An Open letter to black/afro/ethnic salons 1

This is a very long list for me so this blog post will have number one of a possible 100.

           1: Hair Salons seem to have a hairdresser revolving door.

I am not sure if salon owners realise what makes a good salon. Contrary to popular belief,  it is not the fancy shop front and swiveling chairs.  (I am not disputing the fact that looks matter or how would we explain explain the cute but dumb guys always getting dates.)

So dearest salon owners, I will spell it out for you THE HAIRDRESSERS make the salon. I would like to go to a salon and find the same good hairdressers. If I go in and someone does my hair really well, I would love to find them there next time. I hate to go back and have somebody else attempt to recreate what they never even saw  as they worked somewhere else at the time.

The only staff members salons seem to retain are the salon owners’ cousins and friends who are asked to wash your hair, like hair care is a  genetic thing. Hair care is a skill and should be considered as such.

So salons, please try and keep your staff happy in order to retain them because if they are good (which we presume is why you hired them), they will end up at another salon.(Probably the grubby looking one down the road) 

So if you want loyal customers, we want you to have loyal staff.

Sincerely, 

Customers.

Let us know what you hate about salons. Add your comments, or add your tweets to #thingsihateaboutsalons

Does the boy know it's not your hair?

  So long long time ago, even before Facebook (If you are below 20, this might not be a thing at all), stages of relationships were determined differently. Telling a boy that your hair was indeed not your hair was akin to becoming Facebook Official.

So I have collected stories from days gone by with reactions to that all important moment:
My responses in italics, some of these things I said, some I couldnt, but I surely thought.

 I prefer girls with long hair. ( Don't worry love, he has NEVER been with a girl with long hair, he just doesn't know it.)

He freaked out because it was someone else's hair he had been touching. (Ofcourse it was your hair, you paid for it. )

He dumped me a few days later. I was not the girl he fell in love with apparently. (Me thinks he found an easy way out)

He thought I had cut my hair. (Well, he ain't no Einstein, but I guess he gets to stay)

He didn't notice. (Umm, right, if I ask how long it took him to notice, I may have to become an agony aunt, so let's move on.)

He screamed. (Damn, girl hook me up with your weavologist's number if she made you look that different)

He said he loved the new look. (Nice one player, you live to see another weave)

I am sure some of you have heard different responses to this? Please share. 

Hallo, hallo, you dropped your hair...

So walking through the car park at work today, I saw this and thought, hair fail. One that I know a lot about...

A few years ago at work, someone said to me, 'Leillah, Leillah, look you just dropped your hair!'
He looked shocked and awed all at the same time at the sight of one of my braids on the floor.
Umm umm, I stuttered as I tried to explain that I did not need it, I could just chuck it in the bin.
This nice guy then proceeded to tell me about vitamins that I could take to strengthen my hair. I was dumbfounded as I wondered whether it was worth it to explain the difference between extensions and my hair.
I didn't! I picked up the 'traitor braid' and stuffed it in my bag. He looked at me with great sympathy and I wanted to scream, 'I am not going bald, HONEST!' Instead I shuffled away and avoided him for a week.
It has happened to me since in a supermarket and this time I owned it and said, 'Oh yeah, must remember to take those hair vitamins huh!'
Cue lady whispering to her friend, 'does she think we do not realise it is a weave?'
I could not win this one either so I laughed and laughed until they all shuffled away thinking I was mad.
Not sure what to do next time....

Hair collages

A friend of mine has done her own collage and I am hoping it inspires a few more of these.
If you can do one, it's quite easy if you get the photo collage app on facebook. Please send it if you do it.
Photo collage here: http://www.photocollage.net/images.php
You can then use pictures that you already have on Facebook. This app will pick out some pictures for you as well!

Here is Samantha's.

 Here is another of mine, not that different from the other:

Hoping to add a few more to this collection.
Get 'collaging people.'

Changing hair; different strands for different days

I decided this week to do a collage wih different hairstyles that I have had in the past couple of years, and thanks to facebook and photo collage, I managed to do this today.
When I talk about afro hair to people, they are often surprised by how versatile this hair is, but look at that collage above. That is atleast 16 different hair styles, some make me look totally different and I hear you, some were uncalled for.
But I love to experiment with my hair, I love the ability to do all sorts. I also love that some Mondays I get to work and they have no idea who I am. I love that when I go to the salon, my friends and family say, 'what are you doing this time?'
I have sat in a meeting where they were waiting for Leillah (that's me) to turn up. I have had conversations with people about myself (aka the other black girl in your office.) I find this all very exciting. (Some say I need to go out more, but hey...)
Thing is most of these hairstyles are done in different salons. But how do you choose a salon or even a hairstyle? It is always a mystery to me and to be honest I am tired of this being a guessing game. 
And this is one of the reasons why we are setting up NoScrunchie. Find a salon by hairstyle by area by peer review. Watch this space people...