Reaching Out Through Beauty

When she walked in, fifteen minutes late for her appointment, I was sitting at the front desk of the salon.  Unsure and moving slowly, she had that exhausted look of somebody who’d had a good cry recently. It was obvious she had not paid attention to her hair in quite some time.   She looked downright uncomfortable- but that’s not what this day, her day, was supposed to be about…so I stood up, and after a friendly introduction, I broke the ice by extending both my arms and giving her a hug.  I was genuinely happy to see her and wanted her to know that.  

Seated in a quiet corner of the salon, she spoke softly about her life, which had recently been spent in prison.  She told me that four months ago, she was released and sent to a transitional housing facility, where she’s required to remain for six months.  As I worked, she admitted being terrified to leave prison, where the structure and strictness left no possibility of a slipup.  Now, after 4 months at the transitional facility, she has a new and bigger fear:  her graduation in 2 months, where after she must sweep up the broken pieces of her life and get working on a new clean and sober one.  She told me about her young daughters who, just before her appointment with me, had been spending time with her on their weekly visit.  I can only assume that was the cause of the lateness and the sadness in her face of earlier…

Ninety minutes later, turning her towards the mirror, her highlighted and lowlighted hair was now nicely framing her freckled face.  With shoulder length, she now looked younger and brighter.  At this next moment is where I find the greatest satisfaction:  The first words that a Color It Forward client speaks are always wonderful and are telling of the type of person she is…hers were “I can’t wait to see my daughters again next Tuesday.  Now they’ll really see that I’m becoming a new person.”

For the past 4 months, I’ve been doing a ton of listening and not much writing.  My ears have been opened to stories of lives that went off-track, sometimes from a mistake of her own, and sometimes from the doings of another.  With the help of the many wonderful agencies and professionals I now call my colleagues, these women are rising.  The clients that sit in the chair in front of me on Mondays and Tuesdays are working on themselves to find that spirit of who they used to be, or who they want to be:  A healthy woman, a good mother, a safe home.  To forgive, to love, and to laugh.
 

Oh beautiful ladies, we all have so much in common.

If you or your salon would like to get involved with Color It Forward, please see our website at www.color-it-forward.org or email michelle@color-it-forward.org.