As a hair stylist, I am also a therapist

I know, you think "hair stylist" and you think, some mediocre dumb person who went to beauty school. To back up my credentials, I have to add that I'm not just a hair stylist. I'm also a therapist. Of 16 years.

I went to school for psychology for a year and saw a flyer for "cosmetology 101". I was excited about it and thought it far more practical than the direction I was headed. So I enrolled in beauty school. 9 months later, I graduated and got a job working at a salon. I was 19.

I bought a hair salon at 23, owned it for 5 years and eventually sold it to move to San Francisco. Here I am, with a job with no boss, and no schedule. I make my own hours, I take long vacations and I get paid in cash daily. How does this happen? Cause I'm smart.

Most hair stylists are categorized as uneducated. That's ok. We'll let the rest of the world of stereotypers believe that if they want to. But the fact is, we listen to your crap day in and day out. We multi-task. While I'm mixing up color, you are talking about your annoying mother, or how someone at your job is blowing their nose. Meanwhile, we do the job that three other professions attack. We are on par with bartenders, therapists and surgeons. We are not doing brain surgery here. We are picking your brain. And you will tell us things you would never tell a living soul.

I asked my clients, just for nyucks, "what is the worst thing you have ever done in your life?" One client remarked, "I fucked my best friend's fiance` on their wedding day." He had never told another soul.

We know you. You rely on us. You rely on us for your mental health, your physical beauty, for the way you feel when you look at yourself in the mirror every day. We are not naive. We have heard it all. Half of it goes in one ear and out the other. We see 8 people a day. How are we supposed to remember everything everyone says?

But after 16 years, I wouldn't change my job. I love it. I love the stories people tell. I love the gratitude. I love the loyalty of clients, I love the play in the salon. It is the most rewarding job I have ever had, and I don't mind listening to you complain. Cause in the end, I know that I have helped you in some remedial way, that my presence has made a difference on the Earth, no matter how minute.