior. She also briefly mentioned that a student shouldn’t tell someone that their hair color is awful, even if it really is. Maybe they could make a polite suggestion of another color but not anything like what [Student #1] did.
Maybe [Student #1] didn’t have any kids and was really envious of my pregnancy. But who really knows why she chose to be so rude to me?
