I've got this wonderfully talented friend named Sharon. Sharon is my age (actually, she's 29 days OLDER) but that's where the similarities end. Sharon is tall, blonde, beautiful, a singer/soloist, a hairdresser, a master colorist, an aspiring interior designer, an intensely creative person with whom I love to hang out. She has such incredible energy,and an irrepressible nature that is contagious.
Last Spring, Sharon met the man of her dreams and got married. The problem for me and all Sharon's friends and clients, is that Sharon's new husband, Scott, is a California resident, meaning that Sharon also calls California home now. Sharon has spent the last year traveling back and forth from L.A. to Scottsdale, servicing her clients, squeezing in lunches and quick dinners with friends, and fixing up her house in order to put it on the market as a vacation rental. Let me tell you, that house is perfectly stunning and would be a wonderful retreat for someone to rent out for the winter. Just saying.
This week actually marks the end of Sharon's dual-state life - she is officially handing her clients over to another hairdresser and making California her only home. She plans to either find a job at an upscale salon in L.A. or start her own salon again. We'll see how that works out in the near future. I'm not at all worried about her ability to continue blonding all the heads that come her way.
Sharon's career motto and goal has always been "blonding Scottsdale one head at a time." She has been pretty good at that, even convincing me to add a few blonde-ish highlights to my otherwise BLACK hair (at least I think it used to be black - been getting pretty light). She officially dubbed my hair color "the J-Lo" after the actress (my husband had [still has] a crush on her [J-Lo]).
September 10 will be my last time in Sharon's chair. Usually, Sharon sort of sizes up my state of hair with a practiced eye (not so good) then hands me a brush and asks me if I've brushed my hair since I saw her last (she knows the answer is always NO because I don't own a brush). When I'm done brushing my hair Sharon usually starts laughing hysterically because the transformation is not pleasant or natural...it's out of control, frizzy, and HUGELY HUGE. Think David Crowder x 10. Then Sharon sighs and says "all right, we've got a lot of work to do." Most likely, I'll be undergoing foils and highlights and lowlights and all-over color and glazing and whatever else Sharon deems necessary to get my hair back into "acceptable for going out in public" shape. I've been seriously considering asking her for "the Julia Child" hairdo - kind of short and curly and out-of-control (I know, how would that be different from what it looks like right now except for the short part) - but I'm thinking she'll just ignore me and continue sculpting and painting my hair into a work of art. As I undergo my 3 hr "blonding bonding" experience, I'll be eternally grateful for such a friend who would even tackle such a head of hair as mine.
Sharon, you're an artist, a sculptor, a true connoisseur and creator of beauty. Thank you for doing life and sharing your talent with me and so many others!!!
