Beauty and the B (session)

Steel Magnolias, Beauty Shop, Soul Food, Barber Shop and more, all portray the salon as the gathering place. Even more reference beauticians as the source of reliable "gossip" if you will. These days, salons are places where we get our hair cut once every six weeks or colored or permed even less often. In the days of yore, the salon appointment was a weekly one, where you went in to get your hair "set" for the following week. (I won't go into my problems with the hygiene of this schedule)

I went in to get my hair colored and cut on Thursday. For me, this is usually viewed with discomfort. To get me to sit still that long is nearly impossible. It is nonproductive time. It is however, a less frequent version of what took place years ago, when counseling or "talk therapy" was less common. I was thinking as M. and I were catching up on the crap of each others' lives that they really didn't need therapy back then. They had an hour or so of uninterrupted exchange. The stylist also benefited from this. Although it was just M. and I exchanging back and forth, I could imagine what a network of support it was back when you had your regular Thursday appointment and so did several others! They were each others' support and sounding boards! Group therapy, if you will.

M. lives with a real jerk. She said she would never have guessed that she would be unmarried with a child and another on the way, living with a man who would put her through the hell that he has. She is very lucky that her mother and sister are so supportive. Her family as a whole are, but her mother and one sister are especially close.