I went to the hairdresser the other week to have a full head of highlights and a cut. Sitting facing a mirror I could see in the reflection several other clients having their hair done – cuts, colour and styling.
Having highlights takes a while. It is a process I find mesmerising, watching the hands of the hairdresser getting busy with my hair applying colour. After an initial consultation my hairdresser Lara gets straight on with the task. She does this by separating sections of my hair then weaving half out to apply the colour, painting it on with a wide brush and then wrapping each section in a strip of tin foil. The foil is used to keep the colour in place and to retain heat allowing the bleach to do its work. I am an artist (sculptor) and have made sculptures out of tin foil, inspired by years of observing this process at the hairdressers. Tin foil is as thin as paper, easy to rip like paper, but when crushed up and used in layers becomes resilient and solid. To make sculpture using this versatile material, I packed layers of tin foil around objects then carefully peeled the foil off to produce a perfect cast of the objects. Tin foil with all its shininess is as seductive as silver but a minutia of the monetary value. I was interested in this material to make sculpture for these reasons as well as its material qualities.
I watch Lara wrapping the tin foil around my hair, then using the end of a comb she creates two creases in the foil to fold in the ends to secure the hair and the colour. I watch her repeat this action until she has wrapped all my hair up in rows of neat foil parcels. It now feels like I’m wearing a metal helmet – and in some ways I am. Intermittently we talk, but I’m very happy to just watch, be quiet and relax. Besides the fact with all this stuff on my head and over my ears it is difficult to hear.
Once Lara has applied all the colour to my hair she leaves me to attend to another client. Waiting for the colour to take affect can take up to 40 minutes. To pass the time I find myself reaching into my bag to retrieve my phone (an automatic action when there is nothing to do!) I see I have no signal so place it back in my bag, giving me the time to sit, look and think. When was there a time when I did not reach for my phone at every spare moment? I recall in the distant past sitting in doctors and dentist receptions, on public transport and in cafes with no technology to distract, staring into space and watching the world go by, or instead of a mobile device reaching for a book or magazine. It is a recent phenomenon that mobiles have this constant pull. I have had a smart phone from the first time they were released, but I don’t remember looking at it as much as I do now. I think Instagram is the problem for me – when I have nothing to do – no emails to respond to, WhatsApp messages to answer I go to Instagram. I find it a great resource but before Instagram I did not grab my phone whenever I was sitting doing nothing. I forget how it felt to be bored and to stare at people and stuff for long periods of time. I notice on the Underground there is a poster that says it can be an offence to stare at people! So now we must look at our smart phones to avoid intimidating others.
I do tend to treat the hairdressers as a pampering day. I love having my head touched, being brought endless cups of coffee and tea and having my head massaged by the person washing my hair. It feels like borrowed time because all I can do is sit and relax.
As I look in the mirror, I see several hairdressers in the reflection doing different tasks – cutting, brushing, drying, colouring on all types of hair, and dealing with different personalities. Lara is originally from Rome, so we talk about our favourite Italian cities and all things Italian – especially food – my favourite subject to talk about. Food is a subject everyone can relate to, especially those who enjoy eating and cooking. I have not met an Italian who is not interested in food! What people like to eat, to cook, where they buy their ingredients and where they eat… Lara has recommended to me great places to shop for good Italian vegetables and places to eat authentic Italian food in London.
I realise most people in this salon are Italian, so I drift in and out of other conversations around the room about Italy. Caravaggio is the subject of the conversation next to me. The client’s disappointment of not being able to see the two major works in Santa Maria del Popolo in Rome as it is currently closed for restoration.
Hairdressers are incredibly skilled with their hands, and I watch in my mirror two hairdressers handle their client’s hair. One is twisting long locks around their fingers to create loose ringlets and the other is applying colour to the roots of thick long hair. The way people handle materials can reflect a person’s personality. Well at least this is the way I am forming my character analysis of these two hairdressers on either side of me. Smooth and slow actions = relaxed, confident and measured hairdresser. Quick, direct and jerky actions = anxious, inpatient and slightly disorganized hairdresser. Lara is the former I have decided. There are a lot of skills to learn to be a good hairdresser and it takes rigorous training and constant retraining to keep up with new trends. Not only are they handling material that is unique to each client, but a whole lot of emotion is tied up with this for the client. It is important we all leave happy with our hair. I’m sure we can all recall a bad haircut; the negative affect it can have on the way we feel about ourselves. As much as a bad haircut or colour can damage self-esteem, a good cut and colour can send you away elated and with an injection of confidence.
Lara works fast and once my colour is done she gets straight on to cutting my hair. She holds the scissors as if they are extensions of her fingers, flipping the scissor away from my head as she combs the next section to cut.
As I sit watching all these people including myself getting their hair done, I reflect on how it makes me feel. Hair is a part of the body we can choose to change – length, style, colour and texture and can keep changing throughout our lives (that’s as long as we have it!) It will in most cases grow back, so even if the cut and colour is not exactly what we expect it is not permanent.
When I was living in Rome, I got my hair cut several times, each time a bit shorter than the last and much shorter than was usual for me. It was hot and I wanted to get air around my neck. Shorter hair made me more aware of my neck – I could see more of it, feel hot and cold air on it, and it somehow made me feel taller! I enjoyed this new experience and liked not getting my hair tangled under bag straps and in jacket and coat collars. New haircuts can influence what clothes you wear, i.e. a polo neck sweater or high collar can be exposed for the first time. The way you move and position your head when you are walking or talking to others can change. I found myself stretching my neck as I walked in the sunshine as if to further expose the nape of my neck to the light.
While I sit watching in the mirror my hair being transformed, I realise this is a long time to be looking at myself. I never would spend this amount of time looking at my face and hair in one sitting – no wonder over these hours I’m becoming fixated on every move Lara makes and the impact she is having on my appearance. Once I leave the salon my hair fixation quickly seeps back into other parts of my life, no longer the focus of my attention. It’s only when I capture my reflection in a window walking home, I am reminded of the intense experience – and the affects that a haircut and colour can have on my sense of well-being.
