By Laura van der Laan
According to Martin Luther, “the hair is the richest ornament of the women”. While I do not agree with this statement entirely, I must say that a bad haircut is quite unpleasant.
I rue the day that I have to find a new hairdresser. Not particularly because I am high maintenance, but mostly because after a few bad haircuts, my faith in just any hairdresser has diminished greatly. In fact, when I have found a hairdresser that can cut my hair just right, I stick with it. Therefore, when I decided one day, quite impulsively, to get bangs I was devastated that my hairdresser had left town. What was I to do? Instead of waiting a few days for her to return, I decided to simply find a new hair place online and test it out.
I found a place called: Soop Hair Studio and Hair Shop, in Sint Janstraat. I mentally prepared myself for my haircut, exited my room, and walked towards Soop Hair Shop. It was a small shop and as I walked into the parlor I was welcomed by one of the hairdressers, a young blonde and sweet looking woman. With a smile, she asked me to take a seat. At this point, I knew there was no going back: my hair would be cut by this woman.
So far, however, I had seen no red flags: no men or women walking out of Soop with awful haircuts or disappointed faces – no one had walked away with a Donald Trump haircut or Britney Spears’ half shaved head. And the woman about to cut my precious hairs seemed to be very kind. In fact, with her young age, she might be better able to understand the very complicated instructions I would have to provide.
“What would you like to do today?”
“I would like to cut bangs and trim my hair.”
“Anything else?”
I replied that that was all I needed and silently prayed that she did not hear something entirely different, such as “I want a mullet” or “I would like bangs cut diagonally across my face.”As this woman began to wet and comb my hair, she struck up conversation; she asked about my school, about IntRoweek, what I had done that summer, and I slowly started to feel at ease. Maybe she wouldn’t destroy my hair, maybe she knew exactly what she was doing? Before I knew it, my hairs had fallen to the floor and the woman placed a small mirror in my hand: “You’re all done! Do you like it?”
I was terrified to open my eyes and see what had become of my hair. But when I peeked into the mirror, I found that I actually loved it. There was no need to walk away in tears this time: my hair was still intact and to my surprise, I received a student discount. In fact, SOOP Hair Studio provides students with student discounts if they show their RASA membership card.
It was once said that, “Life is an endless struggle of frustrations and challenges…but eventually you find a hair stylist you like.” The next time you need a haircut, have no fear; take your student card and make your way to SOOP.
Laura van der Laan, class of 2016, is a Law major from Orinda, California.
