No More Blue Hair!

The following weeks have been exhausting! I'm working all day at the shop, eat dinner with Vidal & Anne Marie, discussing cuts & styling ideas, & back to the shop to to design haircuts on both men & women. Vidal recruited students from the local hairdressing schools, ran ads in the local paper for models, & Anne Marie placed a sign in the shop window for more models.

Vidal hired a photographer for the 'before' & 'after shots, plus we recorded all of the procedures that went into the transformation. It was very exciting & people on the street suddenly knew my name. I felt like a star! Plus I was making more money than I could imagine. My clientele has almost doubled, plus Vidal was paying me $300.00 a week.

Vidal left for London. We stopped the classes for two weeks, which I was glad for. The break gave me the opportunity to see my son, & give my mom money for taking care of him. I took a few days off to go to the beach, relax in the sun, rest my tired bones. I hadn't gone out with the girls in weeks, so we got together & partied. Vidal & I worked as late as 11pm, six nights a week. I needed this time off.

Summer was going by quickly. My days & nights were one constant stream of haircuts, blow drys, & coloring. Almost all of the cuts had our technique of dimensional color tones. Silver & Blue hair was on it's way out. Natural hair, clean wind blown hair was making a debut. There were still wash & sets, but women under forty, especially the wives that were returning to work, returning to college, wanted, needed, & asked for a simpler, softer way of managing their hair. That's what Vidal was doing for them. That's what I was doing with him. It was an exciting time in the world. Women making a stand. Making changes in the family structure. Women's Liberation was growing strong. I was part of this 'New Era of Women's Rights'!

You have pretty hair...

April is finally here! Spring time, the time of Renewal. My son's birthday party went well. I got him everything that my Mom told me that he needed & wanted. Gosh, I love that boy. I can't wait to get my law degree, so that I could bring him to live with me. It breaks my heart every time I see him, & then leave without him. Some day, Sal will be with me!

Like every Saturday, we were crazy busy at the salon. Customers were late for their appointments, & I had perms, cuts, colors stacked up so bad that I didn't stop to eat all day.

Half way through the day, Vidal walked through the door. It was as if he glided. Tall, tanned, beautiful haircut, white sparkly smile that dazzled you. Sharply dressed. Here in Brooklyn, "dressed" to the guys is changing into a clean pair of jeans. Vidal definitely made you turn your head!

We had learned from AnneMarie that he was a hairdresser from London. There weren't many male hairdressers here yet. Barbers is where the men went. It was still new for the guys to go to a 'beauty salon' to have a girl cut their hair. AnneMarie said she met Vidal at a 'Hairdressers Convention' in London, & they've been good friends since. My hunch was that they had a little romance & she would like to pick up where they left off, but Vidal is married now with a child.

Finally, the day came to an end. It was past 7PM, by the time I finished cleaning my station, & packing up my equipment. I was brushing my hair when Vidal walked over to my chair & slid himself into it.

"You have pretty hair."

"Thank You." Was HE talking to ME?!?

"Your pretty good with that shears." Hi accent was so seductive.

"Thank you again. Busy day, I had to whip through those cuts at record speed. Thank heavens for blow dryers."

" You have a good command of your tools. Where did you study cosmetology?"

"Winifred in Queens." My heart started to beat faster. Were my legs getting weak?

"Vidal?" AnneMarie called, " Let's get out of here girls", she called to us, "Come on Vidal, I need a cocktail."

All of us picked up our bags & purses, heading for the door. Thank God, another week over. Payday & my birthday. Yes, I was having what promised to be a very good year!

A Cut Above - Who is this 'Exquisite Man'?

Salvatore, my son, will be 2 years old next week. I can't believe it's two years already! I don't see him as much as I would like, since he lives with my Mom & step-dad. My Mom believes that his life would be better living with her, since 'unwed mothers' don't have a chance to "meet a man to marry you" with a baby hanging on your skirt. I don't know how true that is, but, I'm not looking to be married yet. I have to finish law school first, so I'm letting things ride right now. I'll call her later to find out what Sal wants for his birthday.

I see that I have Mrs. Bruno for my first client today. God help me with this witch! I don't think that there is a soul that she likes or doesn't talk badly about. Well, here goes the smile & 'glad to see you', BS.

AnneMarie is strutting around like she got lucky or something last night. She hasn't complained about anything going on in the shop today, (did she get lucky?), but, she is running our shampoo girl Terrys' butt off, making sure everything is clean & in it's place. It's Wednesday, our slowest day of the week. Only two beauticians, Sofia & myself. Finally got 'Ol Mrs. Bruno under the hair dryer. Forty minutes of relief before I hear the rest of her 'poor son & that 'terrible wife' of his. What she doesn't know is that her 'poor son', owes the neighborhood bookie around $5,000.00 in bad horse bets, & his 'terrible wife' may be a young widow soon!

I can't believe the way AnneMarie perked up when this man, (very distinguished looking), walked into the shop. I think that she was actually flirting with him! They hugged each other & laughed about something as his eyes scanned around the shop. Sofia dropped rollers all over the floor, while I kept cutting my ladies hair. His eyes settled on me for just a moment & then on Sofia. AnneMarie introduced this stranger as her 'old friend Vidal',then quickly scooted him into the employees lounge in the back. Sofia looked over to me with raised eye brows & a grin, I returned the grin with a shrug of my shoulders. It was already 3pm, & I was glad that we closed in less than 3 hours.

Vidal! What kind of name was that? Being in a mostly Italian area of Brooklyn, most of the men here are called Johnny, Paulie, or Joey. The women are Maria, Angie or Theresa. I got lucky with Constance Caroline, & everyone cut that down to CeCe. But Vidal, that's really different. He also has some kind of accent, I think. I'm curious, but, I'm more interested in getting out of this shop today. Only five clients & three dollars in tips, plus a headache from Mrs. Bruno.

Monday Morning Trim

I woke up this morning, tired from last nights 'out with the girls',
promising myself never to go out on a Sunday night again, at least
not when I have a FULL book on Monday. A 'full book' is 15-20
haircuts for the day. I'm just starting out in the hairdressing
world, been with my girls for two years now.  Men have just
started to 'allow', a female to cut their hair.  It's the beginning
of the Unisex era, little did I know that it was going to live on!!

I work in a typical Beauty Salon, Anne Maries House of Beauty,
in an almost all Italian neighborhood in Brooklyn, NY, with 4 other
beauticians & 1 manicurist. I'm guaranteed $150 a week & 30% of
total tickets after I doubled my salary, plus tips. Basically, I need
to ticket $300 plus an additional $150 to make a $200 pay check.
All tips (usually $0.50) are mine.

Not bad for an 18 year old, just venturing out on my own, right?
I mean, I've got my own furnished apartment for 25 bucks a week,
utilities included. I'm living good, & as long as I don't spend all my
money 'with the girls' I'll be okay. I figure I can save enough cash
to put myself though law school in about four years. That's when
I'll really make something of myself... when I enter law school, I
can't wait!

Hell, with all of the stuff that these families are into in the
neighborhood, I should be RICH being their defender & keeping
them out of jail.  My cousin Johnny wants to hire me now - HAHA.

Well, off to work with one heck of a hangover... 1964 is promising to
be a good year.