This entry is for journaling purposes, and may not be like my usual entries.
I love Fridays--always have! It started back when I was in elementary school. I would get so excited to watch TGIF, I lived for those two hours of television each week! Even if I was at a sleepover, partying would stop from 8pm-10pm, so we could watch our shows.
Now that I am 25, and there isn't TGIF any longer, I look forward to other things. I love getting the latest issue of People magazine, quickly doing the crossword in the back of the magazine--before anyone else can get to it, baby-sitting my friend Crystal's adorable little seven-month-old baby Ty, going out with friends at night, knowing that I don't have school the next day, but my favorite thing is that I get to visit with the same four ladies week after week as they get their hair 'set' for the week.
Janet, Jackie, Billie, and Gayle have been coming in to visit me on Fridays for 3-4 years. I have developed great relationships with each of them. Yes, these women go a full week without washing or styling their hair. I do it for them each week. Yes, I have to scrub their hair a time or two, and use tons of hairspray to make sure it'll stay for a full week. I love each of these women for various reasons!
--JANET--A beautiful lady that always is busy, so she shows up ten minutes late saying "sorry I am late, I was doing this....". She is in her mid-sixties, has five married children (one of them passed away from a tragic accident three years ago, leaving a family behind), is from Chicago, is adopted, is married to a retired oral surgeon, is involved in various community and church activities (book club, golf club, country club, dinner group, empty nesters, choir, state legislature, gospel doctrine teacher, etc.), is a grandma of several, travels around the world with her husband and their motorcycle to bike across different countries (recently New Zealand), travels to Hondurus each year to do dental work for those that can't afford it, and scrapbooks with her granddaughters.
She is a very busy woman! I love visiting with her! We discuss politics, church, family, and most importantly---my dating life! She keeps up with all of my dates and makes sure to check up on how each one of them went. I round brush the top of her hair and flip the bottom out, she looks very trendy when we are through with the product and styling.
--JACKIE--The client that has been coming to me the longest! She is darling! She shows up ten minutes early each week with a big "Hello, how's my girl?" She is in her late seventies, has 3 children and eleven grandchildren with her first great-grandchild on the way. Jackie is terrified of anything new. She is afraid that she will get lost or forget things. She loves routine, going out to eat (especially Sizzler), her family, crochetting (she makes tons of afgans for humanitarian groups), and watching shows on t.v. all day--especially Judge Judy. Her husband is a retired BYU professor who loves to hike around by himself. Each week while she is getting her hair done, she tells me that he is either up at Squaw Peak or the top of Y mountain. She complains about how her husband makes her leave her comfy recliner to walk around the mall--not something she enjoys. She loves Coca-cola, so I make sure to offer her one each time she comes in.
Jackie gets a perm and cut every three months. She likes her hair curled tightly to her head and then back-combed a ton so that it won't move for the week. I spray so much hairspray on her do, so much so that we caugh each Friday from fumes! I am so grateful to have her friendly face come see me each Friday!
--BILLIE--A cute frail, yet very mobile 97 year old. Billie makes me smile! She has never been really sick, so she is able to be up and moving around without a cane. Her husband passed away ten years ago from an illness. She has two daughters, and is from Boulder City, NV. Her name fascinated me, so I asked how she got it. She said that she and her brother hated their names growing up, so they gave each other nicknames. Buhla was her name, and so when everyone started calling her Billie, it stuck.
I love Billie because she has little moments of forgetfullness. She will have the rollers in her hair and be sitting under the dryer, but peek out and ask me to use the "wash room." Sometimes she goes (taking 10 minutes) comes and sits for five minutes before asking me that same question. I laugh each time and ask if she's sure she needs to go, and she insists, so I stop styling Jackie's hair to take her. She will also sit and read People magazine while under the dryer. She doesn't seem to turn many pages, so once I asked her what she was reading. Billie's response was "nothing really very good, Rachel," then I look at the page and find out that she is staring at adds...kills me each time! She loves visiting with Jackie each week (their appointments overlap), and I love listening to their conversations. Billie gets her hair set in rollers and the back-combed with lots of hairspray. We add combs and 'bobbys'--what Billie calls bobby pins. I just love seeing her each week and am very impressed with her physical condition!
--GAYLE--She is a very cute, quiet, fragile eighty year old. She is very particular about the temperature, the noise level, the smells, and how I curl her hair around her ears. She is the mother to two girls and has ten grandchildren and a couple of greats. She lost her husband about 15 years ago to polio. She worked so hard throughout her life to support the family. She took care of everything because of her husband's condition. Her daughter told me that she used to carry him draped on her back! What a woman! It's no wonder why she is more frail than my others, she was such a hard working woman her entire life! She gets all done up each week to visit with me. She has the nurses put on lipstick and eyeshadow, and I make sure to tell her that she looks lovely each week. She sleeps all the time, and gets out of the house once a week to see me. It took awhile to bond with Gayle because she is so picky and opinionated, but once we created the bond, she won't let it be broken.
I curl Gayle's hair in tight curls around her head and back-comb lightly--she doesn't like too much. We spray with hairspray, but lightly as well. She needs my hands to help her get in and out of her chair and to walk to and from the shampoo bowl. She doesn't want to be around much longer and is anxious to see her husband again. I really enjoy seeing Gayle, when she is well enough to make her appointments!
I used to wonder why older ladies carried around the plastic scarves for their hair, but now I understand. When you get your hair done once a week, you need to protect it from any disasters! Each of my ladies has a scarf with them!
Even though I sometimes would rather be doing a color on a younger lady, I wouldn't trade any of the appointments I have had with these women! I love seeing them each week! They are a great way to go into the weekend!
