The Power of a Good Salon

Those of you who lived by me in Germany know that I used to spend a lot of time and money on my hair. It had gotten quite long by the end of our tour, and very blonde. I went every 8 weeks to have my roots beaten back, have it conditioned and trimmed and just generally pampered. I loved it. So what happened? Well, two things. One, we moved back to the States and we went into a kind of sticker shock at how much it costs to just live here. We made an effort to cut back on expenses, and my costly hair care went bye-bye. Two, we had a baby. Suddenly, I didn't have time to get my hair done, even if I wanted too! It's like this. When we were in Germany, I lived the life of what we'll call an "Army Socialite". No kids, lots of friends, plenty of money to spend on whatever I wanted, and most of all, loads and loads of free time. When we hit the states and the kid came along, I was drop-kicked back to the real world!

My hair suffered. Then I started working, and I thought, "now I can afford to get my hair done again", but alas, now I have even less time (imagine that!). Finally, after tiring of in-frequent, very in-frequent, $12 haircuts at HairMasters, I decided enough was enough and I was going to splurge.

Enter the salon Bliss. Bliss is unique among Columbus salons, in that it doesn't belong here. It looks like it was picked up from somewhere in Orange County and dropped into the wrong place. However it came to be here, it's a good salon. And in the world of haircare, good seems to be synonomous with expensive. I thought I would take a money shortcut and go with one of the beginning stylists, they are cheaper. Yeah.....it probably would have been cheaper had I just stuck with the highlights I'd planned on. But I got in that chair and the possibilities were just too hard to resist. I got highlights, some sort of toning color to get rid of the brassiness of the bleach, and an elixer treatment to heal breakage. Not to mention the shampoo, conditioner, and various styling "potions" I picked up. And all of these products are exclusive to Bliss, so you have to buy it there. I did get a 15 percent discount for pre-booking my next appointment....

Did I mention the complimentary coffee and hand massage? There is nothing better than sitting in that chair, with a warm towel over your forehead, the smell of good shampoo in the air, and getting a hand massage. Sigh.....

So, I spent a little more than I had planned, but how much is too much to be transformed from a tired, ragged, old-feeling Mommy with split ends to a relaxed, feeling my age, hot mama with good hair? And that's what it's all about really, it's not the hair. It's the confidence boost that comes with knowing you have great hair. And while it's not to the color I want yet (we are going to lighten it quite a bit more), I'm on the road to hair recovery.