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Rumor Has It .....

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As a hairdresser in 2003, I began having request from male clients for “topless“ haircuts. This ranged in a time span of several months.


I answered a telephone call one day from a guy that was my business partner’s client.  He wanted to book a haircut appointment but when I called her to the phone he insisted that he book his appointment with me. After discussing this a brief minute or so, I penciled him in.


The day of his appointment I sat him in my chair and I asked him what I could do for him. He said he wanted my “special“ haircut. I was confused as to what this “special“ haircut was so I gave him one of my hairstylist books to browse through and choose what hairstyle he wanted.


As I turned around to give him a minute to look at the book, he grabbed my hand and said, a “SPECIAL“ (with emphasis), haircut. 


I stood behind the chair and looked him in the face through the mirror and explained to him that I was unsure of what he was talking about. As my business partner walked out the side door, I was shocked at the next few words that come out of his mouth. He told me that he had “heard” that  I was giving “topless“ haircuts for $100. 


“Oh! THAT haircut”, I said with a giggle (and decided to play along).


I told him that topless haircuts were $100 flat; it was cash only, no refunds and had to be paid upfront. With that said, he pulled out a crisp $100 bill and put it in my hand. I walked to the break room of the salon, put it in my purse and walked back up front with a clean cape and comb in hand.


Again, standing behind the chair, looking in his face through the mirror I told him to go ahead and take off his shirt. He looked confused. I told him a second time to remove his shirt if he wanted a “topless” haircut. He turned his chair around and stated to me that I was supposed to be the one to remove my shirt…


I laughed in his face. I told him I’m not sure where he heard that from but that was completely not true. That I valued myself, my work and my license too much to risk losing them over a rumor.


He proceeded to tell me that he booked his appointment with me because my business partner was the one that told him I was giving those “special“ haircuts and if I wasn’t going to take my top off he wanted his $100 back.  I reminded him that there were no refunds and that he should take that up with my business partner/HIS hairdresser.  I walked to the side door to ask her  to step inside just to discover that she had left. Imagine that.


He was not happy about getting absolutely nothing for his money but I certainly wasn’t happy either. Finding out that this rumor was started by my business partner and best friend at the time, was devastating to me, to say the least.


In the few weeks after that my business partner decided to show up for work less and less frequently because she knew that she would be confronted about the rumor. In the meantime, I kept collecting that $100 from every client that had the nerve to ask for a “special“ haircut.



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