Kids running loose in a hair salon can absolutely drive hairdressers crazy but more than that it is dangerous for them not to be under control by their parent. There are too many sharp objects in use and too many chemicals.
After beauty school I was working in a small salon and one of the hairdressers allowed a 5 year old to sit on the edge of the hydraulic chair and turn it around and around in circles. I said something to the mother about it being dangerous and she just laughed and said it wouldn’t hurt anything, especially the chair, so I let it drop.
Within a minute the little girl lost her balance as the chair circled around by the shampoo sink and she fell from the seat. She hit the sink with her mouth and lost two of her upper front teeth.
From that day on I decided that is was my job to protect both the kids and the salon when they were not controlled by their parents. I told many kids about the little girl and it did seem to make them understand the danger.
One boy, who was old enough to know better, wanted to ride on the arms of the hydraulic chairs like they were a horse. He would bounce up and down and sway back and forth like he was on a moving horse. The chairs at that time were about $800 and even though I didn’t own the salon I couldn’t see letting him tear them up.
I finally got my bluff in on the little guy after a few weeks and every time he started to get into one of the chairs I would give him one of my famous glares and he would go back to the waiting area and sit down on the couch.
When I gave the glare to Liz when we worked together (usually in fun) she always said she couldn’t look at it straight on and that she wasn’t afraid of anything but it scared the He _ _ out of her. Anyway it usually worked on the kids.
But back to this little boy, one day his mother was sitting at a station in the middle of the room with her back to me. I glared at him because he was going to climb into a chair right behind her.
After I glared at him I looked up into the mirror in front of his mother and looked right into her eyes. She gave me a glare but still ignored him when they were there and left it all up to me to control him.
Another little boy about 4-5 years old who came with his mother every week was a real mess. He wanted to open drawers and go into areas of the salon where all the chemicals were stored and just generally run around and tear up the place.
We had to keep our eyes on him all the time because he was always into the work station drawers where scissors and razors were kept and if given the chance would get into the hairdressers purses in the back room.
When Christmas came one year I was really nervous because of this little boy. We put up a beautiful tree in the salon and I had brought some nice ornaments from home. From my station I couldn’t see the tree in the dryer area, but Liz could see it from her station around the corner to the east of mine.
The first time he came in with his mother I told Liz to keep an eye on the tree because I didn’t want any of the ornaments broken. I was afraid he would get cut if he broke them or shocked with the lights or that he would turn the tree over on women sitting in the dryer chairs.
About 15 minutes after he arrived with his mother, he disappeared from my line of sight and I told Liz to keep and eye on the tree. Only a few seconds later she said he was lying under the tree on his stomach, with his chin propped on his hands and his feet in the air.
I told her that was okay as long as he kept his hands off the tree. Well I had barely got the words out of my mouth when she said “He is playing with an ornament! He’s poking the ornament so it swings.” I slammed down my comb on the station and ran over to the dryer area.
There was enough noise from the dryers that he didn’t hear me coming. He was wearing overalls, so I grabbed the back where the straps crossed and pulled him to his feet. I turned him around to face me and gave him one of my glares.
Then I picked him up and set him down firmly on the couch in the dryer area. I pointed my finger at him and told him, “If you move from this spot before your mother’s ready to leave I will beat you.”
I gave him one more glare, and went back to work. He didn’t know I couldn’t touch him so the threat worked. He sat there the rest of the time his mother was getting her hair done.
When his mom stepped to the desk to pay he bolted off the couch and ran to her side and hid behind her. He got a death grip on her slacks and would peep around her leg and look at me and I would glare at him again. He would tighten his grip on her slacks and hide his face behind her again. All the time his mother was swatting at his hand trying to pry him loose from her slacks.
Other than just being annoying, kids running amuck in a salon can be dangerous to themselves and to others, and parents need to be really careful with them running loose. To contact Sandy: [email protected]
