Tag: adolescence

Splash…it’s bath time

I always enjoy my visit to the hairdresser and this is despite me being someone who in the past as an awkward teenager suffered from Tonsurephobia.

Tonsurephobia apart from being a 15 point word in Scrabble, is the fear of getting a haircut. The word Tonsurephobia is derived from Greek words ‘Tonsure’ meaning ‘ to cut’ and ‘Phobos’ meaning ‘deep dread or aversion’. To be fair for me it wasn’t the loss of hair that was the issue, but the need for conversation with a twenty something smart and worldwide girl when I was an awkward 15 year old. Anyway, that was then…I am no longer aged 15!

So these days I enjoy the conversation. Sophie my hairdresser is always interested in where my work travel has taken me over the last 5 or 6 weeks. So I often will list off places such as London, Milan, Berlin, Muscat, Dubai and so on.

So last week…same question and all I could come up with was home, Aldi and Morrisons . (For those not familiar with the UK..both of these are supermarkets!) Suddenly I felt my ‘reputation’ as one of her most well travelled clients erode into one of her most likely serial and obsessive supermarket shoppers.

I realise much later that evening that I had actually omitted to tell her about the one interesting journey I had made in the past weeks was to the City of Bath.

I have been to Bath many times and this most recent visit was a real flying one, to quickly help someone with a house move.

Bath is a beautiful city, just awash with beautiful buildings, an awesome park in the city centre and more Georgian Terraces of house than you can shake a stick at. Pubs, restaurants, wine bars and coffee shops abound and you would be hardpressed not to be able to find things to suit taste and budget. So what’s not to like? Really only the city’s narrow street and the impact on through traffic. A geographically short journey can take a long time!!!!!

Do you want conditioner?

When I was an awkward adolescent (and in all honesty probably well into my late teens) I had a bit of a fear of hairdressers.

Not to the extent that people are scared of clowns or authoritarian people in uniform.. but certainly it was an awkwardness that I felt with them.

Nothing to do with them having sharp objects in their hands such a scissors, clippers or razors but actually being a captive in the chair and being engaged in conversation that I could not escape from or really contribute to.

I used to dread the three standard questions…have you been at work today?, are you going out tonight? are you going on holiday this year? As a tongue tied fifteen year old, who in reality struggled to make impressive conversations with female classmates at school, this always seemed too big a mountain to climb. But that was just part of what then our parents would call ‘coming out of our shell’ and the natural development of awkward teenager to mature confident young adult.

I don’t actually remember the change happening but suddenly I found myself only a few years later being happy, confident and chatty in almost any situation and was very outgoing in my late teens and twenties.

In fact, as the years progressed I think the tables are very much turned…and in reality I talk and chat so much and with perhaps too much ease that my family tell me NOT always to engage in conversation at every opportunity !

It seems not every restaurant server, shop assistant, bank teller etc. might want to be engaged with to the extent I (allegedly!) do. The very reason for starting this blog was that my head is full of stories, thoughts, quips and musings to share and the realisation that maybe not everybody wants or has time to listen means another outlet is needed. This way it’s more of an opt-in than people trying to find a way to opt out!

And as for hairdressers, I have a wonderful hairdresser now. Sophie who is a warm, friendly and genuine person and who I know would put even awkward teenage boy clients at ease…….and she has never asked me am I going out tonight, have I been at work today? and am I going on holiday soon?

But always asks, would you like a cup of tea😁

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