Heard a client say 'you been doing hair since before I was born' and it stung a bit

I was trimming this girl's split ends yesterday and she asked how long I've been cutting. I told her 23 years now, since 2002 at Supercuts in Portland. She laughed and said that's older than her. Made me realize how much the industry's changed though, like she had no clue what a curling iron marcel was and I felt ancient. Anybody else have those moments where you realize your go-to techniques are from a whole different era?

2 comments

2 Comments

river_bailey225d agoMost Upvoted

23 years and that girl was a toddler when you started, that math hits different when you actually sit with it. I had a client last week pull out a picture of her mom's wedding hair from the 80s and asked me to recreate it, talking about some 'retro wave' like she discovered fire. I'm sitting there thinking honey I was born in 85 this isn't retro this is just Tuesday for me. The Marcel iron comment got me though because my grandma had one of those and I remember her burning her ear with it once. We're basically artifacts walking around with scissors at this point.

price.jake25d ago

The "retro wave like she discovered fire" part hit me hard because I had almost the same thing happen. A girl came in wanting a "vintage 90s blowout" and I was like baby that's just a regular blowout with a round brush and some mousse. She watched me do it like I was performing some ancient ritual. Ended up showing her how to use a hot roller set with clips which she had never even seen before. It is wild being the one holding the knowledge now.