Blue Wigs and Happier Days...

I found this great picture of my Godson Luca when he was just a tiny baby.

He is so big now........ for a 4 1/2 year old.

As delightful as seeing this picture is, I am drawn back to the memories of the day.

The memories of that day.

Hello Henry?

You don't know me...

I am...... was..........a friend of Carol Perrys.

I'm afraid I have some bad news. 


Carol died on Tuesday.. 


I saw your name here in her book and I was sure she would have wanted you to know.


She spoke often of you.
You were very important to her.

Now a little about Carol.

She was many things...

A shrewd business woman..

A cool Mother to a not so cool Daughter.

A loving Grandmother.

An avid traveler, I still have many mementos she brought back to me from far away places.

She was a great conversationalist and an even greater listener.

I had done Carols hair for a very long time..

It was me that first felt that lump on her head.... (our business is a very personal one..we touch, literally touch.)

It was also me that kept insisting she have that checked out.

When Carols hair began to fall out due to the chemotherapy we always found a way to laugh or at least smile...
We would dream up stories of what her hair would be like when it grew back in....


Never IF it grew back in.


Eventually we knew she would need a wig, she was not letting her illness keep her away from work, from meetings, from life.

She asked me if I would come with her to find one.
And I of course agreed.

Joel and I had Luca that day.

We agreed that considering the realities of the day, that Joel would lay low with the baby and I would do what needed to be done with Carol.

As we arrived at the wig store, once again Carol amazed me with her strength and her humor..

She was so happy we brought the baby....

He's  just what I needed she remarked.

We tried on several wigs before finding just the right one..

Carols own hair had begun to fall out in clumps and right then and there in the store she asked the clerk if he had clippers.

Let's do this she said..there is no time like the present. 

As you by now know, Carol lost her battle with cancer.

But on that day, that incredible day, we did not cry.
We laughed.

We wrapped our fear and sadness up for just a little while and put it aside.

We tried on bright blue wigs and pretended that life would never be anything but perfect.

And you know what?

At that moment... for that moment... it was.





Namaste

Sent from my iPad

Inspirational Hiatus

This Writer will return shortly... renewed and more inspired than ever.

I Married A Shaman - And Other Interesting Stories: Men of Spain

I share this blog on my page because I must...
My heart tells me so....



I Married A Shaman - And Other Interesting Stories: Men of Spain: "A story about the lure of Spain and souls reincarnated... “Spain is calling me...”, I said. “Andalusia.” That was ten summers ago. I was l..."

BUDDHA will be doing your hair today.

I was recently inspired by a post I read from His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama.

I will share it now with you, exactly as it was shared with me.

"There is a common perception that compassion is, if not actually an impediment, at least irrelevant to professional life. Personally, I would argue that not only is it relevant, but that when compassion is lacking, our activities are in danger of becoming destructive. This is because when we ignore the question of the ...impact our actions have on others' well-being, inevitably we end up hurting them."

 

That statement brought some interesting thoughts to mind.

As a (somewhat) practicing Buddhist, I am not unfamiliar with the concept of work as meditation... work as a spiritual practice.

You do not have to be versed in Eastern Philosophy to understand the power of intention, as a matter of fact wonderful teachers like Dr. Wayne Dyer have brought these once lofty and far away ideas so much closer and made them more..... lets say accessible.

I digress.

What his holiness was explaining is that in our culture we have been taught to believe that the work place,  our career spaces, are not places where compassion should dwell...

We have all heard the saying "climbing the corporate ladder." which is usually followed by "be careful who you step on on the way up!"..... right?

How about, "sleeping your way to the top." or  "burning a work bridge." or "keeping a door open."

I can go on and on with negative, work related statements.

Which brings me back to my earlier interesting thought.

I am one grateful man!

The power of compassion, my buddhist beliefs and my idea of work as meditation has brought a whole new level to what I do behind the chair.

When I can get my self to that place of true compassion and intent at work, it is pure magic....

I liken it to the amazing book, Like Water for Chocolate, by Laura Esquivel.

Oh come on Henry, really?

Cooking with emotion to create emotion?
What could that possibly have to do with hair?

Well, I hear you....... cooking and mixing color hmmmmm such an odd comparison.

But I did say that Meditation and the power of Intent was pretty amazing right?

When I mix color it is very much like cooking..

1 part love

2 parts experience

1 part joy

a dash of hope

and a drop of excitement.

When I mix color it is not just what I mix, nor is it just how i mix, but more importantly why I mix.

I have seen beauty happen each and everytime I do hair from that place.
When I do it out of love and prepare myself, and my products to give.
It is then, and only then, I receive.

Amazing, isn't it?

The  Dalai Lama says that when we meditate, when we open our hearts (first) and then our minds to beautiful possibilities.

He says there is magic in us all..... there is  Buddha in us all.

So therefore I can safely say that on those very special days........ when all is good in me, when I have an open heart and I allow compassion to lead my way.......

That It may not (just) be me doing your hair that day.....

Buddha might be in the mix as well.

Namaste

A little something to ponder

"Oh Jesus, Vanessa, what do you think men look at you for........... your teeth?!"



A little something my Nancy Gallo would say to her daughter when she visited the salon.

The Best Assistant Ever!

Many moons ago as a young salon apprentice I was given a rare and precious opportunity.

It was a life changing moment, one that my Mother would have called a chance to...

"GRAB YOUR COJONES".

My first position in the beauty biz was for a world famous salon easily ranked (at that time) as one of the countries top 10... Vogue, Harpers, stage work, photoshoots etc. etc.

We were everywhere.

Heading this South Florida institution was an Infamous, larger than life, Husband and Wife team that ran the creative end and their (only child) a Daughter that headed operations.

~as a side note, please understand that this position, which ran a great ten years, was without doubt, one of the reason I am the success I am today..... I began as a "shampoo boy" and ended up as the salon's Creative Director.... Fourth from the top of the Empire~


Now back to grabbing my cojones.


Let me just say that this story takes place in the 1980's.
Salons were a very different kind of cool then... drugs were not uncommon in salons... some of the best and most famous hairdressers only functioned, somewhat enhanced.
Therefore I was not shocked when a very high end, very powerful client asked this lowly shampoo boy where he could get an "eightball."


I had no idea what an eightball was .... but I was on it.


Mr. High end gave me his pager number and told me to call him when I got it.
He slid a folded up bill into my hand and slipped out the side door.


COCAINE?!, upon getting my answer.
What on Earth had I gotten my self into now.


I went to the only person I could think of.
"Mikel" was the hippest stylist in the shop, not only did he know where I could get it, but he even offered to drive me to his "friends" place to pick it up.


The next two hours where a swirl of, sweating (me) a drive thru a very scary neighborhood I didn't even know existed, a brief exchange with a wiry guy named Tito, my savior Mikel tasting it for quality control and voila, me with a bag in my hand that would surely make me the Best Assistant Ever!


I paged Mr. High End who would now be stopping by the shop around five.


I tucked the little bag away in my locker... spun the combo three times to be sure it was safe and went back to the business of hair.


Now a little intro to the boss' daughter..... A beautiful woman, long blonde hair down to there, always in tiny dresses up to there. She was dynamic, driven, with a nose for fashion.. a nose for business and (I would soon find out) a nose for other things as well!


I won't bore you with all the details but suffice it to say I soon found my locker forced open with it's precious contents missing.  
Mr. High End would be here soon and time was quickly running out. 


The next hour was another swirl of more sweat (me) more driving through that very scary neighborhood, and one last exchange with Tito, that also involved my only giving him half up front and the rest on Friday.
This was now coming out of my own pocket and.. well.. shampoo boys in the eighties didn't make a lot of money.


Mr High End got what he wanted.
I on the other hand was about to go "nose to nose" with an extremely wide eyed looking young lady who just happened to sign my checks.


"What are you gonna do about it.... Tell my parents? "


That was all she said as she walked away.


She was right, I was trapped... surely I could not go to the big bosses with what had happened.
I had supplied a salon client with drugs (granted their daughter had snorted it up) but who would they fire? their own flesh and blood or the newest shampoo boy?




That is not the end of this story.




Those words.... What are you gonna do about it?.... stayed in my throat for weeks.


Then one day that opportunity I spoke of earlier finally revealed itself.


Every month like clock work an assistant would be asked to mix up a little color for the bosses daughter.


She would take the small bowl upstairs to her office and emerge about thirty minutes later with her.... well..... how to put this in terms we all know... with the ( carpet matching the drapes ).


On this day.
This magical day.......... I was asked.


Now usually we would have mixed a bit of Miss Clariol #27, Spring Honey.


What are you gonna do about it?, again.. those words. 
This time my hand drifted over to Miss Clairol #33.............Flame Red.


This would prove to be the longest thirty minutes of my life.


I heard her high heels heading towards the break room.


And then I said it... That one liner we always dream of getting or have nightmares about having lost.


What are you gonna do about it?




I had finally grabbed my cojones.


And they were proud and strong and red................FLAME RED.






Namaste

The Box

Every night the kids would gather outside of Grandpa's door and listen.
That night, as every night, they could hear him struggle to reach that old tin box he kept locked and hidden under his bed.
The same box they were sure he thought no one knew about.

Over the years the speculations had grown.... What was in the box? How much was it worth? Who would he leave the treasure to?

Every night they heard him shake the old tin..... they could hear the sound it made..... perhaps Grandmother's old jewelry?
It made a rattling noise........ perhaps old coins from his childhood in Italy?

What ever it was they would surely finally benefit from their sourly old Grandfather when he was gone.
The same old man that never smiled, never laughed.

The day finally came, he was gone..... they nearly ran each other over to get to that box.
They knew where he had kept the key.

The eldest Grandchild insisted he open the box, it was HIS birthright.

They all gathered around as the key easily fit into the opening, as he ever so slowly opened it's lid.

There it was, the treasure they had been waiting for.

The treasure that had consumed them the last precious years of the old man's life.

The treasure they had waited to gain after his death rather than hope to gain during his life.

A box full of rocks!

Grandpa looked down from heaven and finally........smiled and laughed

A warning as told to me by my dear client Nancy Gallo.


We would sit and laugh in the salon when she told me that story......


I don't know where the story came from.
I don't know if she was once one of those grandkids, or if perhaps she was now, nightly, shaking a box.


I do know that I always walked away with a gift from Nancy.
That lesson taught me that we have to search out the treasures in people now while they are present.
We have to use all the keys we have to open up those precious little tins and not leave one rock unturned.


Namaste