An afternoon with Miguel

The nice thing about when school is called off for one reason or another–I get time off from tutoring, even if it’s just half a day. Today, I had the afternoon to myself and decided to finally get a proper haircut after 11-odd years instead of just trimming the ends every time they became too ragged or reached below my waist. Of course, I had to get the full experience of having Miguel do my hair, so I set that appointment for 1 p.m. at Miguel’s new location. It would not look good for Miguel’s biographer to patronize another salon when Miguel himself is the hairstylist to go to.

The salon looks much better than the initial photographs, which do not show how spacious it is. That, already, is a huge difference compared to Miguel’s first location at John Lecky’s, which was merely a tiny, crowded cubicle that served its purpose and nothing more. The new location is half of a large, airy, spacious room where Miguel occupies half and Kuts and Kurlz occupies the other half. Miguel has three chairs in the new location, which is already an upgrade over the first space. The walls are a cheerful bright yellow and Miguel will continue decorating both inside and outside to improve the ambience and presence.

Miguel met me with his characteristic wide smile and a hug, then settled me in a chair along with a string of questions seeking assurance that I was comfortable and well. After the extended greetings ensuring all was well, Miguel explained what he would do–draping a towel around my neck and a red plastic salon apron that engulfed everything but my head. As he snipped away, Miguel continually explained what he was doing, sprinkling his amicable chatter with compliments and explanations of how he was styling my hair. Compared to others, mine must have been a fairly straightforward situation because I like to wear my hair long–definitely past the shoulders. On those rare good days, my hair will do what I want it to do, which is flow gently down my back with light long layers framing my face. Miguel did exactly that with my hair. On bad days, my hair will frizz and get wavy and refuse to stay down. That’s when I decide to twist it and fix it to the back of my head with an alligator clip–the kind you use for hair, not electricals.

The perfect hairstylist intuitively knows what style will look good on you and gives you that.

The perfect hairstylist will make sure you know what’s going on with your hair so you don’t leave with an unexpected cut or a style you are uncomfortable with.

The perfect hairstylist will make sure you are comfortable, at ease, and entertained.

Miguel delivered on all three counts.

I had planned to drop by the mall to get a new case for my new phone because the old case (surprise, surprise) would not fit the new phone. I’m pretty sure that’s a deliberate move to force people to buy a new case each time they get a new phone. Miguel insisted on driving me uptown and would not let me take a bus or cab. We dropped into his home so I could finally meet Jenny, Madison, Hailey, Simba, Chica, and Piper. Of course, in the true spirit of young children, Madison and Hailey wanted to come along. Miguel also insisted on driving me home, so I took care of my business while Miguel took the kids to the hardware to look for light bulbs for the salon. When they finally picked me up at the mall, Miguel again insisted on driving down to Goji’s where we all had some frozen yogurt and took souvenir photos, courtesy of a young man at an adjacent table.

All the while we were in the car and at Goji’s, Miguel simply doted on his two girls and lavished exuberant attention on them incessantly. I asked Madison if her dad was always that way and she nodded.

Exuberant, happy, enthusiastic, devoted, attentive, generous. All these words describe Miguel perfectly. All that in one short afternoon with Miguel.

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