Hairdressers Who Care

What would you do if a depressed teen came into your salon, with severely matted hair?

Kayley Olsson, a 20 year old student hairdresser in Iowa, USA, recently had this experience. The 16 year old client told her that she had been feeling so down and worthless that she hadn’t been able to brush her hair for years. With the hair now severely matted, she asked if it could just be cut off, because she couldn’t face the pain of combing out all the knots and tangles.

Instead, Kayley and a colleague spent a total of 10 hours, over two days, gently detangling the long hair, in order to save as much of it as possible. "It took a lot of encouraging words, reassurance, and just plain conversation to take her mind off of the pain involved in removing the matting and to boost her self esteem and confidence,” Kayley said. In the end, they were able to detangle and shape a shoulder-length style for the client.

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