Woman Tells Hairstylists To Work More Nights & Weekends So She Doesn’t Have To Take PTO To Get Her Hair Done
Getting your hair done is a choice, not a need.
RDNE Stock Project / Pexels When deciding what profession to enter, there are always trade-offs between benefits. A corporate position might provide a more stable schedule while working a service job, or freelancing offers more flexibility and ownership over your time.
However, that flexibility comes with some difficult decisions, like whether or not to work outside of 9-to-5 hours.
A woman wants hairstylists to work nights and weekends so she doesn’t have to take time off to get her hair done.
“When did using PTO to go get your hair done become a thing?” Lexie Firment asked. “Hear me out: No hair stylists are ever available on weekends or evenings.”
Apparently, Firment’s hair care needs take precedence over other people’s scheduling needs.
“You’re in the service profession; you are providing a service,” she continued. “It’s doing me a disservice… I already have to pay $350 to get my hair fully highlighted, with you washing it, then blow-drying it at the end, and then I have to take a day off work.”
“If I’m out of personal days or out of the PTO, I gotta take it either from a sick leave bank that I also don’t have or take the day unpaid just to get my hair done,” Firment said.
Her opinion very much resembles that particular brand of Covid-19 lockdown-era protester who wanted salons to stay open during a worldwide pandemic because they wanted a haircut.
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Firment shared a story that seemed like it was meant to garner sympathy, yet in reality, it highlighted how entitlement can make someone disconnected from other people's needs.
“I had a hairstylist. I moved states, so I had to find a new hairstylist, and if you’re a blondie or really anyone who gets their hair done in general, you know it’s almost impossible to find a new person,” she said. “My hair girl, who I found down here, loved her; she charged a good price, and I tipped her well.”
“She literally dropped me because I didn’t fit into her schedule. She was like, ‘I don’t think our schedules are gonna match up. I’m not doing weekends, and I can’t do evenings.’”
“So then, who does your schedule line up for?” Firment asked. “Especially being, like, new in your career or younger, some of the only times that we have are evenings and weekends.”
“If you’re providing a service, sometimes you need to accommodate that,” she concluded. “That’s my hot take.”
Yet her hot take on service work overlooks the fact that getting your hair done is a choice, not a necessity.
One person’s beauty requirements shouldn’t dictate how business is conducted for those providing that service.
Brianna Gurnett, who is a hair stylist, offered her professional perspective on Firment’s misguided take.
“I really thought this girl was joking, then I continued to watch,” Gurnett said. “I’ve been doing hair for five, almost six years now, and I wanna talk about it.”
“When I was in beauty school and first doing hair and taking clients, I would literally do anything, anytime, literally for free,” she said. “I would even take time out of school to go do hair and makeup for weddings because I wanted clients. I wanted to meet people, I wanted to grow my business, I wanted to learn.”
“So, I feel like at that time when I was growing and starting out, that was the time when I would work nights, anytime, any day. I would give up any family time just to grow my business,” Gurnett explained.
RDNE Stock Project / Pexels
“Now, five years later, I work at a luxury hair salon. I mainly do hair extensions,” she said. “I work four days a week, and I get to choose the days that I work and the hours.”
“I have a four-year-old, and I could not imagine if I was forced to work around someone’s schedule because people were only able to see me on nights or weekends,” she said.
“When I was first going through a divorce, I had my daughter 24/7, no help, and so the times that I could take clients were when she was in school,” Gurnett said. “Thankfully, her school is open, like, 7:30 to 5:30, so I fit as many people as I can in that time, but my hands are tied. I can’t bring her with me and work at the salon from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m., and I can’t come in on Saturdays or Sundays. It’s just not realistic.”
Gurnett acknowledged why people like Firment might feel put out by stylists’ schedules, yet she also gently noted that everyone’s allowed to have a life of their own that doesn’t revolve around their job.
“I understand where the frustration is because I feel like if you really want someone that’s been established, that really knows what they’re doing, that’s really good, they may not have nights or weekends available because they probably have a family,” she said. “They probably have their personal life, which is allowed.”
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She used an example from her own life, explaining that she, too, has to essentially take PTO to get her life tasks done.
“When I have to go to the dentist, make a doctor’s appointment, go to therapy, or even get my own hair done, I have to close my books and my schedule, and I can’t work, so I mean, I get it,” she said. "It’s frustrating. But it’s not like you’re getting your hair done every day, and that’s why I kind of explain it to my clients, and most clients understand.”
Everyone’s entitled to their feelings and opinions, but it’s unrealistic to expect people to structure their lives over your needs.
It’s important to maintain a sense of empathy and compassion for people who are deep in the hustle, doing hair, giving manicures, or nannying for less than a living wage. They're the ones whose lives already center the needs of other people over their own, and if they don’t want to work weekends, they absolutely don’t have to.
Alexandra Blogier is a writer on YourTango's news and entertainment team. She covers social issues, pop culture, and all things to do with the entertainment industry.