I’ve been back for something like 4 or 5 months now. Being who I am, you can bet your bottom dollar that a good portion of that time has been spent shopping. If you’re going to reacclimatize to the ultimate in consumer societies, what better homecoming can there be. I’m a North American. I shop.
Salespeople in North America are good. It’s where the whole concept of customer service was perfected. However there are times when salespeople go too far. On several occasions salespeople have gone from trying to sell me something to almost begging me to buy. In a way a commend them for going hard for the sale, but if you’re going to try and rationalize something to me, make sure your logic is in order.
For example, take the girl who was blow drying my hair at a recent salon visit. It’s no suprise that hair salons are constantly trying to get you to get highlights and colour. Why is this? Because the materials for colouring are relatively inexpensive and the cost is actually in the labour. Also, once you start colouring, it’s a huge challenge to stop. Like the drug dealer, they get you hooked on the first dose.
Back in the day I used to colour my hair a lot. I decided that highlights would make me “more fun” (or funner, take your pick. The highlights were blond after all). I highlighted for 3 years, before delving into the world of all over colour. The results of this ran the gauntlet from brown/black to red. 4 years ago I decided it had to stop and endured the painful “growing out process.” About a year ago, I cut the last remnants of red out of my hair and finally had my blessed natural hair colour back. Brown with red and blond highlights here and there. It’s a nice colour and it suits me.
So this girl doing my blowout starts off by complimenting my hair colour (just after the haircutting diva says “You have really great hair. It’s very healthy”), and then says “You know what? It wouldn’t take as long to dry your hair if you put in some highlights.” This was seriously her rationale. According to her, I have a perfectly nice hair colour, but I should put in highlights so I can dry my hair faster. You know why my hair would dry faster? Because it would be bleached by the highlights, hence dried out. I know she wants to make money putting colour in my hair, but come on. “You know how you go to great lengths to keep your hair in great shape. All the conditioning and the brushes. You should just throw all that away. It won’t make you look better and it won’t improve the condition of your hair. Nope, it will just shave 3 minutes off your hair drying rountine.” Sign me up!
The funny thing is, that if she’d gone with the improving your looks angle, I would have gone for it in a second. I’d have colour in my hair right now. Make sense and you can sell me anything.
Today’s sing-a-long song: “Chantilly Lace” by The Big Bopper
HRH
