I find it useful to live as if one step from financial catastrophe. Then, when disaster doesn’t strike, that’s a pretty good day! A recent story about a co-worker who spent an unexpected $500 at a salon on Alberta Street was fresh in my mind when I spotted a handwritten flyer posted in our mailroom. It recommended a place that cuts hair for $25. I was all in on the charming-sounding deal.
I called the number and made an appointment, warning “Liz” that I hadn’t had a haircut in a long spell. It should be a relatively easy task, I just wanted a bunch of it, sort of, chopped off. “OK,” she said, “text me when you get here.” I hoped Liz’s chair could ratchet up high enough to cut my long hair. I resolved to brush it well before I arrived so that she wouldn’t have to.
Liz turned out to be the only stylist in a salon on the ground floor of Marshall Union Manor Apartments, 2020 NW Marshall St., facing the Northrup Street side. She’s been here for 12 years. The salon is open to the public, but many of her clients, logically, happen to be building residents as well. Many request permanents, she told me. Another regular client has her install white extensions into his beard, a practice she told me he took up after an ex-wife cut off his long white beard. This gave me something to think about as she washed my hair.
My eyes perused the walls. There were plants here and there, and slogans and signs on the wall: “Be Your Own Kind of Beautiful,” “Some Girls are Just Born with Glitter in their Veins” and a succinct one over our mirror that read “Wild Child.”
I learned that Liz grew up in a wooded area in the Skyline area but today lives in Vancouver with her extended family. She keeps up a warm, pleasant conversation without probing too much, which I appreciate. She shampooed and cut 4 inches from my hair, and even added a few layers.
For $25 (plus tip) I left feeling like a million bucks.
Thanks for sharing a lovely story about Liz - who cuts hair.