Dippity Do’s & Don’ts

by Crystal Laramore Lutz

For as far back as I can remember I’ve wanted to own a salon. My friend since we were babies, Cynthia Thibodeaux, just wanted to cut, color, perm, twist and tie hair; namely mine! We have pictures of ourselves donning some very fetching wigs, dancing a jig atop an early 70’s model Ford. Yes, the fabulous world of making people feel beautiful, pampered and spoiled always attracted us.

Salons are a special place, for women much more so than men, but even men can agree that you do tell your hairdresser things you would never tell …It’s like an unwritten rule that as soon as you sit in that leather and steel chair you just lose control of your senses. The boundaries between right and wrong just get a little hazy when that nice lady is massaging your head like nobody’s business; all the blood just rushes right up there at one time, right along with all your friends’ best-kept secrets.

Why, salons have forevah (say it like a suuuhthanah) been the watering hole for gossip-crazed individuals-and you know who you are (and we do too, because who’s been gossiping is another thing we gossip about)! The local herald has never been as caught up as the local beauty salon on who’s cheatin’ whom, who’s being true and who don’t even care anymore! When we’ve had a hard week we so look forward to dumping all that crazy data and we dump it at the salon. Mostly the chatter is harmless, mindless and is forgotten as soon as the next person sits downs and says “You’ll never guess who…”

We not only trust our stylist with our hair, we trust them with our secrets. And, our friends’ secrets too! They double as our beautician and our therapist. That’s what the tip is for…And if we are talking about Suzie and she’s next, we’ll never know it; discretion is as important as a good pair of scissors for a stylist.

Caution; True Story: Long ago and far away in the early 90’s Mona’s was my salon of choice. Mona, I believe, was from Egypt. Anyhoo, she discovered acrylic was a good thing to put on nails while working in a Dentist’s office. Poof. Rich. (Don’t hold me to the facts as I am a “creative” writer but for the sake of the story and facts and all…) Her first salon may have been in Dallas.

Mona’s beautiful daughter Jackie and her husband Tom owned/ran the salon in Houston. You could sit down, have a glass of champagne and have anything done to your body from washing your hair, having a massage right down to the pedicure. It was a great escape from Baker Hughes just a few blocks down the road! I was young, over-worked, underpaid, but never, ever under-indulged when I stepped thru the doors @ Mona’s Salon. My sanctuary was between Hillcroft and Fountainview for over a decade.

One day I was gladly giving Tom all of my hard-earned money and I noticed Tom had little beads of sweat on his forehead. Hmm. What’s wrong with you? “See that lady sitting in that chair waiting to get her nails done”? Yes. “See that lady sitting in that chair getting her nails done”? Yes. She’s sleeping with her husband and I don’t know WHO booked them back to back”! Snicker. So apparently everyone in the salon knew, kept it on the down-low, and the only two people in the salon who didn’t know (besides the clients) were the two getting pampered. And guess who paid for both pampering sessions…

Another time I was getting my nails all filled-in and the woman in front of me (all the clients faced one direction and all the technicians faced the other direction) was bragging on sleeping with one of the Houston Rockets players (yes, I know who, but in keeping with the discretion theme…) She was “hooking up with him again tonight after the game”. Tee hee hee”. No, she didn’t care he was married. And on and on she went bragging about details she wanted us all to hear. Then, just like that, the woman in front of her got up to leave, paused slightly by the cheater-chick, bent down and whispered, just loud enough for us to hear (she was facing me!), “When you see my husband tonight, please tell him I said hello”. She then gracefully paid her bill with his credit card. Oops. To hear a pin drop in a salon is quite a feat and she accomplished it! And over behind the counter you could see Tom, little beads of sweat…

We each feel like our stylist is our best buddy for 2-3 hours every six weeks. And they are; who else among your friends knows and keeps as many secrets as your stylist? And even though it’s only about every six weeks that we see them, it’s like no time has passed once her hands are producing a rich, thick lather on our scalp! “How’s fluffy? How’s the new job? How’s the new baby”. It’s mostly all about us and isn’t that just the way we like it?

Mostly. I said mostly. Whatever is going on in salons today has to stop! The last few times I’ve been to a salon (3 different ones) all I’ve heard about is their problems! Their economic crisis, their financial portfolio; are you kidding me? My stylist has a financial portfolio???? What is happening?

One stylist was yapping on and on about her husband and how she just didn’t know what to do? Personally, I thought she should shut-up and talk about her woes on her time. After all, I was the one in the chair, not her! The rules clearly state that the one in the chair gets to talk. The one standing up working gets to listen, nod and exclaim on cue, ”Really”. Hello! TIP!!!

This economic fuzzy stuff we are going through is affecting more than we know. The long-term effects could be devastating. If my stylists are turning on me, who’s next? My doctor? My lawyer? My maintenance man? “Why would I care if your blades are dull on your lawnmower??? What? YOU have a financial portfolio too?”

Salons are not like spas where no one speaks for fear of cracking a mask. No, salons are busy and loud, except on those rare occasions when the wrong two women are in the right two chairs... Anyway, salon air is full of a mixture of fragrances ranging from L’Oreal products, perm solution, bleach, and acrylics but, mostly the air is full of secrets. Our secrets. Our friend’s secrets. The salon is like a vault; you don’t get to go in there very often so once you are in, the time is treasured. We hear enough about the economic crisis from our great leader. We study the economy on a daily basis and watch the DOW and read the Wall-Street Journal. We listen to Fox News, MSNBC, CNBC…So, when we sit in your chair please let us go on with our mindless chatter about who’s cheatin’ who, who’s being true and who don’t even care anymore!

After a beautiful daughter and an ugly divorce Cindy decided to make our big dreams come true and has made a big splash in the world of hair. She can be found keeping the best of secrets and cutting the best of hair at Studio 3 on University Blvd. in Houston, Texas. She can also be found NOT talking about her financial portfolio-and yes SHE has one too!