I wonder how many young ladies would relate to my story…… I wonder if the same happens at men's hairdressers… I highly doubt finding similarity !! I always felt there is very special atmosphere at the hair dresser "salon"!! The kind of stories you may possibly hear are things you only hear there…. And often times ,issues discussed between the hair dresser and customer or the shampoo girl and customer are so personal … extremely personal… .. Really personal…
Women come to the hair dresser with a baggage of frustrations, pain, love stories, secrets and so much gossip…… A visit to the Hairdresser may sometimes be a long one… … hours may pass while women are still at their hairdressers…. Answering personal phone calls… speaking out loud… then sharing their personal stories as a continuation of an over heard one sided conversation on the phone…
So many magazines of Layalena, zahrat alkhalej, Sayedety, Heya…etc are piled silently on the coffee tables, filled with gossip… while on the other hand, these women's hearts and minds write every day at the salon a more realistic perspective of the stories… A true real perspective, a genuine dimension of gossip those magazines failed to represent. .. and yes often times they discuss the stories in these piled magazines… … During Ramadan they would all talk about "bab El7ara" as if they know the characters… and everyone would get so passionate and involved in the discussion, as passionate as they get when talking about their own daughters and family members. And now it's the season of Noor!! The Turkish series that is being dubbed in Syrian accent!! And no one can possibly ignore Noor… who's entering almost every house at 10 PM of every night… In a timing were Euro Cup is taking place and high level of competition between Women's needs and Men's needs of TV!! Which raises more discussions…. And endless stories and frustrations…
I must admit, whenever I have a "salon" appointment, I print out some work or studying documents, and I go with my highlighter, pencil and bunch of papers….. those are my companions for waiting time… yes I'm usually a secretive customer…… I tend to smile to everyone… but share very little.. and would usually chose to agree with older women's opinions to cut conversations short……
Whenever I fail or forget to bring my to do list with me… I enter the "Salon" and start searching between the piles of magazines for "Zahrat Alkhaleej", and pile all the "zahrat alkhaleej" I can possibly find beside me… and start reading 2 articles from each one…. one for "Zahi Wahbeh"… who's usually the last article and one for "Ahlam Mastaganami " who's usually few pages before the last… I read these two articles and go from one issue to another … reading these 2 most poetic articles.. or opinion pieces about something or anything… and often times an interesting fake headline about one of the singers attracts me and I end up reading through…. It's good to TRY to be "In the loop" bemwadee3 eLsa7a elfanieh el3arabieh!! ;)
Well, that's not what I wanted to admit… what I wanted to admit is that… while reading or going through my work… my ear is carefully listening to all the interestingness around me!!! And yes I open my mouth sometimes dazzled at what I hear!! And pretend I just read a very surprising piece of information about "Nancy Ajram"!!! And sometimes I get overwhelmed by a very sad story said…. Said in a very personal way… and it keeps haunting me for a good while…
So what makes these women share very intimate private stories with hairdressers?
Is it the amount of time spent with them? Is it complete trust for a person who can easily turn a bad hair day into a sexy hair day?!! What makes the level of trust so high in such cozy yet public place….
In a very small space… politics… love… home décor.. raising kids… education… art.. sports.. .. financial situations… economics…. TV programs… everything is discussed…
In a very small intimate cozy space… I always leave with a new story or rumor… … and it only reminds me I should go there more often… … to get the taste of reality from a different perspective…..
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