Why I Adore My Hair Days

Once upon a time, getting my hair done was a horrid chore. For decades I dealt with hair braiders and stylists, men and women of varying skill who would do my hair one month, then disappear from the face of the earth the next. Several years ago the woman who installed my Sister Locks was driving me batty. She bragged to me she was a 'professional', though her behavior was anything but. Unfailingly I showed for my appointments smack on time. Inevitably appointments began from 10, 20 minutes, if not an hour late. Those hair sessions one time began with a drive to her bank and another with a stop at to pick up some lunch. Then, once begun, her hair sessions might halt a half hour or more for tea or even random visitors. If these had been rare I'd probably not even have noticed, but these incidents were the only thing that could be depended on. Wimpy me, I held my tongue. Then, one day after my appointment, out of the blue the so-called 'professional' lit into me, accused me of having underpaid her - for several visits. I pointed out she never told me she had raised her prices. "Oh," she said, when she realized she'd neglected to tell me she'd raised her fee. No, 'sorry I forgot to tell you' or 'sorry I accused you of underpayment'. Nope, all I got was an unrepentant, 'Oh'.

That was it, I never went back to her. Seriously - fed up with decades of crap service from sundry hair 'professionals', I contemplated shaving my head and the only thing that stopped me from shopping Amazon for a good electric razor was I didn't think my face pretty enough to carry off baldness. I never went back to the infuriating 'professional'. For months I didn't get my hair done. My locks threatened to fall from my head. Then a miracle: I found Adrian. The lady is the hair professional I have always prayed for. I've never been happier with either a hair care person or for that matter, my hair.

A dream come true - Adrian

Every visit with Adrian is a morning in paradise for me. I am at her door at 8 AM sharp, and as the gods are my witness, at 8:01 my appointment begins. Adrian might play a Ted Talk video for me while she works. Perhaps we just discuss our latest food plan tactics or some enlightening item in the news. Sometimes I bring her some little gift, hoping it lets her know how very much I appreciate her. My first thought whenever I ponder moving out of state is, "But how could I get on without Adrian?"

Today was a joyful day. Woke at 5 AM for a traffic-free drive to the Bay Area. There I was greeted promptly at 8 AM by Adrian and at 8:01 I was relaxed, happy & having my hair done: a miracle I will never have, nor never will take for granted.

Oh, and post appointment my fun continues.  As per usual, after my time with lovely - inside and out - Adrian, I head off to Berkley to meet up with fellow Hen, Robbie. She works at home a few days a week & on my hair appointment days she schedules a morning break so we can race out to a quick brunch.

It was my treat today, celebrating Robbie's birthday last month. Sam's log cabin is a fav.

Here is Robbie about to dig into her veggie scramble with poached eggs atop. The blueberry lemon zest scones - I got one too - were poofalicious. We both decided to take our scones home and I will have mine for breakfast tomorrow.

After brunch we were briefly back at Robbie's house. In the back garden she clipped and bagged loads of fresh cherry tomatoes, basil and even fresh figs. I rather balked at the basil, from guilt, as I took a lot of it on my last visit but never got around to doing anything with it. But Robbie has faith and gave me loads of the gently scented herb.

Photographed these figs a couple of months ago - they're now black and sweet

Robbie havin' at the overflow of Basil

Overflowing with lovely stuffs, I headed Home. That, my dears, is how I usually spend my hair days. What was once a horror, is now a joyful sort of day.

UPDATE:  The basil was indeed made into Pesto. Later in the week Hen Ingrid popped by to visit for a couple days. She was on her way back from - now get this - 3 months backpacking in Olympic National Park. Awesome, eh? We had a nice visit and I used Robbie's basil to make some banging Pesto. We ate it with angel hair pasta Ingrid had with her from her travels. We washed it all down with some white wine I got from Judy some months ago. That was quite the 'stone soup' meal.