Never Been To A Beauty Salon

The perils and havocs of beauty industry are not unknown, but definitely overlooked. Because....well, no pain no beauty. The pain is not just for my body or yours but also mother earth’s. But don’t worry I am not here to sell idealism today. What I do want to share, however, is the story of some young women who have NEVER BEEN TO A BEAUTY PARLOUR! yes, you heard me right. Come to think of it and it’s really not that bizarre. Maybe in pre covid times this would have been hard to fathom but not anymore. But then again, we live in India. Whose more than 50% population lives in rural parts. And yes, there still are many parts of this country where a beauty parlour simply doesn’t exist or if it does it’s not affordable for many, even the shanty ones operated from within the house by the rural women themselves. 

The tribal women in Odisha. I spent 3 weeks with these women, they are no strangers to me I first met them early this year and I had spent 3 weeks with them then too. They are the cutest, prettiest girls/women I have met in Odissa. They work with me on farm, they make jokes, laugh, tease and cry with me and each other. We let our hair down in front of each other, pun intended. So one such time they saw my haircut and liked it. I said promptly "I cut it myself! I can cut for you too if you want" NO! wise as she was, she didn’t take my word at face value. but I really stuck with it. I stopped going to parlours quite a few years before covid. I would only go for haircuts.

I could shape my own eyebrows, shave my own body hair, and I stopped caring about tanning or facials cause now I was introduced to the home run beauty salon, "the kitchen" and "the farm herbs". so apart from a haircut and a good body massage there really was no reason. Then covid happen. Then searching ‘how to cut hair’ on YouTube happened. Then cutting my own hair and family members’ happened. 

Now I think I am quite a pro at cutting step/ layer and asymmetrical cuts (why of course! there is nothing like a wrong cut in asymmetric unless you cut precisely uniformly and screw it up.... but that never happens. Even when you want a uniform cut).  

I pursued this girl. So bizarre, I was always used to the hairstylist being pursued, but here I was begging someone to allow me to cut their hair (in my case this is always the case). I don’t know what I enjoy about it, but I do! This girl had the most unique hair. All others had wavy or curly but this one had hair straight as a horse's tail. Quite unique for the entire genetics of Odisha.

Anyway. I gave her a frontal step cut, because she kept whining and would kill me if I cut her hair by the length. If I escaped her, her family would come kill me. BANG! the hair cut was done in 15 mins (her crying took more time) pun intended again, and she loved her bangs! The result was so amusing for these girls that they lined up! Those who didn’t even think of getting a haircut were now wetting their head under the tap and lining up in front of me. And that’s how I ended up giving step haircut to 4 people in less than an hour. Damn was I proud!! coz they all loved it. I loved doing it. So, while we cut hair and spoke I realised NO BODY, I mean nobody has ever been to a parlour not even to cut hair. Hairstyling is not a thing and they only occasionally trim 2-3 inches of their hair in a flat line. 

My 1st reaction was to feel sad for them, and then I realised, ‘why the fuck am I reacting from my conditioning!?’ This exactly why I stopped going to parlours isn’t it? Why lose your shit on things you didn’t need in first place. But then the joy of seeing these girls jumping and laughing because for the 1st time in life they dared to do something different and thought that it made them look prettier, the joy of watching them watch themselves in the mirror made me forget my idealism.

Yes beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, but if you aren’t trashing the planet or emptying your hard earn money on external validation, decorating oneself is nothing but joy and a form of love I experienced for the first time and never before no matter how many times I was dolled up in makeup and branded clothes.