HAIR AL FRESCO

As most women will attest to, it is HARD to find a good hairdresser; it can be hit or miss, can take a long time, and can be scary.  Last month I went to a new hairdresser closer to home and where the owner spoke enough English to be able to communicate my wishes.  I recently returned for the second visit and I have to say, this has been quite the experience as far as getting a hair cut/color.  

 The name of the "kuafor" is Atolye.   You enter on the ground level, enter an elevator and go down a level to the actual salon itself.  This is the view you have when you enter.  To the left is a refreshment area where they come around and offer tea, coffee, water, with pretzels and raisins.  That is me, 2nd on right, with two guys blow drying my hair.  At one stage, one of the guys was using a dryer in each hand to finish my hair.  In Turkey they do have beauty schools, where they begin for basics, but their main learning is in the salon where they work on an apprenticeship basis.  There are 3 levels of workers, the masters, that evaluate  and mix the color, do the cutting, and supervise the trainees who wash the hair, put the color on and do some blow drying; then the bottom level that was basically the gofers and watching to learn.  The hair salon in Turkey is always a busy place, not just for the basic cut, color, dry, they do a lot of washing and drying for an evening out; blow drying to straighten long, curly hair or curl long straight hair, all done WITHOUT the use of electric devices;  tons of extensions in and out; manicures/pedicures; waxing; eyebrows; makeup.

This is the view I had where I sat on my last visit...out on the verandah...Uludag and some fruit orchards.  Stations had been set up all along...a mani/pedi on one side of me; a young woman having her extensions removed on the other; two village women and a small child, each with a sickle (including the old child), were cutting the long grass between the trees of the orchard to take back to feed their yard animals, and Geoff sitting on a couch behind, having tea, reading a book and enjoying watching the whole thing.  It was definitely a different hair experience.  I decided it was time to loose the curls for a change, especially as summer is approaching and it gets hot under those thick curls. 

Mesut did good...I asked for something between the longer curls and the really short style that I had once sported.  He said ok, he knew what to do, and went to work.  Now, if I could only bring him home with me to make it look the same every time.