Tricks For A Living

No, I am not talking about sex here. Although great hair can help in that department. I'll get to that in another section called "Sex Hair." Tricks I and other stylists like me get paid for, are the ones involving making thin hair look thicker, curly hair straight, straight hair curly...you get the idea. More often than not, clients want what they cannot have. I am not knocking it, this is what my 5 billion dollar industry was built on. To get my piece of it, I have to understand intimately the relationship between people and their hairdressers.

Here's where the tricks come in. In many forms product i.e. volumizing shampoo, root lifter, straightening serum, palmade, even good old gel still works, or tricks and tools of the trade, irons, dryers, brushes, a great style support in the form a "perm", re-texturizing (again "perm" or even color), even extensions (did someone say fake hair pieces?) See where I'm going with this?

People want what they don't have and they want what they think everyone else has got. We did such a superb job of frying every one's hair into oblivion with spiral perms in the late 80's that now the word perm is considered taboo in the industry. Although a vital tool, the permanent wave was forced to take on new names so that clients wouldn't run screaming out of our nation's salons. Introduced as style support for one who's hair will not hold a curl, or re-texturizing for hair that needs more/less volume, perms have taken on a new persona.

I laugh to myself every time I hear someone say, "No one gets perms anymore!" I am here to tell you, YES they do. Trick Number 1. Old dog, new trick, I mean new name.

Remember wigs, and falls and other hair pieces of the 60's and 70's? My mother had one. My grandmother had several. Wigs were a style all their own. They evolved and got better as the years went on. You could choose between synthetic hair, which some learned the hard way could not be styled with hot appliances, or human hair which was more natural and could be styled with curling irons and blow dryers. Wigs too have remained on the salon scene. Much more tricky now, instead of the whole head, like a hat, fake hair is worn in tiny pieces either clipped, sewn in or glued to the natural hair. Extensions...allow for longer lengths and fuller, thicker appearance. Natural or synthetic,colored, curly or straight, still your choice. Many more trips to the salon to get redone because extensions grow out, and become visible over time. Seen any hair wrapped scrunchies at Clair's or Wal-Mart lately? I believe Hanna Montana and Jessica Simpson have entire lines devoted to hair pieces.

This is me laughing once again when I hear, "Who in their right mind would wear a wig?" I could name a few hundred famous celebs, a few friends of mine and about 10 million tots,tweens and teens. Did I mention runway models, strippers...there I go back to sex again. Trick Number 2. Give 'em what they don't have or can't achieve in seconds on their own.

Tricks are what I get paid for. I had to study,work hard and go through trial and error, sometimes on a daily basis, to find out what works and what doesn't. My clients trust that I know more than they do about doing hair.

Confession: The real trick here is knowing how to educate my clients to use good judgement when it comes to treatments and style. Learning to work with, care for, and appreciate what God gave you is sometimes the trickiest thing of all.