Bingerina’s Weblog

I grew up in a beauty shop.  My mom worked for different salons throughout the past 22 years, and she even owned her own Aveda Concept Salon in the town I grew up in for several of those years.  It was an interesting childhood, to say the least.

The women she worked with were all surrogate “aunties” to my brother and I.  We were doted on and scolded by each of them throughout the various stages of our lives. We were often their guinea pigs for new styling techniques… I am sure that my little brother was one of the only 6 year olds in his first grade class with blue hair and an earring.  My hair was always my mother’s work of art.  She rarely did anything drastic to it, but she kept it long and shiny and beautiful for me everyday of my childhood.  (As a result,  I never learned how to even put my own hair into a ponytail until I went to college, and now she forbids me to tell anyone that my momma “does hair” because mine is always a tangled mess… ooops, sorry mom!)

Mom used to let me have make-over sleepovers in the beauty shop and it was no surprise that my friends loved my mom more than me!  That was okay though, I adored my life as a beauty shop kid.  My most favorite part of growing up in that environment was the listening.

You see, people TALK to their beauticians.  For many, sitting in that chair is like sitting on a therapist’s couch.  My momma knew everyone’s business and, I am sure, held lots of their secrets over the years.  I loved listening to their stories, their worries, their celebrations.

And the clients weren’t the only ones I loved to listen to.

Beauticians have their own sisterhood, their own language, their own artistic way of viewing the human race.   They understand aching feet and arthritic hands… and the need to be cheerful and social even when the person in your chair is smelly and has dandruff.  They understand the emotional attachment people have to their hair… they hold people’s self esteem in their hands every day.

My mom’s profession has always been more than just a way to pay the bills to me.  She inspires me to do what she does every single day.  She makes people feel good about themselves.  She is a big dose of sunshine to every person who has the privilege of sitting in her chair.

Anyhoo, what got me thinking about all of that was because I wanted to share some images from another crazy Bing and Friends Adventure Day.

My friend, Sherrie, and I got our own dose of sunshine last week when mom asked us to come be hair models for a class on “up-dos” she was teaching at the salon she works at in Southaven, MS called Hairlines.  We were both faced with the first day of summer break and were excited to have something fun and relaxing to do, so we agreed.

After we left the shop, we decided that we were too “beautimous” to go unnoticed, so we made up a story about how we were Russian mail-order brides and were prepared to tell this to anyone who would listen.   We grew tired of that game and decided to pay my BFF, Angie Hayes, a visit.

Many of you know that Angie is a fantastic and super amazing photographer here in Millington.  (http://www.angiehayes.com/)  Angie and I absolutely love to get together from time to time and try out new lighting techniques and play with lots of geeky camera stuff.  We had so much fun planning those shots out and developing a concept and a story for each photo.

When I took them home to play with them,  these two spoke to me the most.

(Sherrie’s hair was done by the sweet Nikki Brown and mine was done by my amazing momma, Debra Stockstill- go see them at Hairlines and tell them that Bing sent ya!)

Off to dreamland,

Bing

Ninja Thought of the Day:

Things only happen when they happen, never before.

International Order of Ninjas