Why your son needs a job at a hair salon.
By The Editors
PlannedMan

Looking back, I wish my Dad would have told me to go get a job at the local hair salon, sweeping up the hair and stocking boxes and folding smocks to benefit from being around lots of women in an environment that is all theirs, so I could watch, listen and learn. 

Why your son needs a job at a hair salon.

Highlights


Every time I slide into the manicurist's chair at the salon, it’s like I’ve entered another world. There are women everywhere. 

For most women, the salon is their world. And if I'm there, they either flirt with me or just ignore me. 

Every time an adult asked me, “So do you have a girlfriend yet?” I wanted to scream back:

“Look at me! 

“I’m skinny, I’m ugly, I’m clumsy. 

“I have acne, a huge nose, glasses and braces. 

“My hair won’t stay combed. 

“There are no clothes that will fit me. 

“And I get nervous around girls, so I always end up saying the stupidest things. 

 “A girlfriend? What do you think?”

I was well on my way to becoming another “40-Year-Old-Virgin.”

Looking back, I wish my Dad would have told me to go get a job at the local hair salon, sweeping up the hair and folding those smock-like things they wear.

Looking back, I wish my Dad would have told me to go get a job at the local hair salon.

Here’s why:

I wasn’t that skinny, ugly or clumsy…but that’s how I felt whenever I was around a girl. 

I knew that if I could just stop saying stupid things to girls, they might actually like me. 

I was so jealous of my friends who had older sisters, because their older sisters had friends, and the friends were always hanging out at their houses.

That meant my friends with older sisters had time to just casually, easily, conveniently be around teenage girls — to watch them, to listen to them, to come to some kind of understanding about them. To even try talking to them, knowing that even when they sounded like a dork, the girls would keep coming back. Okay, maybe they would not come to see them, but they would keep coming back to see the sister. So as far as I could tell, having an older sister was like having your own batting cage. But without an older sister, I had the same relationship with girls as I had with snakes. They scared the shit out of me

This is understandable:

  • Every encounter came as a surprise.
  • I didn’t know when the next encounter would be.
  • I didn’t know how to prepare for the next encounter, and
  • I screwed up every encounter I had, so after each encounter my confidence continued to drop.

If you had a snake as a pet, snakes probably didn’t scare you. If you had an older sister, girls probably didn’t scare you. 

That’s where the job at the salon comes in. 

I go to my local salon for a manicure about once a month. My manicurist is also one of my best female friends, and this is a great way for us to hang out. 

And every time I slide into her chair at the salon, it’s like I’ve entered another world. There are women everywhere

Young women. Older women. Beautiful women. Definitely not always beautiful women. Single women. Women in relationships. Women who loved everything about the pampering environment of a salon. Women who knew how to let their hair down, because for most of the women, the salon is their world. So they either flirt with me or just ignore me. 

And I get to watch and listen. 

The things I see and the things I learn about women while sitting in that chair have been the equivalent of earning an MBA in human relationships. 

Meanwhile, no matter how your son gets along with girls, he will benefit from being around lots of women in an environment that is all theirs, so he can watch, listen and learn. 

Even if your son is considered a ladies-man, he’ll still benefit by being around so many women who are all different, as he gets a chance to see how the girls he knows from school and church will grow and mature and kill split ends.

Give him a chance to sit in a chair, in that environment full of women, while one woman holds and massages his hands. It’s cheaper than a brothel and it could be a life-changing experience for him.

To book a manicure at a salon near you, try using Booksy

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