Hard Decisions by Elaine © 2020

I sat down in the stylist's chair and she started to brush out my wet conditioned hair. I didn’t have naturally curly hair and it looked a bit lifeless as it hung limp to my shoulders. She grabbed a full hunk of my hair with her hand and I could see her long nails gleaming in the lights.

"Do you trust me?" She asked suddenly looking in the mirror at my face.

"Of course, I do, you have done my hair since my early days and we’ve no secrets from each other," I replied.

"Well I want to do something more radical than just cut off your split ends Julie," she said moving it around and trying to get a feel for what she could do with my thick wet mane.

"Radical?" I queried.

"Yes, more style and more body, your hair is really long now, its time to do something with it," she replied. "A really feminine style."

"Like what? You know how much my hair means to me." I replied. It did mean a lot and I always hated getting it cut.

"Julie, it needs some colour, a touch of red maybe. It also needs some more body and curls; you are going to love this. Just relax and let me take care of your hair," she said sounding confident.

I thought for a moment, looking at the two of us in the mirror and then simply said, “OK.” I’ve never doubted her since the first time she did my hair 6 years ago, and there was no reason to start now.

I relaxed and closed my eyes. I dozed on and off under her skilled fingers and finally woke up to find that I’d been transformed. My mousy brown hair was now a vibrant brown with a real tint of red in it. I raised my hand to its wavy curls and saw my nails were long, red and sexy too.

"Yvonne this isn't me is it?" I asked with my lipstick-covered mouth wide open staring at the full body of hair that cascaded off my face. I could just see my earlobes and the two Rennie McIntosh Celtic silver earrings I usually wore.

"Yes Julie, it's really you, you look hotter than a glowing coal on my fire," she beamed obviously proud of her work.

"What a transformation, I love it. Thank you so much," I said touching and teasing it with my long-nailed fingers. "Why the long nails? You know I can't write properly with long nails."