Captains Courageous

I've been wearing my hair in a bob style for quite a few years. The only thing that changes is the length. Sometimes I let it grow a bit longer, and sometimes it's short. In the hot weather I like to have the hair off my neck, so last Friday I popped into a strip mall no-appointment chain salon for a haircut.

My style isn't particularly complicated. I asked for it to be cut chin length (which was about 2" off the bottom) and for it to be undercut (where the bottom layers are cut incrementally shorter than the top ones; this will let the ends of my hair turn under without a lot of work on my part). When the stylist finished I thought the cut was nicely done, but the next day when I washed it I could tell it wasn't what I asked for. I don't like complaining, so I thought about just living with it till the hair grew out, but today I gathered up my courage, went back to the salon, and complained about a haircut.

The salon has a sign posted that they have a 100% SATISFACTION policy. I had seven days to have the cut fixed, as long as I brought in the receipt. All week I've carried the receipt with me, but always "ran out of time" to make it there. Today my errands brought me back to the same strip mall. I made the salon my first stop so I couldn't chicken out.

The person who cut my hair last week wasn't there, but the stylist at the front desk remembered me from last week. She couldn't have been nicer about the whole thing. After she wet my hair, she lifted up the top layers of my hair and made incremental cuts to the underneath sections. When she was done my hair was turning under obediently like it should. It didn't even need to be blow dried.

I left feeling brave and happy.