The Cage I'm In

In college I will master Spanish before it is too late. In all of my years of schooling thus far, I have never fully committed myself to learning a new language - Spanish specifically. Due to my lack of comprehension of the language, the price I pay for what I consider a need is inflated. Not only is there a barrier because of the language I speak, but because of the texture of my hair.

My main motivation for learning Spanish is to walk into a hair salon and get the price I deserve, not the raised price because the workers know I can't understand how they are planning to raise the price right in front of my face. If I don't learn Spanish soon, I might just quit going to the hair salon at all. Actually, I might stop next month. Here are the reasons why:

1. The big question 

The MOMENT I step into a Spanish hair salon and greet the stylists with a hello instead of Hola! Como estas?, it's like they immediately know my background and what to ask: Do you have a perm? I am so sick of that question because to me it is as if they assume that because I am black and because I have thick, coarse hair I MUST have or need a perm. Well I don't need or have one. I did in the past and it was the worst mistake of my life. Along with stripping the identity of my hair, getting a perm stripped the identity of my heritage, of the importance of my hair, its value. Automatically the price  rises when I say my hair is natural as if it is a burden to deal with African-american hair. News Flash, if you are working in a shop in the middle of Harlem, the Bronx , any of the boroughs, hence where black people live , expect to work with black hair.. whatever that may mean to you. Now I have no problem with privately owned businesses deciding what there prices shall be, but keep it consistent. 

2. Care

Lots of the salons I go to don't really care for my hair past the job they do momentarily. While it isn't there job to make sure my hair is healthy, it is my belief that as a hair stylist (sort of like a hair doctor), they should give tips to their client on how to keep or get their hair into better shape. At some of the better salons I've been they'll give me tips on how to keep my hair from drying out so quickly because they noticed, I have a dry scalp. At others, they've given me product samples , told me something I should buy, insisted that maybe I wait a month until my next hair cut. It is that kind of care that I look for and appreciate and with most Hispanic and Latino hair salons , I do not get that, which I believe is mainly because I cannot connect with any of the stylists on a cultural level. 

3. Side Conversations

 I love to walk into a Spanish salon and hear Spanish music playing , people talking and laughing and having a great time. What I don't like is when I can understand little bits and pieces of what my stylists and the stylist next to me are talking about and it happens to be my hair. 99% , stylists are not talking about how gorgeous my hair is. Instead they discuss  how coarse my hair is , how difficult it is, and anything else negative they can possibly think of. And I will not continue to contribute to their paychecks if I don't feel my money is going to genuine people.

After my reading  my complaints about going to Spanish hair salons, one might say .. Cheyenne, why don't you go to black-owned hair salons or even do your own hair? All reasonable questions , I have asked myself those questions and answered them before. At black salons, they also expect me to have a perm. Black salons also tend to have higher prices , i'm talking $40 and up for a wash and set (washing and blow-drying hair). That is way over my little high school budget..especially for a girl who used to be charged $18 when my hair was longer than what it is now. To answer the second question one might ask, I've grown a liking to my hair being straight, which is a whole different story which I would love to tell another time. But the fact is , I feel that I need to get my hair "did."

Don't get me wrong, there are some good and some bad salons. There is good and bad of everything in this world and my job is to speak up about the things that are bad, but also appreciate and acknowledge the good that is left.