When it comes to products or services, once I find a company or person that I like, I am very loyal to them. For twenty-five years, I used the same hair dresser in New Jersey - regardless of whether I was living in Boston, Philly, DC, or even Iowa. Once I moved to Vegas though, and my trips back home were not as frequent, I finally gave in and found a hair stylist I liked. I think what made me gravitate to him was that he studied under Vidal Sassoon like my hairdresser back in Jersey. He was excellent, and I liked the salon where he worked too. Now that I moved to the northwest, today was my first time with a new stylist. I think I've been spoiled by my Vegas and NJ stylists/salons because today was not as good of an experience as I hoped it would be.
Right off the bat, the place was very dark and gloomy. As an architectural designer, I understand the desire to used exposed structure and HVAC ductwork in a space, but it wasn't done well here. The walls were dark purple and the ceiling and upper 5' of the walls were painted black, so the sporadically placed adjustable lights were complete glare bombs - especially when having to look right up into them while having my hair washed. The styling chairs were also very uncomfortable, especially when having to sit in one for an hour.
You may ask why I'm going into this level of detail in a misophonia blog... I was already uncomfortable in the environment, so when someone started whistling to the loud music playing in the salon, I rushed to put my earplugs in. I felt bad for the stylist, who was very nice and tried to start some chit chat conversation. Unfortunately, wearing earplugs to block out trigger sounds on top of having to take my eyeglasses off while having my hair done (which meant I couldn't even fake being able to hear what she was saying since I couldn't lipread in a dark room - especially without my glasses), made it too hard to contribute to the dialogue. I tried to explain that I couldn't hear her because I was wearing earplugs since I was sensitive to sound, but she continued to ask me questions and try to converse. It was clear she didn't understand my discomfort.
Oh well... Maybe I just need to periodically take a trip back down to Vegas to have my hair done and see friends that I left behind. :-)
Right off the bat, the place was very dark and gloomy. As an architectural designer, I understand the desire to used exposed structure and HVAC ductwork in a space, but it wasn't done well here. The walls were dark purple and the ceiling and upper 5' of the walls were painted black, so the sporadically placed adjustable lights were complete glare bombs - especially when having to look right up into them while having my hair washed. The styling chairs were also very uncomfortable, especially when having to sit in one for an hour.
You may ask why I'm going into this level of detail in a misophonia blog... I was already uncomfortable in the environment, so when someone started whistling to the loud music playing in the salon, I rushed to put my earplugs in. I felt bad for the stylist, who was very nice and tried to start some chit chat conversation. Unfortunately, wearing earplugs to block out trigger sounds on top of having to take my eyeglasses off while having my hair done (which meant I couldn't even fake being able to hear what she was saying since I couldn't lipread in a dark room - especially without my glasses), made it too hard to contribute to the dialogue. I tried to explain that I couldn't hear her because I was wearing earplugs since I was sensitive to sound, but she continued to ask me questions and try to converse. It was clear she didn't understand my discomfort.
Oh well... Maybe I just need to periodically take a trip back down to Vegas to have my hair done and see friends that I left behind. :-)
RSS Feed
