Mafia Hairdresser

National Coming Out Day

2011-10-11T06:29:00.000-07:00

Today is National Coming Out Day. In the 80’s I participated in a workshop in L.A. called, The Experience, produced by Rob Eichberg and David Goldstien and I remember Rob "came out" publicly with the his idea for a National Coming Out Day. I didn't think it would catch on. I was young and I didn't know the power of one person's dream: it's enough to change the world. I miss you Rob. Thank you, for your gifts to me and many gay, lesbian, straight, transgendered, and bi friends.
Check out Rob's book, Coming Out, an Act of Love. It's a book about coming out, in every way. Including going for your dreams that God gave you.
Here's another gift I got from the The Experience workshop . An inspiring song that makes me feel my power again, every time I listen to it. It's In Every One Of Us.

jon-david is an Experience graduate and is using his gifts and living his dreams. He's a blogger at TheLocalTourist.com. Read his novels, Mafia Hairdresser, and, The Glow Stick Gods. jon-david is a hairdresser at Joseph Michael's Salon & Spa and is happily in a relationship with David Cradduck--they have two dogs, Olive the, LabDoodle and Junebug, the Yorkie.

Thank you, Carrie Fisher

2011-10-04T08:18:00.000-07:00

In the acknowledgment section of my book, Mafia Hairdresser, I tell author actress, Carrie Fisher, "it was because of you that I became a writer." And this is true.
To my knowledge, I did not know Carrie Fisher in the sense that we ever exchanged words or thoughts. I'm not even sure if our eyes met or if she even paid the slightest amount of notice to me the many times our paths crossed. The reason that I'm not sure was that I was under the influence of many things, including youth and bashfulness, when we were both intermingling around the Hollywood party scene at the same time. Of course, I knew who she was, but I was a little twink of a hairdresser working for a mob couple and we got invited to all the same fancy shindigs where the coke was free and the Dom Perignon was on tap.
I loved watching Carrie Fisher, from afar, at those parties. She was captivating and funny and she was always making the men around her double over in pain from laughter. I do not know if she was under the influence of anything but a jacked-up magnetism, but I wrote a fictionalized interpretation of how I remembered the real Carrie in my first book; which also takes place in the 80s. I hope, one day, she reads my book and smiles. But I really want her to know that it wasn't until years later that she became my inspiration to become a writer. When her book, Postcards from the Edge, came out, I was so impressed at how effortlessly she came through the pages. It was like I was actually listening to the real Carrie Fisher that I used to eavesdrop on. The humor and stabbing wit in her book made me laugh out loud and her story told of the era of when I had also been at those wild parties. I thought, I talk like this, I can write like this and I think I can do this too. I had also lived through those Hollywood high-times and I had a story to tell as well.
Thank you, Carrie Fisher. You still inspire me.
Read all of Carrie Fishers books, Postcards from the Edge, Surrender the Pink, Delusions of Grandma, The Best Awful, Shockaholic, Wishful Drinking. And do go see her Broadway play, Wishful Drinking!

jon-david is the self publishing author of Mafia Hairdresser, an 80s tale. (screenplay is finished too! and looking for an agent...)

jon-david's second book, The Glow Stick Gods, about the 90s, is due out on all ebooks November 2011

jon-david's third book, Murder, There's An App For That, is due out on eBooks November 2012

"You losers are going to hell, just sayin..."

2011-08-08T15:04:00.000-07:00

I am always thankful that I have a never ending list of things to write about and, when I’m too tired to necessarily dig deep into a story or blog that I’m interested in, I let my Facebook Friends write a story for me.
This one comes from a co-worker/friend today. On his wall he wrote:

“Just saw a commercial for a Christian dating website, Christianmingle. You losers are going to hell, just sayin...”

2 people liked his post.
One person said, “Haha, Total Losers”
Of which my co-worker responded “Totally”
Another person said, “I already have my one way ticket so, I’m not worried.”
The last post was: “Christianmingle? w..t..F?!?!”

My immediate reaction was one of appall and I was also a little offended by his remark as well. Although I do not identify myself as a Christian, in a organized religion sense, I was christened in the Catholic church and I can understand how there came to be dating services for Christians looking for other Christians to date; just like there are Jewish dating organizations. And, even though I may have a huge difference of opinion where it concerns some Christian organization’s viewpoint on things like civil unions, gay rights, reproductive right etc, I would never slag the whole religion in general or the fact that they date. I think Christian people are pretty nice and I love them as much as my Jewish, Muslim and Buddhist friends. I hope they all get dates.

And then I got to thinking: Didn’t I have my Facebook friend in the Social Media Class that I taught at work? If he was there, why would he write something like that in a public format? Did my friend not know that some of his clients may be upset about such a statement? And, if even one of the salon’s clients had an issue with the statemement, I’m sure that statement would come back to bite him in the leg--if not get a talking to by management. I’m sure it’s not a thing to fire someone over, but I know I taught him that Facebook and anything online is not private. This guy is a sweet guy. And he’s funny, in person. Maybe it was just one of those flippant posts that he just didn’t think about too much? So I wrote him a personal one-to-one FB message. My tone was pretty straightforward.

Saw your post on Christian dating service and you saying they are going to hell. I know for certain that saying that anywhere, especially online, can and will be taken offensively and can be used against you--and, if you actually think about it, is not very smart. I suggest you take it off.

When I saw him make other posts and he didn’t take the offensive post off, I thought, what the heck: Let my friend write my next Social Media Blog.
I will say this one more time: Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Linkin etc. is not you. It is an ongoing public discussion and you get to focus your content to what your “brand” is about. Unless you have a big bank account, a secure job and revenue stream, and you are willing to fight for any controversial statements that you make on these social media platforms, I suggest that you take another look at who’s looking at you.
I’m a writer who tells it like it is. I’ll fight for what I say online & admit when I’m wrong about what I’ve said. I’ll also stand up for anyone who is unnecessarily slagged whether they be Christians, daters, “looser,” or puppies.

“Buy my books, or I’ll cut you!” www.mafiahairdresser.com

My Facebook Wall is my post and Ad for my book this week.

2011-08-04T05:28:00.000-07:00

This was a Facebook feed. I offered my FB friends a free download to my book, Mafia Hairdresser. You see, I need as many people as possible to read it before book 2, The Glow Stick God is published in November. You can make use of the eBook download of my book too! Make sure you use code KY72M. It expires by 8/28/2011

Jon-David J-d
Have you read Mafia Hairdresser? If you have not, you can rectify that oversight here http://ow.ly/5R3Tf use insider code KY72M

Mafia Hairdresser, an Ebook by Jon-David

www.smashwords.com

It’s the get-rich-quick 80s and a young hairdresser climbs the L.A. social-scene ladder to reach more than he bargained for by moonlighting for a cocaine trafficking couple. Cars made out of coke, Hawaiian vacations, glitzy clothes & a steady flow of money makes a fabulously dangerous lifestyle that

July 30 at 7:20am · · · Share

Alicia Kan, Sara Lynne and AnnMarie VanDenburgh Walsh like this.
- Alicia Kan Reread it last night. It's movie material!
  July 30 at 8:07am ·
- Jon-David J-d Oh thank you! It was a screenplay to begin with and it's sitting right here on my desk. I just haven't had time to sell it.
  July 30 at 8:32am ·
- Alicia Kan NPH for Jessy!
  July 30 at 2:22pm ·
- Anne Colombero Jon-David, I LOVED LOVED LOVED YOUR BOOK!!! OMG!!! I was laughing out loud ~ so many memories of the 80's that I had forgotten "Guy!" (with some I'm still trying to forget!). I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK & I'm sending it to my daughter!
  17 hours ago ·
- Anne Colombero You are so talented and I'm so proud of YOU!!! I can't wait to see the movie ~ and to read your next book!!! LOVE YOU!!!
  17 hours ago ·
- Anne Colombero BRILLIANT ENDING! Now I can't help wondering... how much was fact or fiction? Hmmm...? ;o) For anyone who missed the '80's... A MUST READ!!!
  16 hours ago ·
- Jon-David J-d Yeah..... Kinda true!
  8 hours ago ·
- Anne Colombero OMG!!!
  6 hours ago ·
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Miracle Whip Contest--I don't qualify.

2011-07-28T07:01:00.000-07:00

I saw on Twitter that Miracle Whip has a Youtube contest where you tell how Miracle Whip has helped or hindered a relationship of yours and you could win $25,000 for you wedding or divorce. That’s cute right?
Well, I hate Miracle Whip. So I cannot write a Youtube script that would ring true or be endearing, and I’m not getting married or divorced. But I have a Miracle Whip story that’s worth telling and it’s the reason that I still flinch and gag whenever I even think that Miracle Whip might be in a sandwich I’m about to bite into.
It was the 80s and I was traveling north on the 405 freeway from Long Beach, California, (where I lived) to Azusa, where I was finishing up Beauty School. I’m sure I was talking on my “brick” phone with one hand and eating my Jack in the Box breakfast sandwich with the other, while steering my ’68 Plymouth Barracuda with my knee and going 80 miles an hour with traffic. (I live in Chicago now and I miss driving alongside my fellow “pro” freeway drivers.)
About 2 miles up ahead was the 91 east to west onramp overpass to the southbound 405 and a huge freight truck was on it. The truck’s cargo must have been packed to the top of the refrigerated interior because, as it took the curve on the overpass, the whole truck, minus the driver in the cab, tipped over and fell onto all of the northbound lanes. Luckily, it was early morning in the middle of summer so as cars approached the freight compartment as it was falling they were able to avoid being crushed or hitting it. Not so lucky for people in cars like me who saw what was happing up ahead: we witnessed the top of the freight compartment popping off like a squeezed frozen juice container as it hit the pavement. Only no juice squirted out: just boxes containing thousands of jars of Miracle Whip. And those jars of white fluffy spread popped and broke and began to spew its sploof all over the freeway so the next “wave” of fellow Los Angelino fab drivers began to slip and slide all around like bumper cars at a carnival; only we were all such good drivers that we had slowed down by the time we came to the Miracle Whipastrophe that we never hit each other.
I had never had a problem with Miracle Whip before the incident. I usually bought Best Foods mayo but if Miracle Whip was in the house--I liked it just as well. But after I spent that whole summer smelling the sun cooked Kraft product in my car, it’s a wonder I have not had trauma therapy for that condiment calamity. That whole summer was spent washing and power washing the underside of my muscle car: in the wheel wells, the undercarriage, engine... Miracle Whip, I don’t qualify for your $25,000 but is it too late to ask for a new car?

jon-david is the author of, Mafia Hairdresser, available on all eBook formats and Smashwords.com. His second book will be on sale this fall and can be previewed with book 1.

Original Twitter post from @MiracleWhip
"Tell us how MW affects your relationship for a chance to win $25K for your wedding or divorce @ http://t.co/JrhSnEk. No purchase necessary."

I'm a hairdresser who writes. Take your tech and shove it.

2011-07-26T07:14:00.000-07:00

I've just wasted hundreds of dollars, many hours, months, stress and lots of karma points trying to apply tech blogger savvy to my writing. I have a damned good book to sell, Mafia Hairdresser, and I will do everything it takes to make sure that as many people read it as possible; BUT I am throwing in the towel trying to become a professional blogger to do it. By the way, this is my #TechWeek “tribute,” and my hats-off-to-bloggers, and my shitty apology to my BF & social media friends who said they’d love to help me.
If you know me, I hang around a very cool group of Chicago social media specialists. They have thier own companies, are paid handsomely for thier blogging or Twitter services, and they have all learned how to utilize their posts to drive search engine rankings to thier benefits and connect with other bloggers. It is my understanding that WordPress is now the ultimate blogging application and that it is magic and a must for linking people to your product, profile and services. All my friends use it and they strongly recommended that I use it. It only took me two months to discover that it’s not a website or host and that my website’s builder is not compatible. I had to learn what a MySQL, SEO and figure out File Transfer Protocol (FTP) was and why I needed it. I also learned there is a whole inner-sanctum of WordPress users that remind me of the Dungeons & Dragons clubs of the past: I just don't want to learn how to delve into the different levels--I just want to play!
You’d think that I would have asked my friends for some help after I bought a hosting service from Bluehost to replace my GoDaddy service and couldn’t figure out a new dashboard. But my BF is an IT specialist. Not a website builder, mind you, but he knows a hellava lot more about how to build a website and move a blogging application into it. Well, it turns out, it was the last thing he wanted to do and I tortured the poor man for two months so, by the time I had time to start asking help from friends, I was so brain-fried and frustrated that I got my money back from Bluehost (they were sweet & I'll be back!) and trashed the idea of using the culty Wordpress application and now I dare anyone to console me or tell me that they’d be glad to help me until I cool down. “I will cut you,” may not just be my motto.
I have read Smashwords Marketing Guide and WordPress All In One For Dummies, and countless manuals on how to upload my book for Kindle and iBook formats. I am as savvy as I’m going to get right now and I'm going reject anymore tech related material that comes my way. This Bloggy Blogger Blogspot will have to suffice for a while and now I will blog once a week here. I will still blog weekly for The Local Tourist magazine under my Twitter handle @mafiahairdreser and, hopefully, bloggers will blog about me. It’s enough, right?
So now, my immediate to-do list: I have book 2, The Glow Stick God, to get ready to be available on eBooks, Smashwords.com and MafiaHairdresser.com. That means promotional videos, press, social media and cover design before November. I am also writing book 3, Murder There’s An App For That, about the murder of a good friend and the sometimes dark and funny side of being plugged in all the time being a “social media expert.” Yes, friends, I’m writing about you. But, if you’ve read, Mafia Hairdresser, or the preview to The Glow Stick God on the eBook version, you wouldn’t worry-I'm nothing but a pissy hairdresser & an ex-professional party boy who writes--AND I fictionalize the truth & I don’t like to hurt anyone with my writing except, of course, myself.

Description of Mafia Hairdresser

2011-06-21T08:04:00.001-07:00

I need a short Description and a Long Description for my book.
Can you read these and tell me ANYTHING in the Comments? Open to suggestions.

It’s the get-rich-quick 80s and a young hairdresser climbs the L.A. social scene ladder to get more than he bargained for by moonlighting for a cocaine trafficking couple. Cars made out of coke, Hawaiian vacations, new clothes & lots of money makes a fabulously dangerous lifestyle that becomes murderous. Based on the author's own fabulous life. Book 1 of a series.

Southern California in the 1980s was the apex of the universe for the pauper-impaired. Dynasty, Madonna, designer-everything, mobile phones and cocaine ushered in the Me Generation’s appetite for addictive living. In Los Angeles, a young hairdresser named, Jessy, dressed for success and wanted to get rich quick and got more than he bargained for by moonlighting for clients like, Big-Don, who owned a chain of auto-repair shops and supplied drugs to the Hollywood elite. Big-Don’s wife, Claire, whose habit of employing young hairdressers for more than her fashion appetite gets Jessy hooked on more than a new lifestyle.
Jessy’s day-job, at an upscale salon, Beautious Maximous, becomes strained as his co-workers and employers try their best to keep the boy grounded despite the manager being the town’s “queen” of gossip and his friends having to deal with the oncoming age of compulsory condom-sex due to a new un-named plague.
This Mafia Hairdresser is gifted cars, clothing and coke. Vacations to Hawaii, attending music & movie industry parties, and all-you-can-snort cocaine from the mob couple only temporarily mask the fact that Jessy had become part of the crime family where there is no such thing as quitting or leaving. Must this Mafia Hairdresser resort to drugs, blackmail and a possible accidental manslaughter?
Mafia Hairdresser is Book 1 in series and based on the author’s own fabulously dangerous lifestyle.

Mafia Hairdresser is already available for Kindle. After these descriptions of the book are finalized, I'll be able to make the book available on all Ebook formats such and Nook and ibooks.

Vote for Chicago's Anti-Cruelty Society.

2011-05-17T13:17:00.001-07:00

The Anti-Cruelty Society LOCAL CHARITY, Needs Area Support in Effort to Win $500,000 from Chase Community Giving.
Did you know that the Anti-Cruelty Society is Chicago’s oldest and largest private animal welfare organization and helps OVER 50,000 pets and people every year? I adopted my cat, Yvett MewMew, from them and it’s the one of the best facilities and has the best trained staff.
Today the Anti-Cruelty has the chance to receive a much needed grant from the Chase Community Giving program running on the Facebook platform. And they will be just 1 of over 100 other non-profits reaching out for some of the 5 million being given to non-profits across America. Anti-Cruelty needs this money to pay for the transportation of over 3000 animals out of abusive situations and prevent cruel animal deaths in our community.
Won’t you help them receive this money? It’s so easy. Just go to http://www.anticruelty.org/vote and follow the directions or go to the Chase Community Giving page and "Like" their page and then ON THE LEFT SIDE OF PAGE YOU WILL SEE CHASE GIVING: visit The Anti-Cruelty Society's Chase Community Giving voting page to place your vote! You can only vote once for a charity.
Voting begins on Thursday, May 19 at 12:01 a.m. and ends Wednesday May 25 at Midnight..

More Help for Fine or Weakened Hair

2011-05-17T11:59:00.000-07:00

If you know me as a hairdresser, you also know that I am the go-to guy if you have fine or weak hair. You know, the kind of hair that doesn’t seem to grow past a certain length? It’s always fly-away. Never shiny. And it’s the kind of hair that is often mistaken for dry hair and yet, if you load it up with moisturizers, it goes limp and looks like you’ve used olive oil for a styling product.
You also might know that I have, for years, used a little known product (among others) called, Emergencee, by Nexxus to help me bond a polymer to weak hair shafts in an effort to increase diameter, strengthen, add body and allow my clients to have longer hair. Well now I’ve found my new favorite product(s). It’s made by Kérastase, a French brand that the salon, where I work, just partnered with. I’ve been aware of the line for years but I had never worked in a salon that used it. But now I’m very impressed Kérastase and pleased to tell you about its treatments for fine or weakened hair and that it’s now available at Joseph Michael’s Salon & Spa.
The entire staff was being given the in-salon product knowledge class where we got to work with the products and see, first-hand, what the treatments lines can do for our clients. These types of classes are great for stylists because we get to use the products on ourselves to touch, feel, work with and experience them before we even apply them to our daily repertoire of hair remedies for clients.
Since I don’t have any hair no one picked me to be their partner for trying out our new Kérestase treatments.
But I got the last laugh because I had the opportunity to see everyone else’s results from the different treatments for varied hair problems each staff member was asked to address. All of the results were instantaneous and substantial, from dry or curly-rebellious, to mature hair.
But the fine weakened hair of my friend & co-worker, (& part-time gorgeous model—she’s on the cover of my book!) Eileen was definitely the most dramatic. Eileen has the kind of hair that looks fine yet straight when it is blown out and flattened with a heating tool. It is long and appears to have body due to the blond demensional highlights. But when it’s freshly shampooed, it feels dry and tangles easily and no amount of conditioner seems to make it feel nice until most of the water is blown out of it. This is the exact type of hair that I used to coat up with the polymers or weightless oils so that can be thicker and not flimsy once it’s styled.
The stylist who did Eileen’s treatment shampooed her hair with Kérastase Bain De Force shampoo. It’s made specifically for hair that is weak or damaged (highlights!) and hair that doesn’t have a lot of elasticity (think: stretchy = bad). A good fine-hair shampoo will not over-cleanse the outer layer of the hair shaft but should leave a top-coat of protection and this one does just that. If a person has dry and weakened hair you would use Bain Age Recharge and Eileen could easily also have used this one too. Both are available for home use.
The in-salon treatment that was used on Eileen was called Concentré Age Recharge. It would cost a client $35 in our salon to have it done and it’s worth every penny. The stylist applied the strengthening liquid on her hair and suddenly her hair was smooth, shiny, radiant, and it looked like younger and naturally colored hair. But the proof was in the blow dry. Her hair was easy to blow dry and the length had bounce and shine.
How long will it last? I tell my clients that their treatment lasts as long as they keep on supporting what I did in-salon at their very own homes. That means using the right shampoo, hair masques, and strengtheners vs. moisturizers and/or thermal protectors. Everyone is different and has different lifestyles. For Eileen, she’ll use either of the shampoos I mentioned and Care Volumactive, an at-home conditioner.
I hope that you check out the Kérastase line. I’m going to be blogging more about the results I get in the future and I want to hear from you too.
jon-david is a professional writer as well as a Master Stylist at Joseph Michael’s Salon & Spa.

If you are anti-Social you will probably poo-poo Social Media

2011-05-12T07:56:00.000-07:00

My friends and people I know and don’t know tell me all the time, “I don’t get Foursquare,” or, “I won’t waste my time on Facebook.” And I know there are cavernous voids in many people’s brains about Twitter and LinkIn and more. Unless you are like me and have learned what they are about, people simply don’t know what they don’t know about all of these “social platforms.”
Think of these platforms like walking into a room. If you walk into the Facebook room you are going to “see and hear” the friends whom you have accepted. You will get invitations and see pictures of them riding their bikes along the lake and you can also share whatever you like with them, including what restaurants you’ve been to and the charities that you are associated with. Over time you will know what to expect from each friend and they will get to know what you like presenting to them and if you like responding to their information. Are you are a church person? Do you play online games and like to interact with other gamers?
Twitter is like walking into the conversation room. There is much dialogue and information being furiously passed across the room. And the room for business conversations & connections is LinkIn. But every single platform has one thing in common: they are all social.
It’s not the unknown part of using social media that makes people pause from becoming participants; it’s the social part that intimidates. I’ve given up training my friends in social media because I find that everyone wants to put out information to prospective clients over social media platforms—but they don’t want to receive any input, invitations, requests or information from others. The social media specialists, like me, who have been using Twitter, Foursquare, Yelp, CitySearch etc. know thousands of people and have many connections. Who wouldn’t want to promote their restaurant, church, charity, political thoughts to thousands of people who might support their individual endeavors? The problem is that for you to put out your information into the room or conversation, you have to participate and “speak” as well as listen—people have to learn that you are here to stay and that you or you business has integrity--and you have to be willing to take the conversation offline as soon as possible.
The cardinal rule for any Social Media Specialist is to “take it offline” as soon as possible. Social is the first word and that’s exactly what we must try to do: We meet each other after our initial conversation in that room full of others, and it is offline where we learn how much we have in common and how much we can help each other. And, let me tell you, you will meet your new best friends whom you have the most things in common with. People may meet through a media platform by common interests and the relationships that are gained can nurture a business or a cause. Social Media is just a new way of taping into your community to mingle, prosper, help, create and change the world but it’s still about people. So, it’s really about connecting with people you’ve been trying to attract to you and that sounds personal and professional and very wise to me.
go to www.MafiaHairdresser.com to continue the “conversation.”

I don't see Breast Cancer.

2011-03-31T06:17:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I had the pleasure of reuniting with one of my dearest gal-pals from High School. We were on the same weapon-wielding squad, sort of speak, in our senior year, and we had a great time, back then, so it was fun to catch up and embrace our friendship anew. I will not say how long it had been since we had graduated. I fear my body would finally succumb to gravity and hasten itself back to dust should I even utter my age to myself or to the public. Barbara was on the Banner & Saber team and I was on the Riffle twirling team at Glendora High school in Southern California. She carried the letters in front of the marching band and twirled actual (blunted) sabers when the band performed at competitions and halftime shows at football games. I was one of the six maniacs who tossed heavy mock-rifles around and the Riffles and Sabers were always intermingling our acts. At our high school the Saber girls had to be a certain height and, that year especially, they were all athletic and gorgeous. And we were the very first Riffle squad and most of us were on different athletic teams so we were treated like cheerleaders with guns. Not to mention: most of the band members were award-winning & talented musicians, as well as lunch-time parking-lot stoners, so all of us were not unpopular. We met at the famous Drake Hotel for high tea and Barbara, who had taken the trip from Glendora to Chicago with her sister, caught me up on her family and children and her husband’s business etc. My partner, David, and me, talked about our dogs and jobs and my book which was just published. Our time together reaffirmed our like and love for each other and I know we will be in touch and see each other again soon. When David and I got home, David mentioned how I had “side swept” the conversation when it was brought up that Barbara had just been treated for breast cancer. I told him that I would have talked about it if I felt that it was something she wanted to talk about, or if it interested me while I was enjoying her company, fancy scones and Chai tea. Now, don’t judge too fast here: You see, as I explained to David, I hear the words breast cancer almost every day in my line work. As a hairdresser, most of my women clients have come into contact with the subject, directly or indirectly in some form or fashion. I’m not shy to the subject but I think I know when someone wants to talk about it or not. In fact, Barbara, who was sporting a very cute short do at Tea asked if I liked it (loved!), and that’s when she told me she had just been able to grow some hair back after the loss of it due to radiation and chemo treatments. Frankly, I went straight to the gushing about her hair because it had only dawned on me, just then, that she always had had long hair in high school. What had she been waiting for to go short? Cancer? I said that too and she laughed and then the dis-ease subject did never surface again. In retrospect, I can only hope that Barbara knows that I am aware of what she has gone through. While I may not have had cancer I know all the steps she had to go through to be healthy and to be able to visit Chicago and I'm aware of the emotional toll her health journey has taken on her and her family.

Feeling like I do not need to actually talk about the elephant in the room stems form being a haidresser. It's my job to see the person one is on the "inside." Not the outside nor what is litterally reflecting back to me in the mirror. I don't see hair, daily drama and certainly not cancer; and most people are not of the words they choose. I look and listen and then my job is to reflect back to my client the real person inside -- and I try to make the hair represent that too. At the Drake, I was talking to and enjoying my friend who had been living a great life and who, just recently, had battled cancer. She is the sum of her whole life and she is delightful.

If you ask me my age, I hope that you see the person on the inside, not the number. I can tell you that I’m a lucky guy who has never had a life threatening illness but I can support you if you do. I’m a great listener to whatever you are going through because I know, whether you make it through this lifetime to a ripe age, or get stopped in your tracks, I know you are the always-perfect timeless spirit-person on the inside and everyone is beautiful.

Now, If you'll excuse me, I’m going to call my friend, Barbara, right now, to ask her how she is doing. I won't be walking this year but I always give to my friends and clients who ask me. The Avon Walk for Breast Cancer is such a great event. "IN IT TO END IT" June 4th and 5th in Chicago http://www.avonwalk.org/chicago/ Go to the website for your city.

Event for Silver LEED certified Apartment Building, The Morgan at Loyola Station

2011-03-07T20:04:00.000-08:00

Did you know that apartment buildings are more energy efficient than single family homes? By their very nature, cities can drain less energy on the energy grid than spread out suburbs. Think about it: shared wall-space divides, core heating & air, and four or less window walls exposed to the elements. But what if an apartment building goes for the SILVER! and decides to get a Silver LEED certification? You have a Green building that is actually %60 more efficient than a standard high-rise or apartment building. For those of you who read my last blog, it was all about what a LEED building is and how much goes into getting a certification.
Chicago’s latest Silver LEED building is none other than the luxury apartment building: The Morgan at Loyola Station.
Please join them for a celebration and check out their beautiful eco-friendly apartments March 9th.
Right off the Loyola Station Redline, this event “tweetup!” will host you with delicious bites from Steve's Deli and Burrito Beach, cocktails, and you can mingle with local businesses, such as, I-GO Car Sharing, Tricoci University, Red Mango, PopChips, Washme-Envigreen and Lynfred Winery. They will have fun giveaways for attendees.
RSVP at http://tweetvite.com/event/TheMorgan
And contact the Retail and Residential Leasing office at The Morgan at Loyola Station if you are interested in their elite apartment or retail space along with CVS & Five Guys Burgers & Fries. 773-465-9400

LEED

2011-03-04T11:15:00.000-08:00

The LEED green building certification program encourages and accelerates global adoption of sustainable green building and development practices through a suite of rating systems that recognize projects that implement strategies for better environmental and health performance.
Here is what they look at:
Sustainable SitesChoosing a building's site and managing that site during construction are important considerations for a project’s sustainability. The Sustainable Sites category discourages development on previously undeveloped land; minimizes a building's impact on ecosystems and waterways; encourages regionally appropriate landscaping; rewards smart transportation choices; controls stormwater runoff; and reduces erosion, light pollution, heat island effect and construction-related pollution.
Water Efficiency
Buildings are major users of our potable water supply. The goal of the Water Efficiency credit category is to encourage smarter use of water, inside and out. Water reduction is typically achieved through more efficient appliances, fixtures and fittings inside and water-wise landscaping outside.
Energy & Atmosphere
According to the U.S. Department of Energy, buildings use 39% of the energy and 74% of the electricity produced each year in the United States. The Energy & Atmosphere category encourages a wide variety of energy strategies: commissioning; energy use monitoring; efficient design and construction; efficient appliances, systems and lighting; the use of renewable and clean sources of energy, generated on-site or off-site; and other innovative strategies.
Materials & Resources
During both the construction and operations phases, buildings generate a lot of waste and use a lot of materials and resources. This credit category encourages the selection of sustainably grown, harvested, produced and transported products and materials. It promotes the reduction of waste as well as reuse and recycling, and it takes into account the reduction of waste at a product’s source.
Indoor Environmental Quality
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that Americans spend about 90% of their day indoors, where the air quality can be significantly worse than outside. The Indoor Environmental Quality credit category promotes strategies that can improve indoor air as well as providing access to natural daylight and views and improving acoustics.
Locations & Linkages
The LEED for Homes rating system recognizes that much of a home's impact on the environment comes from where it is located and how it fits into its community. The Locations & Linkages credits encourage homes being built away from environmentally sensitive places and instead being built in infill, previously developed and other preferable sites. It rewards homes that are built near already-existing infrastructure, community resources and transit, and it encourages access to open space for walking, physical activity and time spent outdoors.
Awareness & Education
The LEED for Homes rating system acknowledges that a green home is only truly green if the people who live in it use the green features to maximum effect. The Awareness & Education credits encourage home builders and real estate professionals to provide homeowners, tenants and building managers with the education and tools they need to understand what makes their home green and how to make the most of those features.
Innovation in Design
The Innovation in Design credit category provides bonus points for projects that use new and innovative technologies and strategies to improve a building’s performance well beyond what is required by other LEED credits or in green building considerations that are not specifically addressed elsewhere in LEED. This credit category also rewards projects for including a LEED Accredited Professional on the team to ensure a holistic, integrated approach to the design and construction phase.
Regional Priority
USGBC’s regional councils, chapters and affiliates have identified the environmental concerns that are locally most important for every region of the country, and six LEED credits that address those local priorities were selected for each region. A project that earns a regional priority credit will earn one bonus point in addition to any points awarded for that credit. Up to four extra points can be earned in this way. See the Regional Priority

I did not write any of the above. I wanted this posted on my Blog for reference. Go to
http://www.usgbc.org/ for more information.

And Congratulations to Hotel Felix and The Morgan at Loyala Station a Hotel and a fabulous new dwelling apartments which were designed for Silver LEED and achievements.

Giving some Love to the Social Media Writers.

2011-02-20T18:34:00.000-08:00

“A hairdresser who is a writer? That’s crazy!” That’s one of the tag lines I’ve seen written about me and I’ve even used the tag in my own pitch letters to media platforms to net additional comments and publicity for my writing. Additionally, I could use this tag line to add sparkle to articles I might write about many of my friends. All I’d have to do is take out the word, hairdresser, and replace it with “mommy,” or “tea peddler,” “refrigeration specialist,” “real estate agent,” or “environmentalist.”
We’ve all become writers. I believe it’s required of anyone who wants to succeed in business, whether you are an entrepreneur, a stay at home mom who wants to create a non-traditional revenue stream, or an employee who might be in a position to interact with customers via PR or social media.
I’m not going to tell anyone how to write or what to write. Because writing, for me, is mostly an artistic expression, when I have the time. The artistic writing is what I sell and what I would like to get attention for. It’s the “other” writing I want to talk about. It’s the writing and words we put together to get attention to sell our books, candles or TV shows and to “snare” new customers. We have all become writers; we write blogs, comment on each other’s websites and we tweet 140 characters--multiple times a day. Most of us use email and snail-mail to send our own press releases. I’m the only one who can keep up my personal informative & pithy Facebook updates. In this Information Age it’s key to keep the “content” going out “there” to keep our business in the minds of those people whom we are trying to reach and interact with.
This is a love letter to you, my fellow writers. Many times I get tired of blogging or writing press releases. I wasn’t born with a fondness for typing informational fliers to fellow staff members about book-signings or advice on how to be green. I do love to tweet. But it’s hard to keep it all up, isn’t it? Writing may or may not be a talent we possess. It may also not be our passion. Some of my friends are women with families & have a passion for children or tea. Or, like my friend, Mitch, has his own refrigeration repair business and loves specialty beers. And Lynne & Dr. Sarah have inspired passion for environmental issues. All of these people have businesses which encompass their passions and they also have blogs or books, and use Twitter and Facebook, to name a few, to make sure their business or passions makes them a good living. My hats off to all of us--just know that you are not alone.
I wish we could all hang out more, my writer friends and me. I think then that I wouldn’t feel so tired and alone in the writing that I do. For writing is a very lonely thing. We have to shutter out our friends and families, and even our goals and passions to do it. I want to hang out with all of you, have a beer, and tell you that I’m with you. Whenever you write, I’m doing the same thing. I feel glad to do it but it’s tiring and it’s not always my passion and I know I have to do it. I’m just like you and I know we all feel like we are juggling a million plates in the air to make sure our business, our voice, our books!, and all of our writings are heard, seen, and read. A hairdresser who is a writer? Yes. And sometimes I just want to be a hairdresser and sometimes I want to write books and write blogs. And sometimes I just want to know that someone else is out there doing the same thing as I am and that it makes you feel crazy too.
Please comment here if you like. Or you can tweet me up or even buy my book at www.mafiahairdresser.com
My first promo books will be signed and delivered by mid March! Whoo-hoo!
Love ya,
j-d

Drinks: Vegas Bombs & Lemoncello Martini

2011-02-10T08:22:00.000-08:00

Vegas Bombs
Everyone in Chicago seemed to know what this shot drink was except for me. I had them at McGee's the very first time and then served them at New Years. Warning: What happens after you drink a Vegas Bomb may not remembered. "What happens in Vegas..." Get it? And I guess it's not so smart to mix Red Bull with Vodka. We drank them anyway and most of us stayed up til 3 in the morning playing charades. We forgot to open the expensive champagne everyone had brought. We forgot to toast to New Years. And two guys completely forgot that they invited us all over for brunch, Jan 1st. I'm just saying. In fact, don't drink Vegas Bombs--ever. They must be a health risk. But here's the recipe anyway.

1 highball glass full of Red Bull (about 1/2 a large can)
1 shot glass filled 1/2 Peach Schnapps & 1/2 Jack Daniel's Whiskey

Drop the shot glass in the Red Bull and drink up! Even people who don't like Red Bull like this stimulating mind-erasing drink.

Lemoncello Martini
I got this one off the Internet and I liked it and served it at an Italian themed night at a friend's house.

3 fluid ounces vodka
1 fluid ounce limoncello
1 teaspoon simple *syrup (I use half of what recipe calls for simple syrup. Too sweet for me otherwise.)

lemon twist
Directions:
Prep Time: 5 mins
Total Time: 15 mins
1 Fill a shaker with ice.
2 Add vodka, limoncello and simple *syrup.
3 Shake well and strain into oversized martini glasses.
4 Garnish each with a lemon twist.
5 Note: Simple *syrup is made by combining 2 parts granulated sugar with 1 part water. 6 Simmer, stirring, over low heat until sugar is dissolved.

Jon-David is the Mafia Hairdresser on JenChicago.com

2011-02-07T12:13:00.000-08:00

Snowmeggedon Super Bowl Sunday.

2011-02-06T08:29:00.000-08:00

Winter. Snowmeggedon. Super Bowl Sunday. For me, these are a few of the events that make me stop my doings and disrupt the planned-out timeline to my goals. I think these events actually become the true markers in my memory so I can always recall what I was doing when these events occurred.
I’ll always remember snOMG (that’s “Snow: Oh My God”) as the day ALL of my clients cancelled a day in advance. It will be one of the favorite days of my life where me and my partner watched 5 episodes of Dexter, played with our three dogs, and we spent hours doing our separate “homework” while watching the blizzard begin to hit us on TV which intensified our excitement while actually seeing it and hearing it pummel our high-rise and wreack havoc on the streets below.
The next morning I woke up to an incredible sight. There were 10 foot snow drifts against buildings and snow so high that only tops of street signs and half of bus stops were visible. There were no people that I could see and there was barely any indication that anyone had been up that morning or had ventured outside because only our building’s sidewalk had been shoveled and there were not a lot of footprints or dog prints in the 20 inches of snow. Moving cars were non-existent because the snow plows could not keep up with the pure white stuff that whipped down from the sky and blanketed the cars that were parked on the curbs. The few cars that were in the middle of the street were abandoned and covered by snow as well. You’d think the dogs would have loved running wild in the middle of our usually busy intersection without leashes, but our morning walk/play time was a little exhausting for them because the shallowest snow was up to their necks.
As the dogs and I came in from our first foray into our winter wonderland, we passed Lisa, and Tom, my next door neighbors (on either side) on our floor. Lisa looked exhausted and was telling Tom that she didn’t get home till 3.a.m. that morning.
In my head, I was thinking, jon-david, you do not have anymore time to waste! You have a book to publish, you don’t even know how E-books work yet, you have to call Billy Dec and Carrie Fisher to ask them to review your promo copy book, the spare room is not going to paint itself and your writer’s ass is going to be a fat-ass if you don’t get to the gym today. Seriously: I had stuff to do and I hadn’t done very much, the previous day, during the blizzard, including make money. My goal oriented mind needed to get back on track. But the little voice in my head that makes sure that I actually enjoy my life of “doing and accomplishing” made me stop & listen. This was going to be a once in a lifetime story that Lisa wanted to tell and I wanted and needed to hear it.
Lisa was one of the few Chicagoan’s that worked past 3pm on blizzard day because new boss at her new job ignored the three days of news pre-warnings that was to prepare us all for the blizzard that actually became the 3rd biggest storm that Chicago had ever seen. He was obviously a man who didn’t listen to his little happy voice in his head very much; work had to get done, regardless of the weather warnings, so he made his employees stay at work. When Lisa finally left work, she had the foresight to call the city’s transportation department to ask which route to take home to Uptown. They said for her to take Lake Shore Drive, the 40 MPH “highway” that runs along Lake Michigan: the same lake that that every news agency had been saying to stay away from because of possible 25 foot waves which would ice-up and stop all roads it would come in contact with.
Well, Lisa was one of those unlucky people who were imprisoned in thier cars for 10 hours. Luckily, she had enough gas to keep her car running and she was finally plowed out only to drive all the way home to find our parking garage closed in drift. Her car was one of the ones in the middle of the street abandoned that I saw that morning. Here’s a YouTube video. It’s says it all.
I grew up in Southern California. It’s sort like its own one-season continent held together by freeways and ambition and it is mentally sectioned off into only five areas: L.A. basin, San Diego, desert, Orange County and Magic Mountain. There is no winter there and there is never going to be a Snowpocalypse. So there is never a forced opportunity to put aside the to-do list. I actually moved to Chicago to become a writer. My life as a salon owner in Long Beach was wonderful but there was no down time. It was: wake-up, run on along the beach, go to work, teach a class, go to a cocktail party, chamber meetings… And since it was always sunny, that “surf’s up—gotta go” attitude is always with you and you are outside, in the water, on your motorcycle or playing with your dogs outside all the time! I need angst. I need to stop and reflect. And I need a little friction to write about. I know my Chicago friends complain about being over the winters here, but listen-up people: it takes stamina to be sunshine happy, go-go-go all the time. Do you think you’d ever stay indoors to watch 5 episode of Dexter, or write books and blog or watch football indoors when you could be sitting on your back porch barbequing all the time? Speaking of sports—forget about it. Everyone in So. Cal. is apathetic when it comes to sports. We lost the Rams because no one went to see them—everyone is too busy achieving and being outdoors doing activities. Very few people support sports team there because no one, except me, is really from there anyway, so nobody gets attached to them.
So, today it’s Super Bowl Sunday and I double booked myself. Do we go over to Lisa’s? Or do I go to my buddy Mike’s because I kind of told him that his Glee party was not what I really wanted to do today and I reminded him that it was Super Bowl Sunday--so he switched it to a Super Bowl party.
And it snowed again! After the dogs’ morning play-time in the new snow, I soon realized that I wasn’t going to make it to church or finish my book’s screenplay or get anything else on my to-do list done. There won't be any time to get to the gym because by the time I finish this blog, my partner and I will have to have breakfast and spend a few moments together, before I have to make my way to work to do that one client from Indiana I had to reschedule from Blizzard Day—and then it’ll be time to start drinking beer and watch the game.
I will get my book out to Chicago and the whole world will be able to read it--someday. But I’ll always remember the time I began publishing my book because I did it during the big storms and the Super Bowl of 2011. Thank you, Chicago, I love your winters and the Bears, and the Cubs and Sox and Blackhawks and all of your sports teams. You make me stop and enjoy my friends and neighbors. I love you all. Hmmm, maybe my Indiana client cancelled today? I have a phone call to make.

PS: Buy my book. Yeah: take time to read a good book and click here.

We are Green at Joseph Michael's Salon and Spa

2011-02-04T04:21:00.000-08:00

I work at Joseph Michael’s Salon & Spa and we are green. At least, as green as we can be. There isn’t a certificate or green seal of approval we could apply for, but I think we would qualify if there was one for our industry. We are learning how not to pollute and to be more sustainable every day.
One of the basic and simplest of ways that we try to be sustainable is to recycle. We do a lot of hair coloring services in our salon which means that we throw away a lot of plastic hair color tubes/bottles and plastic developer containers. It would be criminal for any salon to not recycle these things. In Chicago, we have “single stream” recycling, which means that we don’t have to separate basics like plastic, glass, and aluminum. This makes it easy. In Cook County, every business is supposed to recycle, by ordinance, and any business not in compliance with a recycling program could be fined. Seeeee: Criminal!
Did anyone see Chris Rock’s film Good Hair? It’s a recommend and I bring this movie up because it’s about the human hair industry and how hair is “harvested” from the grower and then sewn into “weaves” and used as wigs, pieces and full heads of hair on other people. Talk about recycling! At Joseph Michael’s Salon & Spa, we sweep all the hair we cut off our clients’ heads and we collect it and ship it to Matter of Trust, which uses this hair to dredge and clean up oil spills. Our clients’ hair is getting a second life!
We use washable cloth towels and washable rag mobs for all clean ups, which lets us avoid using paper towels and that can add up to saves trees. At home, I always use cloth napkins and I take home old and holey towels from work and I used them for my own floors and mess clean ups. (I have three dogs!) If you need some rags, just ask us. We would rather them be reused than throw them away.
If you like Bumble and Bumble Products, shampoos, conditioners, styling product: you are welcome to refill your product bottles at our salon and receive 10% off your refill. (We suggest that you call first to make sure your favorite product is one that we have the product to refill.)
Since we do a lot hair coloring in our salon, we ask that our stylist avoid wasting product. We all use grams when measuring color. This actually helps. 160 grams seems like a lot of color, but if we were using 5.7 ounces, which is the same amount… well, it’s a mental thing and it helps us not to use too much and then waste and throw unused color away. Which is another thing: we NEVER throw excess color or any food products down the drains. We know that the Chicago water system is overburdened as it is and to add chemicals or food down the drains only creates more stress on the system to have to remove these things. All waste and chemicals get scraped out of bowls and gets thrown into the trash before things are washed again.
And let me introduce our latest and best green effort, INOA hair coloring by L’Oreal. First of all: it rinses clear when we shampoo it off a clients head after processing. This means less chemicals slide down the drain! AND this permanent grey defying product has no ammonia in it. INOA = Innovation No Ammonia! No ammonia means no smell and no irritation. (More and more clients are becoming sensitive to hair color and I wrote about all that last year.)
I’m jon-david and I’m proud to work at
Joseph Michael’s Salon & Spa
1313 N. Ritchie Court
In the heart of the Gold Coast in Downtown Chicago
Check out my co-stylist’s profiles & find the stylist for you.
Follow me @mafiahairdreser and Joseph Michael’s @mychicagosalon
and buy my book, Mafia Hairdresser at www.mafiahairdresser.com/
and Joseph Michaels Salon & Spa

Credit Card Fraud & The Elderly

2011-01-12T12:11:00.000-08:00

I’ve heard that there was a lot of credit card theft and identity theft happening. Last year, someone, or some evil organization had, on two separate occasions, swiped my credit card information, and scammed money out of my checking account. But that’s totally boring compared to what I overheard a client tell one of my fellow stylists. (Yes, I listen! A lot!)
The client was an older lady: Gold Coast type, sweet, widowed, kids are grown up lawyers, three other residences, a maid she calls “her girl.” You get it. WELL, she shyly starts talking about a call she got the other night from a woman saying she was from the Credit Card Fraud Bureau and that one of her credit cards was being used at a Sears store, and the person using the card was using it at that very moment. But Gold Coast Widow says, “But my cards are right here in my possession!”
“We thought so,” says CC Fraud Bureau. And then CC Fraud Bureau tells the Gold Coast Widow that they are going to send the police straight to Sears to pick up the obviously thieving person using her duplicated credit card.
As the Gold Coast Widow was telling the story, she told her hairdresser that she is so completely embarrassed by the whole situation, especially with what she did next. (I love that people tell us everything! Everyone else’ job must suck boring.)
And this is what she did next. When the CC Fraud Bureau convinced Gold Coast Widow that all was going to be well, they both hung up only to have the CC Fraud Bureau call back ten minutes later. CC Fraud Bureau said that they caught the thief and wanted to know if she could send an undercover agent over to the Gold Coast to see the Widow’s credit cards; just to make sure that her credit cards were safe and to insure prosecution of the thief.
The Gold Coast Widow said that sounded acceptable, only she would meet the undercover in the lobby where there were cameras. When the undercover officer showed up, Gold Coast Widow asked to see his I.D.
“Ma’am,” he said smugly, “I don’t have I.D. I’m undercover.” And then she gave him her credit cards with her pin numbers when he asked for them!
I was not laughing at the end of the story, and the client was near to tears. The last thing I heard her telling the hairdresser was that she was very embarrassed but was not so embarrassed to say yes to a future TV interview to prevent this from happening again. I guess the police and media have been seeing this type of theft in Chicago for quite some time and they want to stop it.
And that is why I wrote about it. I’m just passing it along to you. If it can happen to her, it can happen to many others.
Epilogue: She was only out $50 because she called her son, the lawyer, after the obvious (to us!) theft. The police led her to call a local TV station. He told her she could help get the word out. I love her! The "undercover" was not visible on the lobby cameras. No one has been prosecuted or arrested in connection to this case yet.
click here for online detail on how to save elderly from credit card scam

And, don't forget to subscribe to this blog and by my first novel, Mafia Hairdresser, at http://www.mafiahairdresser.com/

How to live with man.

2010-12-20T10:12:00.000-08:00

“I don’t understand why he doesn’t respond in a reasonable manner to my requests.” Yes, I know: No one really says that sentence in that way. But that is the basic sentiment that a lot of my female clients express to me about their boyfriends and husbands. Mostly, it’s just my job to just keep making pretty hair on their heads while telling them, “I hear ya,” so they end up feeling beautiful, emotionally open, relieved, reassured and, ultimately, empowered!
But, as a writer, I get to say, “I’ve been doing your hair for years, for almost as long as you’ve been doing guys, and you still keep saying the same frustrating thing about your men. Listen to yourselves, beyochs! Men aren’t ever going to respond in a manner that is reasonable to you because we’re guys and we respond to all requests, and all stimuli, as guys. And you woman keep expecting men to respond to your requests as you would like: as a woman. That’s insanity!”
Oh yes, I’m going to give you a straight-to-the-point tutorial, with bullet points, on how you can get your man to do what you want him to do. But first, let me tell you how my overly-broad rant was born. Today, my client, “Betsy,” came in for her highlights and she was typically depressed because her husband was being distant and they were having another, nothing out of the ordinary dry spell in their communication. He didn’t understand that when she asked him to do things like take out the trash, that it was helping her to have more time for him and doing other things like make dinner reservations, organize the cleaning help and nanny, and buy his family their Christmas gifts. I love this stuff because a)it’s not my problem, and b)hearing this stuff constantly assures me that I’m not crazy and that I’m just one of the human race who has the same problems (not exactly tho) that no one talks about publicly enough! Oh yes, and c) because I’m a writer and I get to process my clients' thoughts and stories and wrap and weave them around my fictional characters so I don’t have to actually delve into my own psyche or process my own personal frustrations with women and men. In other words, I get to write and judge.
Which leads me to my first bullet point:
• We will avoid processing any information, emotional or otherwise, if our mind is on something else.
So if you want your husband to help pick up, or watch the baby “for just ten minutes!,” when he gets home from work , just take a cheap Libby brand glass and smash it on the kitchen floor and yell any old thing about going crazy. After your less-than-a-minute tirade, your man will be glad to watch the baby because his mind had immediately let go of his day at work and he will then be in the mode of trying to placate and appease you, the mother of his child. (So what if it's out of fear.) But if you try and explain to him why you need a breather and how much you really do while he’s at work, you’re going to get glazed eyes and you’ll only get ten minutes. Go for results. Not reason. For the next time: always switch it up--never repeat the same tirade.
• If we nod yes to your request, and have a glazed look in our eyes, it means that we checked the listening box in the “I’m doing a good thing list,” but we will not remember what you just asked us. The memory of your request will be gone in less than 7 minutes. And if we know you saw that look that lets us off the hook.
My boss, Allison, sometimes forgets that I’m guy (believe me, when you work with and for women, it’s easy to do, even if you’re a straight dude…another article...), and sometimes she gives me pertinent work information too quickly or casually for me to process or remember. She told me, in casual passing (she’ll deny that), that there are these little forms to fill out if I wanted to take a day off, which would insure that my clients didn’t schedule on a day that I was not going to be there. Simple. Right? Well, I remember filling something out, but I don’t think I gave them to her. Doesn’t the front desk process paper things? (I do remember thinking that.) Anyhoo, I think I put them on the front desk… Story short: I was calling a bunch of clients a day ahead of their scheduled appointments to tell em, “Allison, didn’t tell me how to submit the forms so….” What Allison should have done, in the first place--to snap me out of what I was thinking, or not thinking at all (she saw the glazed eyes!), was to give me a mental & emotional picture; such as how I would feel like shit and be embarrassed if I had to personally call my clients to tell them that I would not be there for their scheduled appointments.
F__k the one-minute management stuff if you’re trying to make a man remember your request: use scary mental visuals. Remind men that you might come unhinged if your request might not be completed as stated. Scary visuals and memories work.
• If we get quiet, it means we are rejecting your request but are avoiding any confrontation on the issue.
This is the one where you get to be very quiet. No tirades or threats, and no reasoning! A good stare down will disrupt any rejection of your request to something like, “I really think the dogs need to be walked now.” Of course he doesn’t want to walk the dogs. Dexter’s on and setting the DVR would mean taking his hand away from his beer bottle. But a disturbing long stare into the side of the head is so unnerving that he’ll just get up and do it without any wasted long winded explanations.
• If we ask you for details about something like, “what exactly do you want me to pick up at the store?” We are asking you for simple list on a piece of paper.
Do not go into a diatribe about why you want the shit, who birthday it’s for and when we are giving it to them… TMI! If you want men to actually remember to take the list with to the store: paperclip it to his wad of cash.
• If you’ve done something fabulous and want him to notice, leave out the tell-tale signs for him to see how much work you’ve put into doing it.
If you’ve got your hair done: wear a better than usual outfit & pumps, then have your Gay over for an early evening martini when he gets home. Most men are a little jealous of their woman's friendship with their Gays. If he's always relieved you are with your Gay so it gives him more time for football you will have to include your Gay's hot straight brother in your posse.

If you’ve taken it upon yourself to putty, sand and paint that short wall where he took down the partition between the kitchen and living room last winter: leave out the paint, and putty knifes and make sure you put a drop of paint on the cuff of his favorite blazer that he left on the stove the night before. When he gets home, apologize profusely for ruining his coat. He won’t be mad at all but he’ll feel like shit and you’ll probably get taken out to dinner.

If you've gotten Botox and you want him to notice, you're an idiot because you should know that no man can discern those subtle changes in his woman-friend-spouse's face because we are always looking down when we are listening to you.
Look, it’s about results and harmony. It’s not about training or getting men to think like women. I think if you ladies, and men who live with men, would just shift your thinking, we’d all be a lot happier and we wouldn’t even know why.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Please order your copy of Mafia Hairdresser, the novel about my life as a hairdresser to a mob couple in the 80's, and subscribe to this blog!

For the love of blogging.

2010-12-02T06:50:00.000-08:00

Oh my goodness,
I have not blogged since November 9th. Where has the time gone? Oh yes, I remember; I moved, I work as a hairdresser, and I'm publishing my first novel in less than a month.
But time, work, and passion are not the only reason that I have not blogged. The other reason was that I didn't really have anything that I wanted to write about. And that is a luxury for any blogger: To write what they want, when they want, and also write only when they are inspired to.
But most of my Social Media friends need to blog regularly and about things that they may not be as excited about as they would like. Blogging has become a gig that must be kept up regularly in hopes that it turns into a paid gig. We gain visitors to our blogs which give hits to web sites which begets followers on Twitter and Facebook. As the analytics could tell anyone who is watching, we can become very powerful tools which can push a restaurant or a product; should we deem the product worthy enough to blog about--or you pay us to write about it.
So, this is for the product companies who don't get it. Social Media is a wonderful tool for you to push your products. You may not understand it yet, but you had better start paying my friends what they are worth. Even I do not charge my Twitter clients full price when I do their haircuts and colors -- sometimes I comp them! These people are doing me a service by telling people if they had a good experience at my salon -- or not! The amount of people who read what my Social Media friends are saying is priceless and I appreciate it.
Social Media might seem like it might be too social and less analytics, but that is the beauty of it. It's social and it's about people, not numbers. But the numbers will follow the people. I'm proof. I only write what I love and my business and writing and Twitter and Facebook numbers have grown. And Yes, I can translate that to better sales than before I started a blog.
I am a lucky one. I do not make money from my blogging. I do not take kick-backs. I only write to make sure my name and brand is out there and I do it by blogging about things I'm passionate about.
Which leads me to tell you about what one of my clients invented: THE TODDY!
It's an environmentally friendly microfiber cloth made for scratch-free cleaning for your Blackberry, iPhone, iPad and any sensitive surface.

It's the perfect gift and I have 5 of them and my friends love them. AND YES, I got them for free! but Todd had no idea I was going to blog about his product. I really do love it and I hope he does well with his company. YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST!

[Hey Todd, if your sales go through the roof....yeah, I'll take a few Toddy's...]

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Bad Swiffer, Baaaad

2010-11-09T08:36:00.000-08:00

I just moved in with the person I'm going to live with for the rest of my life. I'm very happy. But, to make this new apartment my home, as well as his, I would like it to be the most healthy environment as possible for the both of us and our dogs. That means a clean house. But a clean house can only be a healthy house only when you use cleaning products that will not hurt your cats, dogs, children and your spouse or room-mates.

On my first foray into cleaning the floorboards and wood floors, I noticed that there was only a Swiffer WetJet system to do so. Oh noooo.... That may make a clean floor and it would certainly be very easy for me to use. But the mechanism is a big waste and the liquid "Multi Purpose" cleaner that you have to use to clean with is not good for my nasal passages, lungs or skin. On the label that I had on the Swiffer Wet Jet Refill, it only stated that it "contains cleaning agents," and yet it warned to keep away from Children and eye contact. The good Housekeeping seal was on the label too! Don't you want to know what is in the product?

I like to used cleaning products that will clean yet have no irritating perfumes nor disrupt my DNA or irritate any part of my body, or cause asthma or cancer. And I'm telling you, that Swiffer WetJet Refill liquid is not as healthy product to put on your floors as environmentally safe products, such as Method or Mrs. Myer's Green Day or make-your-owns. (See previous Cleaning Recipes)

The worst thing about the Swiffer system is that you can only buy their refill bottles with their product in it and their system only operates with a battery, which will run out, and it requires disposable cleaning pads that you have to constantly refill. What a bunch of landfill waste! Add up the costs to you, your health, and the environment. I could never feel good about using this product. I do not care how easy it is. My health and the health of the planet are too precious to me.

So what should you use? Well, don't throw the damned Swiffer in the trash just yet. Use a damp towel wrapped around the base of the Swiffer mop and use it to clean your floors. After each use, throw it in the washer with the other rags you used for cleaning that week. Saving to you, and saving the planet. Use only healthy products on the floor. Again, look at my previous post for that. And think about the next gadget that you buy to make your life easier. Come on: Is it really going to be that easy? Think again.

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10.10.10 Global Work Party

2010-10-12T11:43:00.000-07:00

On the same day as the all-city participatory Chicago Marathon, there was something else going on. It was also something that everyone could find a way to participate in and it was something local and Global. On 10-10-10 there were 7347 separate events in 188 countries that all worked together to lower global carbon gas emissions. Globally, we are at 388 parts per million which will increase global warming. And 350 ppm is the minimum to reduce the damage we have already done to our climate and atmosphere. [350.org/en/about/science]
The events around the world were organized through http://www.350.org/ (get it….?) and the only guidelines given was to focus on solutions to the climate crisis. Some small towns and villages installed solar panels or wind turbines. Some cities had repair bike stations and bike rides. There were community gardens being planted, school children cleaning beaches and parks, and lots of farming and education. And hundreds of people around the world met each other, for the first time, and affirmed just how awesome each of us is as individuals and collectively are when we give a Sunday up to work and learn. I was energized by this event. Soul fed and blessed. I know I will be on a high for weeks because of my participation in just one of these 10.10.10 GLOBAL WORK PARTYs.
It was Chef Tom Leavitt’s idea to put together a bus ride from Chicago to Fairbury Illinois to visit Spence Farm. Tom is an advocate of using local produce and meats from sustainable farms. Everyone in Chicagoland uses his talents and catering skills for their holiday parties and events and dinner parties. http://www.whiteoakgourmet.com/ I had heard of Tom from my clients for years and it was his passion that brought together 45 individuals to for the Global Work Party. The day was about work. And we felt like we were at a great party.
When we arrived at Spence Farm, we were given a little introduction about the farm itself. It is completely sustainable, meaning they use every part of the crops they grow, from the seeds to the clippings for mulch. The ducks on the farm eat the insects, so: there is no reason for pesticides. The maple trees are used to tap syrup and their shade protects the pawpaw saplings. I encourage you to learn more about Spence Farm at http://www.thespencefarm.com/ Marty and his wife, Kris and their son Will, steward and operate the family farm and they are all delightful story tellers. We ate up Marty’s telling of how we could and should be eating only good non-genetically-altered fruits and vegetables; and why the pigs on his farm didn’t smell bad. [They are given a natural diet and no un-necessary antibiotics which keeps their digestion working well = no smell!] Particularly interesting to me was how Rick Bayless, of Chicago Restaurant and Frontera Grill fame, asked Marty to save the nearly extinct Iroquois White Corn. [Click here for that one.] We also ate up his heirloom tomatoes, and I had my first pawpaw which, to me, tasted and textured like a banana mixed with mango. Marty told us that science if finding out that pawpaw may be giving a natural hand in the fight against cancer. Keep those stories coming, Marty!
On a simple Sunday I missed this year’s Marathon but I helped harvest Spence Farm’s entire sorghum crop. (Makes Molasses) It was fun and it only took my group less than an hour. For Marty and his clan it would have taken a whole day. We planted his organic garlic crop. And we dismantled the tomato fences because they are now out of season. A delicious lunch of vegetarian and organic meat sandwiches was provided by City Provisions Delicatessen, 1818 West Wilson, which was also where our bus picked us up at 9am and dropped us off at 7pm. Please check them out:
http://www.cityprovisions.com/
Next year: twitter friends, facebook friends, buddies, my clients! & family: you are all coming with me to the farm. I had such a great time and I want to share this wonderful experience with you. It’s great to get out of the city and meet new people to learn, work and laugh with. Now I want to find out much more about natural and sustainable farming – something, I thought, I already knew enough about. I even took home some green tomatoes from Spence Farm and made fried green tomatoes from a recipe recommended by Rob Gardner, one of my farm-mates. He runs http://www.thelocalbeet.com/ which has wonderful information about local and sustainable farming and recipes such as the one I used by Melissa Graham of http://www.littlelocavores.blogspot.com/
350.org is founded by Bill McKibben and is an international campaign that's building a movement to unite the world around solutions to the climate crisis—the solutions that science and justice demand.

Oh yeah: I'm just a hairdresser who writes. I have a novel or two coming out next year. Every bit of my "pulp fiction" profits free me up to do more stories like these. MafiaHairdresser.com will keep you abreast. And please subscribe to this blog!

This is Farmer Marty talking to Rob Gardner of The Local Beet and Chef Tom Leavitt. They are talking about the genetically altered crops being farmed around them. I learned that organic farms have eco systems full of toads, bees, birds, ducks and healthy crops that can be used to seed next years crops. Not so with "Franken-crop" farms.

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Happy Dogs and Cats with Flower Essences

2010-09-27T16:30:00.000-07:00

I had met my Yorkshire Terrier, Junebug, over six years ago when friends of mine, a couple, brought her to their home to join their family. Sadly, only a few months later, one of the couple died in a car accident; so Junebug only had one dad for many years. It was one year ago that I moved in with Junebug and her Dad when the condo I had been renting sold. Because Junebug’s dad’s job had changed and he began to travel, weeks at a time, I became very attached to her and her to me. And when I found an apartment that I wanted to move into, it was pretty apparent that the best thing for Junebug would be for her to move in with me. Because I honor my friends, I still think of them as Junbug’s dads so I’m her uncle and caretaker.
If you are the caretaker of pets, then I’m going to assume that you want them to be as happy and loved as you can possibly help them to be. And if your dog is anything like mine, you might have to spend a little extra time or attention with him or her to relieve them of stress or fears that keep them from being happy.
Because of Junebug’s breed, her small size, the way she was raised, and maybe loss or trauma in her life, she brings with her all kinds of luggage. She’s not been as readily receptive to other dog’s or stranger’s affections. She’s been cautious and shy. But she will do anything for food. It’s her favorite thing and she’d warm to anyone who is willing to give it to her.
Recently, Junebug began to act out in very unconventional ways so I consulted a pet communicator. (see blog) I will describe the specific behavior and how the pet communicator helped me in another blog. Here, I would love to tell you about one of the remedies that the pet communicator recommended to me to use to help Junebug stop her unwanted behavior: Flower Essences.
This was not a new remedy to me. In fact, I had been doing some volunteer work for a group called The Pet Ministry, and a guest speaker, Judy Toby, came to talk about her Pet and Canine OptiBalance Pet Formulas.
Per usual, I was the earliest member at the Pet Ministry meeting, Junebug was on my lap, and she growled at Judy when she first walked into the meeting room.
“Delightful!” Judy said. “Can I use your dog in a demonstration for my Stress and Trauma Relief formula?” Yes, Judy really said, “Delightful.” But although Junebug may be cute, she was not delightful if you woke her up from a nap or came at or near her too quickly. Without much further convincing, I let Judy put a few drops of her formula on my finger and let Junebug lick it off. (She'll eat anything!) Within minutes, Junebug was on her lap and then began greeting, with a wagging tail, the rest of the Pet Ministry as they each arrived. I had never seen my dog so open to meeting strangers before and, because I have used this formula regularly since then, I know it is the reason she is much more accepting of other dogs and people than she was ever before. All of my friends constantly comment about what a changed dog I have, compared to when they first knew her. The flower essences were worth months of dog training sessions to me and Junebug is never hyper or agitated or drowsy when I give them to her.
The more recent problem that led me to the Pet Communicator involves Junebug having to be gated in my room and, although it may be helping one problem, my little one is not used to not having the run of the apartment. While the Stress and Trauma Relief formula has helped my anti-social dog to be much more social and calm, it’s not specifically going to help me with Junebug’s barking when she’s left alone in my room during the day. So I just ordered the Separation Anxiety Formula. Of course, I’ll let you know how it goes, but I’m a big believer in natural remedies and this one is great. Go to Judy’s web site http://www.optibalancepet.com/ and check it out. The “Remedy Finder” is easy to use. Such as; If you have a dog that barks at storms or loud noises, you could use the Fears and Phobias Formula or the Stress and Anxiety Formula. There’s also a Hyper Dog Formula, Aggression Relief Formula and much more.
The website is also for the OptiBalance Cat and Bird formulas too.
I highly recommend using these natural flower essences to help your pets stay happy and healthy. They are tasteless and odorless and are so easy to give to your pet. They are not bad for their bodies and are great to use for changes in yours and your pets life, such as a move or a loss of a loved one, and they can be used in conjunction with behavior training.
No: Judy did not ask me to do a commercial for her. I do not get paid or get kickbacks for my blog. But if you try any of these Pet Flower Essence Flower Formulas, you can get $5 off your order just by using the code “Mafia” at the end of your on-line purchase button pushing. This is a special thank-you from Judy to me (and you!) when I told her I was going to write a rave about her wonderful product.

Order specific Flower Essence Formulas for your pet from http://www.optibalancepet.com/
I also recommend:
The Pet Communicator is Carol Shultz and you can reach her at: Carol@carolschultz.com
http://www.carolschultz.com/index.htm
Please order your copy of Mafia Hairdresser, the novel about my life as a hairdresser to a mob couple in the 80's, and subscribe to this blog!

Chicago Police Officer runs the Chicago Marathon for LUNGevity Foundation

2010-09-20T07:11:00.000-07:00

One of my clients is a Chicago Police Officer and she has been very inspiring to me over the many years that I have known her. Her tales of being an officer and humanist have made me proud to know her. And today she has inspired me again, so I’m going to share that inspiration with you.
As I was cutting Officer Sarah’s hair (she’s growing out her short Halle-Berry-do to long again), she told me that she was going to run in the Chicago Marathon this October.
I mentioned to her that I seemed to remember that she had once had a torn ACL in one knee and, by her own admission, was never really a “gifted runner.”
Officer Sarah told me that she’s not just running the Chicago Marathon for any kind of personal challenge but that she was running for the LUNGeveity Foundation.
Ah-ha. This sounded like the Sarah I knew. And she confirmed my thoughts that she is one of the most caring thoughtful women that I know when she further told me that she has been affected by the Cancer. Like most of us, we have lost friends and family to the Big-C fight, and we have breathed sweet-relief when our loved ones win that fight or go into remission.
Sarah told me the she did have a hard time asking people for donations for this worthy cause. I do not.
If you have been personally affected by Cancer or if you have a few extra pennies, dollars or more to give to the LUNGevity Foundation, I urge you to give what you feel you can today.
Here is Officer Sarah Donovan’s personal Fundraising Page.
http://events.lungevity.org/goto/TeamMeyers

Prayer, from the heart, is another form of giving. And learning about great causes can open your heart.

EAT-up LEARNing and PRAY for those you LOVE

The LUNGevity Foundation is at lungevity.org

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Green for Beginners, Phase Five

2010-08-31T15:25:00.000-07:00

Green for Beginners, Phase Five
If you have read this little five part series, my hope is that your thinking has shifted on the subject of what it means to be green. Yes: it is trendy. Green is all the rage. If that is what brought you here, to phase five, that is great. But what about taking a step further, and become a green leader?; Now, or later!

Phase Five is taking your green knowledge and becoming a leader.
Are you thinking of all the ramifications of what being a green-leader means to you? Does something stick out in your mind? How about your condo association and the fact that you may not have recycling in your building? What if you are a parent and you share a common bond with other families because your children have asthma? It is just quite possible that people keep asking you why you have worm composter in your kitchen? (That's me!)
Okay, maybe you’ll never have a box of worms to eat your veggie-garbage. But most of us green people end up helping other green groups or starting our own groups from our own experience and out of our personal need to share it with others.

“Something must be done…,” comes up a lot in conversation when anyone talks about the environment, health, conservation, families, children and the waning sustainability of the Earth itself. There will be a time when you heart tells you that you are just the right person to be doing the things that must be done.
My own journey and green leadership came about because I was a member of a green group at my church called, The Green Ministry. We were to assist and help our members and minister to be more of a green-movement organization. The Bodhi Spiritual Center paid my $75 tuition to the Chicago Conservation Corps 3C program. In this program, I learned all-things about water, land, air & energy around Chicago. And the four week four day course also taught me how WE, as a city, relate to the world in our struggle to lower our carbon footprint.
Because of this course I became educated and enlightened and took the helm of The Green Ministry and eventually became a writer-activist for green. I also realized that the more I knew about the world and the green groups trying to save it, that I was just part of many other green leaders who can sleep at night because I know that we will achieve our individual and collective green-goals.
If you have some of that mind chatter going on in your head (pressure!), that I have mentioned in Phase one, and that voice is screaming “do something:” STOP THE NOISE!

I KNOW that my way of leading may not be your way. But you are already a leader; by doing and passing on what you know. You are a leader when you sign a petition to save ocean turtles. You are a leader when you teach your child to use cloth napkins or tell your neighbor why you unplug your appliances or keep the inside of your microwave spotless. (Clean microwaves use less energy and last longer.)
Yes, you can start a recycling program at your work. And you can start a viral letter writing campaign to get your favorite yogurt to stop using non-recyclable containers. It is all good. All you have to do is step up to the plate when you think it is your time to do so. There are plenty of green people to help you do what you need to do.
In Chicago, you can become a C-3 Leader: http://chicagoconservationcorps.org/blog
You can also request a C-3 speaker to come to you apt building to tell you how you can save water, compost, save energy and more.
Join an online Chat: www.Ecochatonline.com
Take a group of your friends to the Peggy Notebart Nature Museum: http://www.naturemuseum.org/index.php?id=104
Or you can be an accountant or letter stuffer for an organization that helps put solar power in Chicago Schools like: http://www.climatecycle.org
Maybe you can just post on Facebook, email your group of friends or tweet or blog about what you have learned and keep the green dialogue going. This is part of what I do. It is one way that I have been a leader. I do not know what Phase 6 will be for me, but I will step up when it calls me to.

Although we all have to stay on the green path, YOUR LEADERSHIP SKILLS ARE YOUR OWN.

Oh yeah, you cand also subscribe to this blog. It's not always green. Sometimes I'm just an entertaining writer--so buckle your seats for that.

Please order your copy of Mafia Hairdresser, the novel about my life as a hairdresser to a mob couple in the 80's, and subscribe to this blog!

Green for Beginners, Phase Four

2010-08-30T15:52:00.000-07:00

Green for Beginners Phase 4
“Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:7).
I would not say that I am a “Christian.” (Although I was baptized and raised Catholic-ish.) And I do not believe that the any faith has the trademark on what is commonly called tithing. But it was not until I joined an inter-denominational church, [ www.bohdispiritualcenter.org ]that I really embraced tithing for myself. I willingly give 10% of my income to where I am spiritually fed. And I also willingly give my time and talents to those people, animals or causes that have a need where I can help.
Of course, I cannot always get to church to get “fed” and I cannot say yes to every cause or friend who needs my help. This is where the wisdom of age comes in.
This summer, I was inspired by so many people. They moved me by their spirit and heart on projects such as community gardens, books they wrote, people they’ve helped. Many times I just wrote out a full check for my 10%, or a portion of it, and divvied up the rest to other organizations that inspired me. I also put aside time to shine light on causes or organizations that may have needed some publicity. I always blog for green. And I’ll always donate my time and services to my personal friends’ endeavors.
Why am I telling you this when this article is about being green? Because that is your next step: Phase 4 out of 5 of being green. I’m asking you to give to what moves you. Maybe you don’t have to donate your money. Maybe you don’t actually have to plant a tree or clean a beach. Maybe you just have to take time to walk in a forest preserve or along a beach? I know that the time, or money, or attention that you put into your own personal green journey will make you happier and give you energy and pride and countless other gifts. I believe this because I feel blessed when I do these things. Your efforts, whether they be monetary or seemingly inconsequential, will make you a better person and that alone will open up your heart to knowing when and where what you should personally give to being green.

To existential for you?
Here is are some things that you could donate your time or talent or treasure to:
Go to the Lincoln Park or Brookfield Zoo. Think about what a wonderful planet we have and donate to a specific endangered animal species that you see and love and that needs your funding.
Or join the World Wildlife Federation. They send you a great magazine and have great Green Gifts for you to send that actually help endangered species. http://www.worldwildlife.org

Oceans Conservancy is a great organization to join too! http://www.oceanconservancy.org/site/PageServer?pagename=abt_aboutus

If you want to help monthly with beach clean-up in Montrose Harbor, email Leslie at: cakile@att.net

Outings, petitions, environmental laws being passed and more: http://www.sierraclub.org Join the Sierra Club.

Write a blog or email about a cause that moved you to action.
Join a green group such as Green group in your neighborhood or a business one like Sustainable Hub http://www.foresightdesign.org http://www.foresightdesign.org/blog

Stuff envelopes for a green group or read an article in Mindful Metropolis and email the writer to tell him or her that you liked it. GREEN Groups and people need some lovin!

Here are the 5 Phases of Green for Beginners.
• Phase One: Let the Idea of being green blossom and get rid of the mind chatter of why you would or would not be green.
• Phase Two: Take Action in your own home and your work place.
• Phase Three: Learn what is interesting to you about being green.
• Phase Four: Join a website or cause that you are interested in and learn and contribute your time, talents or dollars.
• Phase Five: Become a Leader in your own household or workplace or neighborhood.

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Green for Beginners, Phase Three

2010-08-30T14:41:00.000-07:00

If you have read Phase 1 & 2 of Green for Beginners, you’ll discover that the conservation of Water is of great interest to me.
This is why:
• Around the world, 1.2 billion people do not have access to clean drinking water.
• Every year, over 2 million people, mostly young children, die from preventable diarrhea contracted from drinking unsafe water.
• Every day, people suffer and die because they cannot access clean, safe water.*
And did you know that, although vast, the Great Lakes are vulnerable to the removal of water at rates faster than can be naturally replenished. 33 million people drink Great Lakes water daily, but no current law assures the long-term supply of this vital resource.*
Through my own personal green journey, I have learned that we have a problem. Here, in Chicago. Around the world. And in my heart, I feel deeply for anyone who does not have fresh drinking water.
This revelation may be interesting to you. Interesting enough for you to take five minute showers? Or interesting enough for you to have two small worm composters in your spare room to put natural food scraps in so you don’t put anything down the disposal/drain. But maybe this is not what you can or want to do.

Maybe you have children. I assume that you want your children to grow up healthy, without allergies and without exposure to cancer causing chemicals. I bet that you will be more inclined to research such subjects such as making your own green cleaners and purchasing non-chemically treated clothing and bedding.
Of course I’ll give you a list of wonderful websites and writers and bloggers that I think you should check out. But being green means that you have to go where your own heart takes you. I do not judge someone walking down the street with a plastic water bottle filled with imported water, nor should I scowl at or lecture someone who throws litter onto the street. I’m just going to trust that they are doing their small part in the Green Movement because, in truth, we all have to, sooner or later, or our planet will not sustain us. And for all I know, the litterer is just having a bad day and they may be a fighter for justice in another green arena other than the one I am in.
Phase 3 of Green for Beginners is to learn more Green, in what is of interest to you, after you’ve made a few changes in your home or/and office.

This one will tell you what we are doing to protect the Great Lakes: http://www.environmentillinois.org/protect-lake-michigan/ecosystem-protection-act *
If you like following what is going on with Animal conservation and all things environmental, sign up with http://www.care2.com/ They will send you emails where you can easily cast votes and writer you senators, congressmen and even President Obama.
New to me but I like this blog and they have a recycling big recycling monster. http://www.biggreenhead.com/ Recycling news in Chicago. http://www.chicagorecycling.org/
http://www.squidgonegreen.com has it all. Good food. Solar power information. Great links.
If you are interested in Gardening and community gardens in Chicago. http://www.petersongarden.org/ and follow @theyarden on twitter
Great Blog for mothers: http://icountformyearth.wordpress.com/
On Facebook LIKE Dr. Sarah Warren. Friend her. She's a great resource.
A great book that has been a big help to me: The Green Book, Three Rivers Press, by Elizabeth Rogers & Thomas M. Kostigen.
So do some internet browsing, read, LIKE and Follow. This is a great way to learn and pass on some very good information and inspiration.

Here are the 5 Phases of Green for Beginners.
• Phase One: Let the Idea of being green blossom and get rid of the mind chatter of why you would or would not be green.
• Phase Two: Take Action in your own home and your work place.
• Phase Three: Learn what is interesting to you about being green.
• Phase Four: Join a website or cause that you are interested in and learn and contribute your time, talents or dollars.
• Phase Five: Become a Leader in your own household or workplace or neighborhood.

Please subscribe to this Blog for Green for Beginners and more.

Please order your copy of Mafia Hairdresser, the novel about my life as a hairdresser to a mob couple in the 80's, and subscribe to this blog!

Take down the Deflector Shield when you have Conflict

2010-08-24T16:10:00.000-07:00

I had a busy week and I was tired. There was still no excuse for my behavior when I woke up extra-cranky one Saturday morning and promptly told three very nice and lovely ladies to take a flying leap off a dump truck into a stinking landfill. Yeah-NO, I did not really say it like that. In fact, I didn’t actually speak a mean word to any of them. Instead, I Facebooked and emailed a couple of my special-choice words to all of them. Two of the ladies responded. One did not.
We all have many self-rules which we follow in handling conflict with our fellow man/woman. Sometimes we follow our rules and get good results. Sometimes we don’t follow them and we get good results. Sometimes we just don’t get the results that we can call “good” no matter what we do. In all three situations, with my lady friends, I was surprised.

Here’s my own self rules.

Take down the Deflector Shield: If I feel defensive or if I feel like I really want to “rub their nose in it” or “teach them a lesson,” I'd prefer to stay away from the “enemy” until I can visualize the person as my best friend and that we have no sides to the story; just friends.
Talk on the phone or in-person whenever possible. It is not easier to put off the call. You can get instant two-way communication and instant relief to a situation which you may have built up in your mind. And, sometimes, parties might have to squabble to get back to being BFF’s. You’ll both come out okay if you both hear that the most important reason you are communicating is to strengthen the friendship.
Give yourself some time when a negative incident occurs between yourself and the other person. The theory is to sleep on it and your wisdom will take over.
Be thankful that you have a person in your life who you have conflict with. Like all relationships, they are probably the best person in your life, right now, to learn how to communicate through this particular conflict.

Here’s where I went astray.
A gal-pal of mine spent years in chemo and radiation therapies and has had a ton of surgeries for cancer. She’s been in remission more than once. She is in debt with medical bill, a very spiritual person, and I love the heck out of her. When she asked me to do her highlights and cuts for free, I felt honored to be able to help out. It’s been a couple of years “comping” her, and I’ve felt good about doing that for her. I got to use my time and talents to help someone. It’s a gift – to me.
On the day before my cranky-Saturday, I got a Facebook message and an email from her asking me if I could do her hair again. She needed it that same day because it was important for her to feel good and she had just found out that she had stage four cancer. Both messages were not read by me until the next morning because I had been doing hair for 18 hours for a fashion show. I was exhausted when I read her hair pleas and her admission to non-remission.
After I read the message, I felt awful. I would have loved to help her out but it was physically impossible. I found out too late, and my weekend was already planned. And then I got very angry. I’m a good hairdresser with a good book and I get a few of these types of emails, texts and Facebook messages a week. Granted, not everyone has cancer, but it seemed to me that a lot of my clients had been wanted to get in for services, last minute, and I had plenty of spaces in the past week’s schedule-IF they had called ahead. I let those warrented or Diva-pissy thoughts overwhelm me and then I sent my own message back. I told her that she should have given me a little more heads up and it just made me feel like shit, and I was angry that she played the Cancer-Card. After a few hours I felt like a monster.
Do you know what she emailed back to me? A thank-you! Ugh. That’s why I loved doing her hair. To be around this courageous woman is inspiring and, again, it’s a gift to me. She thanked me for treating her like a friend and “chewing” her out, because she sometimes gets in her own little world.
I won’t bore with the other two women’s stories. They were not so touching to me as this story. But I will tell you, one was a friend/client who, I felt, let me down, and she did not return my email. The other was my room-mate who let this awful woman sleep at our house, again, after the thankless woman basically left in a huff the first time; saying that she would stay with people who appreciated her the next time. My room-mate didn’t understand that I thought the houseguest used her as a doormat and also made me uncomfortable in my own home. Our Facebook messages to each other left me feeling that she didn’t understand what I was saying.
And what was I saying? Nothing. I was hiding behind my emails and messages. I was not allowing the person who, in my mind, I had conflict with, to actually hear my voice which also did not allow them to affect me. It didn’t matter if these ladies initiated the “conflict” via such communication avenues, I should have called them or talked to them in-person. I will do so in the future.

SO: I had a few calls to make. But I didn’t talk to my room-mate. But I am going to talk to that "houseguest" to make sure she doesn’t feel comfortable to stay at my apartment again.

E-Prime Extra Credit: When communicating, try not to use the verbs “to-be,” such as is or was. Some people use E-Prime as a mental discipline to filter speech and translate the speech of others. For example, the sentence "the movie was good" could translate into E-Prime as "I liked the movie" or as "the movie made me laugh". The E-Prime versions communicate the speaker's experience rather than judgment, making it harder for the writer or reader or communicator to confuse opinion with fact. The dog is a menace. Becomes... Joe says that the dog behaves like a menace.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-Prime
http://www.nobeliefs.com/eprime.htm This link has the book listed. I recommend.
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Break the Biking Rules and Blog for Blago

2010-08-18T07:23:00.000-07:00

You gotta love Illinois. First Blagojevich gets off easy and then, on the same evening, so do I! Mwah-ha-ha. Some of Blago’s alleged crimes were cheating, lying, attempted extortion, siphoning funds and selling senate seats. BFD. I broke some rules. Not BIG ones – but they were, at least, small to medium regulations. But I risked my life while breaking these rules; and then, when I got caught in the act, I had the balls to admit what I did and I still walked!
So there I was riding my bike south on Lincoln Ave approaching Wells where I would normally turn right. But up ahead there was someone in the street passing something to a passenger in a car (Tribune at this time of night?) before the light changed and the car drove on.
Oh great. What if I had I to stop at that same light and this person was going to try and sell me a StreetWise? Normally I would buy one but I didn’t have anyplace to put it if I did. My Yorkshire terrier, Junebug, was riding with her head popped out of my messenger bag which slung off one shoulder, and I was on my iPhone (forgot my headset) while riding with one hand.
As I got closer to the corner I realized that the person handing things out was actually a cute African American woman who was wearing reflectors on her arms. The reflectors reminded me of retro 90’s glow-sticks and were the only reason I had seen her at a distance because I wasn’t wearing my contacts which I really needed to see better at night.
Just as got to the corner, Reflecto-Chick jumped back onto the sidewalk and then a police officer jumped out in my path to replace her. Even if he didn’t yell at me to get off my bike and onto the sidewalk I would have recognized that he was real cop pulling me over. He was that close and under a street lamp.
I wasn’t mad that I had to hang up on one of my social networking friends. I was used to 140 character DM’s and tweet-communication with her anyway. Talking=exhausting! Besides I wanted to hang up and use my iPod for the rest of the way home. (I downloaded a new dance version of Katy Perry’s California Gurls.)
Reflecto-Chic turned out to named, Somalia, and a representative of the League of Illinois Bicyclists: Mayor Daley’s valiant push for bike safety, bike lanes and a greener city.
I was too nervous to ask the officer’s name because he kept asking me questions and then he informed me that I had broken the law by not having a light on the front of my bike. He also didn’t like seeing me talking on my phone while riding without a helmet. I think he held back because he thought I was going to cry because I was squinting but it was just because I lacked my contacts, which I did not mention.
The two people on the sidewalk must have rehearsed their good-Cop good-Samaritan routine because Somalia gave me a Chicago Bike Map and a handout for the “League” and told me that they were only concerned for my safety.
I told them that my friends constantly scolded me for not wearing a helmet while riding a motorcycle when I lived in Long Beach, California. I thought it was perfectly okay because riders had the beach to their shoulders and long stretches of Pacific Coast Highway with no crazy cab drivers or buses to dodge. In those days I was “more me” than I am today and I also wouldn’t wear a helmet because it would mess up my hair. Besides, it wasn’t like I was going very fast or riding on the freeway, I rambled. I didn’t own a Harley. It was just a Honda Nighthawk, 360. Midnight blue. And it had a cowl-windshield. And it probably looked like the Batgirl Cycle. Had my friends pointed out that a helmet would have matched my motorcycle-riding-outfit...
I thought the officer was going to give me a ticket but, instead, he and Somalia pointed out that I was bald so I no longer had to worry about my hair being messed up and they let me go, Ticket-free. They could have let me go because they were laughing so hard and they both had to find a his and a hers bathroom to pee in because they were laughing so hard. I'm sure having cute Junebug didn't hurt either.
I think Blago should call me, I have the perfect defense for his retrial. (You cannot borrow Junebug!)

In lieu of a ticket for breaking the law, I promised to buy a helmet and get a light on my bike.

In retribution to society, I am supposed to ask you to please check out http://www.chicagobikes.org/
This website is by CDOT: the Chicago Department of Transportation and it has it all. It’s got popular links to other biking websites, safety videos, and the online version of the Chicago Bike Map (streets for cycling) that I was given by Somalia.

Mayor Daley has a great plan to make Chicago a better green city and having more bikes on the street than cars is just one part of the plan. www.bike2015plan.org
And check out Chicago’s Bike and Roll. A new Bike-Share program in Chicago. http://www.bikechicago.com/

www.activetrans.org/blog

Don't forget to comment and join this blog. I'll continue to make a fool of myself for good causes.

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Giving Hallmark a run...

2010-08-11T08:23:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday BLANK!
You're still just a kitten. So young. With your whole 3 out of 9 lives left ahead of you. You'll grow more fluffy everyday; hairy, really -- unless it all sheds off on your fav foofoo pillow. Your ears will droop and that scratchy personality won't be as cute as it was. Oh puss, puss, puss... Soon your meow-tabolism will stop purring and just putt. Dare I say, watch the Flabby - Tabby? And get used to being passed over for petting because there's always a new cat on your tail -- ready to take your place on the couch. Love ya, Snow-Balls. I really do. I'd put you down if it ever got too hard for you. I'm not being Catty. This is just pussy love.
Sign Here.

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Anthropologie on State St. in Chicago Wasting Energy

2010-08-04T09:51:00.000-07:00

Hey Anthropologie, (I spelled it wrong when I originally sent it to them)I live and work in the gold coast of Chicago. I pass by your store on State St. everyday. I keep seeing your large front doors open and you have your air-conditioner running.
This is silly. You are wasting your own dollars. And you are unnecessarily making your carbon footprint much larger than you have to.
I went in to the store and asked a sales girl why a company that professes to be green would do this. She told me that they keep the doors open so the store looks more inviting.
I’m here to tell you that it is not.
As I informed the State St. manager, I will be “tweeting” and “Facebooking” about your waste until you close those doors; or until you get revolving doors, which will also save carbon output and energy in the winter.
Thank you, ahead of time. I know this is kind of an oversight and I’m going to assume you would like to fix this problem, save money, and keep being green.
Jon-David
UPDATE: this location has closed and one opened on Chicago Ave in its place. I hope they conserve energy at thier new location!

Contact them yourself if you like. service@anthropologie.com

(I didn't mean to take pic like that but I love the part of Anthr-"opologie" came out.

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Green for Beginners. Phase Two.

2010-08-02T18:52:00.000-07:00

A greener home is the first place to begin making small changes to help the environment and create a healthier and more enjoyable place to live. Here are 10 simple steps to green up your life and change the planet. It’s Phase Two of GREEN for beginners!

1. Buy Only What You Need
Plain and simple-don't over purchase. AND DO consider the packaging. You might have to write to a product distributor and tell them that you love their product but you do not like thier wasteful packaging. Don't forget to bring your own shopping bags and wash them regularly. Plastic bags are doing serious damage to our oceans. And please pat yourself on the back for saving money!
2. Recycle, Recycle, Recycle!
Recycle, reuse, and properly dispose of all materials. Everything from plastic bags to construction materials. But, recycling is not just limited to the cans, glass, and paper we go though everyday. Call Tech recyclers to recycle your computers. Drop your old batteries at Walgreens.
3. Upgrade Your Light Bulbs
When your incandescent light bulbs burn out, replace them with energy efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs). According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) CFLs use 2/3 less energy than traditional incandescent light bulbs and last 10 times longer. Making this upgrade saves you money and saves energy.
4. Use Green Cleaners or Make Your Own.
Buy only environmentally safe cleaners for your home and business. Phase out old traditional cleaners. You will breath easier in your home. You family will not be in constant contact with cancer causing agents. http://tinyurl.com/yfyzah7 (Green Cleaner Blog)
DO YOU CARE ABOUT YOUR WATER?
Not only do many traditional cleaners have cancer causing agents or allergy causing agents, they are terrible to put down the drain: It takes 11 Federal, State & City agencies to bring your water to you; and remove your waste water. They are over budget. They are overburdened by too much waste-water and rain. And they constantly have to expel unclean sewage water from your home directly into our rivers and lakes when there are heavy rains. And we all end up drinking the toxins and medicines that you threw down the drain.
5. Keep Your Gadgets Green
Electronics become outdated very quickly. To insure you are responsible with your gadgets, practice the following:
 Resist the urge to upgrade every time a "newer" or "cooler" gadget comes out. Reduce at the source-you save money and the time (and frustration) to learn how to operate and program the new gadget!
 Donate working electronics to charities or school programs that resell or refurbish them.
 Refill or recycle your inkjet or toner cartridges
 Close the recycling loop and buy recycled, post-consumer content paper for your printer. Most local office supply stores, such as Staples, offer a growing selection of environmentally friendly papers.
6. Conserve Every Drop
It take 11 agencies working together to bring Chicago its water. DID I SAY THAT ALREADY? And they are all overburdened with budget cuts, excess water run-off and water waste. So turn off the water faucet when brushing your teeth and shaving. Run the dishwasher and washing machine only when they are full; avoid small, partial loads. Cleaning your driveway or sidewalk by hosing it down with water wastes at least 80 gallons of water every time; Use a broom instead.
7. Adjust Your Thermostat
Have you ever heard of lowering your Carbon Footprint? Carbon gets into our air from Coal Power Plants. The less energy wasted in each home and business saves from putting more carbon into the atmosphere which is causing our Global Warming.
A few degrees difference in temperature can make all the difference in both your energy savings and your financial savings and keeping your personal Carbon Footprint lower.
8. Keep the Air Clean
Carpool, ride the bus, use public transportation, or bike to work. Cars + traditional fuels = Carbon!
9. Save the Trees
USE CLOTH NAPKINS INSTEAD OF PAPER NAPKINS. And use cloth instead of paper towels. You will save money and it is less energy and water and less trees wasted when you just throw rags in the washer. Pay your bills online: saving paper, time, and postage. As the price of paper cards and postage increases, consider emailing e-cards instead of mailing them out. Email documents and information instead of printing and mailing them. Whenever possible, save documents on your computer or on a disk instead of as a print copy in your filing cabinet.
10. No more plastic water bottles. Buy a non-aluminum water bottle to refill instead of continually buying water in plastic bottles. The water that the companies are harvesting is no better than Chicago tap water and we do not have any more room in landfills.

http://www.chicagoclimateaction.org/ is a great place to start for Phase Three of Green for Beginners. It has information on Carbon Footprint and what we can all do in Chicago.

Phase Three: The more you know about being green, the more you will sleep at night. It's kind of the opposite of what you originally thought about going green, huh? Because of my personal journey, I know that there are thousands of people doing their best to make this world a better place. The more that I have learned about what is available to me to be a better Green-guy, along with some personal action, the more I felt like I was part of making this world a better place. I'm doing my small part. It feels good.
http://www.mafiahairdresser.com/ for more.

Here are the 5 Phases of Green for Beginners.

Phase One: Let the Idea of being green blossom and get rid of the mind chatter of why you would or would not be green.
Phase Two: Take Action in your own home and your work place.
Phase Three: Learn what is interesting to you about being green.
Phase Four: Join a website or cause that you are interested in and learn and contribute your time, talents or dollars.
Phase Five: Become a Leader in your own household or workplace or neighborhood.

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Green for Beginners. Phase one.

2010-07-20T16:50:00.000-07:00

Are you thinking of being more Green? More environmentally minded? Do your thoughts sound like this?: "I know I should be more green." "I don't know where to start." "I don't want to start being green right now because I think it will cost me more money." "It just makes me sad when I find out why I have to be more green, so I don't want to start."
If you continue reading, you are in Phase One of being green. And Phase One is just like any new project: It starts with an idea, and then comes the mind-chatter. “I’m too busy.” “I can’t afford it.” “I’m not good enough.” “It’s no use.”
These are the sentiments that I've heard or felt myself on the topic of "Being Green." If any of these statements sound like like the thoughts in your own head, I'll ask you to let them go for a while. Bye-bye, anti-Green thoughts. Now, let me help you start your green engines so you can zoom-on to become the best Green-guy or Green-gal that you possibly can. You're not going to worry about actually doing anything this very second. You can can always take on more green as you grow. For now, just stay with the simple idea: "I want to be more green."
And what does being green mean? Being green simply means you care about yourself and your family and pets; and you want the place where you live to be a healthy environment. AND: as individuals, we all do our small part in contributing to making the world a happy place. With this simple view on being green, along with the idea that you want align with this simple thought, I believe you are already a green-guy/gal. I know that any further tools and knowledge that you will need will now come to you; one step at time, at the time that you need. You do not have to worry about each step or how much money it take, or what you will need. Let the idea bring the things that you need in it’s own time.
Poof! You are now a Green-person.

Here are the 5 Phases of being green. (None of which you have to worry about at this exact minute!)

Phase One: Let the Idea of being green blossom and get rid of the mind chatter of why you would or would not be green.
Phase Two: Take Action in your own home and your work place.
Phase Three: Learn what is interesting to you about being green.
Phase Four: Join a website or cause that you are interested in and learn and contribute your time, talents or dollars.
Phase Five: Become a Leader in your own household or workplace or neighborhood.

In the next few weeks tune in and I’ll take your through the all the 5 Green Phases. I’ll give you Twitter and Facebook Friend suggestions that you can follow and websites that you can join so that you can pick up the information that you need for your home or personal interest.
Know that you are a caring person that has been given a gift of an idea: “I want to be more Green.” You are not going to do it overnight. And there is no "perfect." And remember: You are only responsible for your small part in making your environment the healthiest place that YOU can.

If you would like to start learning more now go to http://mafiahairdresser.com/ and go to the Green at Home section. I have lists of people and organization that are in my social network that are far better than me at providing you with information that would help you to be a better Green-Gal or Green-Guy.

Please order your copy of Mafia Hairdresser, the novel about my life as a hairdresser to a mob couple in the 80's, and subscribe to this blog!

Hotel Felix in Chicago

2010-07-07T19:06:00.000-07:00

This is a rave for a Chicago Hotel. Five stars, two thumbs up, and a big hats-off to this environmentally conscious boutique inn. What originally caught my attention to the Hotel Felix, located at 111 W. Huron St., was that they had applied for their Silver LEED Certificate. For those of you who do not know, a LEED Certificate is an internationally recognized green-building point-rated system that is applied for and given to new and old buildings. Buildings in the Silver rated range must meet minimal requirements for energy savings, water efficiency, CO2 emissions reduction, improved indoor environmental quality, and stewardship of resources and sensitivity to their impacts. Building’s that are under construction must use as much of the old footprint or prior existing building, and recycle or reuse as much as possible of the old building that the new one will be replacing. From the outside, the Hotel Felix looks polished and pretty and the 1920's facade and signage looks like the old Gangster-Gotham that Chicago used to be. That’s because they used as many exterior and interior walls as they could and they tuck-pointed or replaced tiles/bricks/ frontage with the same type of materials that were originally used. (For more information about LEED Certification: http://tinyurl.com/y9lv3u7 )
The Hotel Felix is located in the River North District and is on the south-west shoulder of the Gold Coast. Just blocks from Michigan Avenue, the Chicago River, and conveniently located near the CTA Red and Brown Lines, the hotel is also near the path of the Red Double Decker bus tours stop located at The Hard Rock Cafe. Being so near public transportation and being a local business which encourages walking actually gives more LEED’s points to Hotel Felix. This also makes the hotel a great urban destination to visit or stay at for visitors and locals.
Do I sound like a professional sound piece for the Hotel? Not me. So far, I have never been influenced to write a review or article that I did not want to write. But I live only a few blocks from the hotel, so it is my neighbor. I always like to support (if I like it) my neighboring businesses. Also, the Hotel Felix was in my Twitter Social Network and I really liked, Molly, the voice of the Hotel. Through her "tweets," I learned of the Hotel’s LEED’s goals and of the many amenities that the hotel had to offer. And then I went to the restaurant in the hotel, ELATE.
Let me say this: I am a hairdresser, and if I recommend a restaurant, it is because I have heard more good things than bad about it—I’ve tried it—and I’ve loved it. Elate blew me away with its “American Market” cuisine, which means I was eating seasonal yummy dishes with grilled tomatillo, rhubarb, avocado, macadamia nuts, grilled beets, barata, and Pizza with pork lechon plus black beans, cotija cheese & pineapple mojo. All of the plates are small for share, so you don’t have to be scared or sorry that you didn’t walk down the street to Poritillo's for your regular mid-west fare. You can just stop in for a few appitizers--but you won't stop eating and you will get full--I assure you. And the prices range per plate is from $9 to $14 -- the low twenties for the bigger protein dishes. My favorite waiter is Jordan, “like the country.” He told me all about veteran Chef, Randal Jacobs, who hunts for local grown and organic foods which means that the menu will always be changing. Jordan has done much of my ordering for me. “Trust me,” he always says. I do trust him. And trust me when I say: order the beet dish and the brussels sprout dish if it's still on the menu. I never loved either, before now, and you’ll fall in love with them too. Menu to date and Chef bio: http://www.elatechicago.com/

The bar is zigzagged to accommodate sitters and yet one can still order a drink from the great bartenders. Outdoor seating is available although I love the insides with high ceilings, chandeliers, and big windows. On Elate’s website they call the decor “rustic and sophisticated” with many green elements incorporated into the design such as distressed concrete floors mixed with Herringbone patterned oak. Here’s a professional review from The Reader if you like: http://tinyurl.com/2592dr2

After many tweets and raves about Elate, I asked Molly if she could introduce me to George B. Jordan, the General Manager of the Hotel Felix. I thought, because I liked the restaurant and hotel, that I might write something about it, one day, if I found out anything I thought was interesting.

The first thing that was very interesting to me was the climate control in each individual room. Made by InnCom http://tinyurl.com/2c3ukdc Their software hardware system knows when a guest enters the room and immediately starts heating or cooling the room to the guests’ desired settings. And each room is boutiqued for spare-ity and function so that means Italian type designed beds with drawers underneath instead of bureaus, and closets that double as shelving. Of course there’s every amenity, Energy-Star Flat Screens, blow dryers and, of course, recycling baskets in each bath room. (They even recycle the unused shampoos and conditioner products!)

George gladly showed me around the hotel personally which was very cool. He's funny and his staff likes him and I noticed that he's a happy perfectionist. You won’t see many appliance cords “squimy-sqamin” around end-table legs or coming from the backs of the large flat screens in the conference rooms or media center. He would have wound each loose cord himself because I saw him unconciously do it once. And he very much understands that Social Media specialist like to link & log-in via wireless routers to big monitors so each meeting-room is now equipped to do so.

I think another stamp that George has put on the Hotel Felix is his love of art, which I really appreciate. (Plug: I’m room-mates with the Art Gallery Owner of Curly Tale Fine Art; close to the Hotel.) The very first thing George pointed out to me in the lobby was the Earth, Wind and Fire Element: which were the wall of precision-placed logs, blown glass hanging orbs, and tre-chic fire place. Everyone will notice “Loren the Doorman.” He’s the bright yellow and red sculpture of a happy hearty-sized doorman ready to hail your Chicago cab for you. George seems to be the art adviser and curator for the Hotel’s acquisitions and everyone gets to appreciate.
The staff seems genuinely happy and handsome. And I couldn't go on about the gym and the Spa, of which I have only toured but not used myself. But I can tell you that the Spa is run by ASHA, an Aveda lifestyle salon spa, so I know the staff is trained and professional and their prices are just the same as their downtown salon. (http://tinyurl.com/27y2gbl)

I’ll let you book your next room at Hotel Felix yourself. You’ll love my Chicago neighborhood and cherished neighbor just as much as I do. The spirit and extra effort in which it took to make a green hotel in Chicago is also put into the details such as no VOC paints, and non-toxic cleaners used for a healthy environment that has been beautifully designed and is also a pleasure to rave about. http://www.hotelfelixchicago.com/

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A comment about the right to marry spawns a Facebook debate.

2010-06-18T16:13:00.000-07:00

The following is a Facebook feed from last November, 2009. The state of Maine had just taken away the rights of Gays and Lesbians to marry. I saw from the comments of my Facebook friends that they were justifiably upset. This was a travesty.

So I posted what, I thought, would be a positive spin on the situation. What happened was the responses I received got me thinking about why the religious right does not want gay marriage and how come they keep saying the word pedophile when we're talking about human rights? It's so stupid.

So I'll let the Facebook feed tell it's own story.

Of course, I'm going to comment...

November 2009

Mafia Hairdresser We're upset about Maine. And it just shows how much our own families and friends are still putting their money, good vibes and interests into right wing churches and causes. Are we all standing up to those friends and family and asking them to stop this practice because it hurts us? Personally, I may loose a few Facebook Friends because of this statement: “To my Friends and Family who can: Stop the right wing hate.”

Seven friends liked my status update and gave me thumbs ups. And then Friend #1 commented.

Facebook Friend #1 Right on. I too have lost friends in the past based on their political or religious beliefs. But I'm okay with that. We CHOOSE who we want in our life. And if others choose to create a life that does not involved critical thinking or engagement, then why choose to have them in your life?

That was cool. But I thought my point was that more that I was for something rather than against anything. And I wanted to say, hey, we’re all human:

Mafia Hairdresser I'm not pushing anyone away. I'm just saying, hey, I love you. Your kinship with this religious right is hurting me and my rights. Please look at that. I'm not walking away from anyone. I've totally been an asshole and people have graciously waited for me to wake up. It's the least I can do for everyone else.

Friend #1 got it.

Facebook Friend #1 Right on, redux!

Then…

Facebook Friend #2 I'm upset about Maine, too, doll. Humph. I just don't understand why this is an issue. You love someone; you should be able to marry them. Seems simple enough.

Should be.

Facebook Friend #3 None of my family OR friends are putting money or good vibes into right wing causes. I don't need people in my life like that.. voting to take rights AWAY from fellow citizens is just disgusting and very anti-American. I don't get it.

Facebook Friend #4 Allow the fantasy folks, aka religious, have theirs and allow the gay community to have ours. Allow us to go to fantasy hell. I'm ok with it.

Meh. Then my Facebook Friend in Seattle Washington chimed in. He’s a Democrat & Army Reservist. And has worked for many Democrat campaigns.

Facebook Friend WA WA. states domestic partnership law is passing. :) While it may not be marriage, it's now equal to! We've had it on the books for the last year and I'm so happy to see the voters here are not taking civil rights away.

This is where it got interesting. My buddy from high school, (a dude who was not-popular, bullied, and in the school band), decided that my Facebook wall was a good place to “educate.” This man is white. Has kids. And he’s an elementary teacher and now, obviously, “religious.”

Facebook High School Friend It's not about hate, I still love you man. It's about preserving the family unit, which has all but dissolved. Without that, we live in an amoral society where there are no values left to teach our children.

Facebook Friend #5 You’re right. It's not all about hate and all about ignorance. Your family will not dissolve if I create my own family unit.

Facebook High School Friend I totally agree. I don't think it's right for people to tell others how to live their life. But then it should go both ways I have problems with laws that say my children should be forced to learn about sexual lifestyles at a young age, with no opt-out available for me as a parent.

At this time, I’m not reading any of this stuff. But when I did, I’m like, what?! How did we move on to children and teaching them about “sexual lifestyles?”
Even though I was engaged once, to a Canadian (hated it), I just want all people of the United States to have the right to get married – to whomever they wanted – unless it’s between a Buddhist Chinese man and an Islamic African American Woman. I just think that would be such a confusing wedding ceremony to pull off.

Facebook Friend WA That's not true. Parents have the right to allow their child not to attend those classes. Permission slips come home asking the parent if they want their child to hear that type of information. If they choose not, then the child is usually sent to a study hall or the library. At least that is how it's done in WA. So you're wanting to preserve the "idea" of a family unit. Sorry that has long since been dissolved. From the first time a husband and wife who had children got a divorce. With over 50% of marriages ending in divorce today the "father + mother + 2.5 children" is, sadly, a rare occurrence. But why shouldn't children who are raised by 2 moms and 2 dads think that there is any less normal than any other family? Any child raised in a loving nurturing home should know that this is the right place to be; no matter who is raising them. To teach otherwise is to teach discrimination or shame. Meaning: those children being raised by above (right wing mentioned families).

Oy. All I really wanted to say was “Hey gays, come out of the closet, in everyway, and tell your friends and family that by voting against marriage equality, you’ll never be able to get married to the person you want.”
This Facbook feed was getting too racy, for even me, so I tried to tie it up in a little bow and end it.

Mafia Hairdresser Good talk, men. And it just shows how far we have to go. When anyone feels that a marriage between two men or two women takes away from something, or when anyone feels that gays and lesbians are a threat instead of just another one of Gods peoples, it just show how much money and time is spent on those thoughts that have no basis. We'll get there. Just keep talkin and breakin' bread with each other.

High School Friend really has a beef with the educational system so he goes on:

Facebook High School Friend Here is a website which shows how parents have no right to opt out. It's being appealed in Federal court, because it is a violation of the constitution: http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=100678What makes me so angry is that I'm considered to be a bigot if I don't want my own children exposed to sexual teachings in kindergarten.

At first, I did not go onto the link posted. And I don’t have kids. And yet I support High School Friend to raise his kids anyway he sees fit. I didn’t think I believed in teaching “sexual lifestyle” to anyone at any age in public schools. But once I read the article in the link, I thought, hey, they are just trying to tell kids that gay exists. (This is where I know you’ll groan ha-ha and eww…!) I know it’s a “touchy” subject, but I know a few heterosexual men who were not molested as young men but actually did the “natural” experimenting with the same sex when they were young. Shame and confusion followed some of them and I wondered, if they were taught the difference between gay and straight and bisexual, might this have prevented their confusion or pain? Is it promoting a gay lifestyle by telling kids it’s there? Or are you preparing your kids to not to hate but appreciate? I think there would be a lot of heterosexual boys that would go, “I’m not that, because I know what that is-and I am not that.” WARNING: And yet, if you have a homosexual kid, they’re going to fly out of the closet at thanksgiving dinner a lot sooner than the demise of their first marriage. So, I was pulled in to the conversation. I was moved to think beyond my original support shout for gay marriage. I was really thinking about why it was so scary to whoever could be afraid of it.

Facebook High School Friend The family unit is destroyed. The lack of fathers in the household has led to much crime, and the disintegration of our society. But no matter which way you slice it, you still need both sperm and an egg to reproduce. Sorry fellas!

That was just stupid.

Facebook Friend #5 I live on a block that has 2 parents who happen to be gay and they have 2 kids. This is a family and that family is not taking anything away from yours. Sperm and the egg produced their 2 kids but an adoption made the family complete. The family unit lives on my block.

Facebook High School Friend I totally understand what you mean. That family doesn't affect mine. But what does affect mine is the secular humanistic agenda that says "if it feels good, do it." That kind of teaching leads to an amoral society with no values. In California we now have Harvey Milk Day. It's great to honor someone who was persecuted, but does it have to be a pedophile? I affect my children to have to sit in public school and by law be forced to honor someone like that. Why not have an Adolph Hitler day then? He was just “living his life,” right? I mean where does it end?pedophile? It affects my children to have to sit in a public school, and by law be forced to honor someone like that.Why not have an Adolph Hitler day then? He was just "living his life," right? I mean, where does it end?

Now I got it. High School Friend is a little nuts. I do remember him in high school a little clearer.

Facebook Friend #5 OMG. Be well. And live long.

Facebook Friend #5 must have realized that Facebook High School Friend was talking nuts too, so, after this his last message, he un-friends me. And then puts up a Facebook block on Facebook High School Friend and then re-friends me.

Facebook High School Friend Here are excerpts from Harvey Milk's Biography:Randy Shilts, a homosexual San Francisco Chronicle reporter, wrote a favorable and sordid biography of Milk in "The Mayor of Castro Street." The 1982 book detailed Milk's sexual relationships with a 16-year-old, a 19-year-old and other young men: "...sixteen-year-old McKinley was looking for some kind of father figure...At 33, Milk was launching a new life, though he could hardly have imagined the unlikely direction toward which his new lover would pull him." (pages 30-31) "It would be to boyish-looking men in their late teens and early 20's that Milk would be attracted for the rest of his life." (page 24) "Harvey always had a penchant for young waifs with substance abuse problems." (page 180) And this is going to be celebrated in our schools? Nice.

We now went from taking away the right to marry from people in Maine to more Harvey Milk. What is High School Friend reading and why is he taking the time to Facebook this stuff in a realm where it can do no good for his “cause?” He’s a teacher?
This is where I wrap it up. I think the feed proved a point. People are still afraid of gays. And I think it’s just plain mean to not let gays marry each other. There are no arguments based in fact that should support a continued ban on such simple human rights. And, after all these years, the religious right wingers still like to say pedophile and homosexual in the same sentence, even though that will never make it true. I could take a shot at the pedophile priests, but I feel sad for them and their victims. I believe that those priests opted to keep their religion and suppress their sexuality and that f__ked them up. I also believe that if their victims could have been a little more educated on what sexuality was, gay and straight, they might have been able to defend themselves or reported the abuse sooner.
All this from a little Facebook update.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

The following is the rest of the Feed that I felt too boring and weird for me. But have at it, if you like.

Facebook Friend WA OK last I checked any one over the age of 18 is considered an adult. That does not make some one a pedophile. Why does the conversation always head in that direction when people talk about homosexual men? Stats show there are far more hetro males who rape and are pedophiles and any other group. Even while a young girls case is renewed because she was located after what 18 years. That was a married couple who did this disgusting thing, that's the morality you want taught? Yes this was a loving family the husband and wife kid napped her but they raised her as if she were theirs. Never mind that they raped her repeatedly forced her to have two children (in the back yard) and raped the children. Both it's ok they were a married hetro couple so that the morality begin. talk about teaching "if it feels right do it" sadly comments like that make you look ignorant we're not in the 60's anymore. And he was not just persecuted he was MURDERED for defending human rights. I'll bet you watch COUGAR Town and laugh and think nothing of it. Again a double standard. When an older man has sex with a younger woman it fine, and now we have shows glamorizing older women having sex with young men. But man when a LGBT person has sex with a legal aged younger person their instantly labeled as pedophiles. Here Preacher, Preacher Preacher bring on those alter boys and girls. Yes another moral value taught by the religious right, oh wait they covered that up for how many years. I do have to give you credit for reading the bio, or did you gather that from another gay bashing web site?As for Hitler he too murdered homosexuals, so please let’s learn more about what a hate monger can do when left alone to quietly preach HATE to millions of people allowing for the exterminations of nearly 2.5 million Jews. Oh wait there's an entire section during HISTORY class already dedicated to him. It's called WORLD WAR 2!!!!!!!

Facebook Friend WA Looking at your web site I understand if you don’t want your child to learn tolerance, why should others be excluded. By teaching children to except their peers and to acknowledge that families can be different is a bad thing, really????From the site, “In kindergarten, the schools plan to introduce children to "The New Girl … And Me" by Jacqui Robins. The book is about a young girl who is new at a school and strikes up a friendship with another girl after a popular boy refuses to play with her.Not sure how this is considered sexual. Guess one really has to read between the lines to pick that out. As for the opt-out choice I'm sure your child has missed school because of an illness, a Dr. apt, something. If you truly don’t want them to be informed then keep them home that day. There you have opted out! You're not considered a bigot for not wanting your child exposed to sexual teachings in kindergarten. You're considered a bigot when you only want your child excluded from certain sections of said lessons. They even list the lesson plan number, what are the other lessons they teach in the sexual health class? Why were the other lesson plans not listed? Because the author was focused on the fact that teaching tolerance of the LGBT people is bad. She even goes so far as mentioning the amount of money that will be spent ($8,000) of a multi million dollar budget. Yep they're going to break the bank with that lesson plan. How many students are in the Alameda school district? And why not teach about leaders, artist, writers etc who just so happened to be LGBT. Are you implying that if you're gay you're not able to contribute to society? Oh let those moral values shine.So question, how many times a day does your religion require prayer and for how long? Hourly, 10 times a day for 15 minutes inquiring minds. Because I know when I pray it's usually for less than a minute and more times than not no one even knows I'm doing it. So why does there need to be dedicated time during the school day for children to pray. it can be done before, between classes, during lunch after school. That does not mean people are intolerant to religion. If you want your child to be able to pray in school send them to private school. Because you're footing the bill the rules for church and states separation don’t apply. Your child can pray for the entire day with out a care in the world. Oh wait no they can’t because they too have a lesson plan that must be followed, but at least you know they wont be taught about all those amoral, pedophile LGBT people in the world

Facebook High School Friend The part you're ignoring is the part where Harvey had relationships with 16 year olds. In my country, that's pedophilia. And I agree with you that all pedophiles should be put away, no matter what the sexual orientation. No, I don't want my children to be exposed to this in school. No, pedophiles should not be celebrated in school. As I said before, you have the double standard. You want others to be tolerant of you, but you're not willing to tolerate anything but your own ways.

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I do not Trust Yelp.com

2010-06-06T12:41:00.000-07:00

This is a blog about Yelp.com, integrity, and social media. It's also a follow up to the my blog, Fired over Foursquare, ( http://tinyurl.com/28ckzwk ) which I wrote a few weeks ago. DISCLOSURE: I was not: but I am now a disgruntled employee of "Blank," from the aforementioned blog.

In "F over F" I wrote about a business owner who did not understand, because of social media sites and outlets, such as Foursquare, Facebook, MySpace, CitySearch, Metromix and YELP, that clients of their business have the ability to choose to follow a hairdresser or aerobics instructor or waiter to another business location AND the client also has the right to stay and patronize the owners' business. In this day and age, both the business owner and the service personnel have the ability to provide a very personal ongoing rapport and relationship with their clients, and prospective clients, with their social media skills. Because of social media, the client has choice!

As a hairdresser with an Iphone, my clients let me know if they are running late or they can "FaceBook me" with hair or restaurant questions. They can see what I'm up to on the weekends and join me for volleyball. And through Twitter and Facebook I can let them know if we have a new product that I recommend or if we get a new stylist into the salon that I would like them to welcome with me. My website links me and clients to Green sites and my novels and my writing. And my blog is, well, you're reading it...

Since "Blank" did not understand the social netting that supports and sustains his clients enjoyment and continued interaction with his business, it came as no surprise to me that he and I would agree to end our business relationship and we parted ways--on good terms--or so I thought. [By the way, Blank finally got a FaceBook fan page and a website. Both mediums do not solicit interaction from staff or clients.]

Then the letter arrived in my clients mail boxes from Blank Salon. It did not have a welcoming tone such as "We thank you for your business and we'd love to see you again." It simply stated that I was no longer working at his salon. A shitty piece of marketing and a waste of a stamp, I say. I do believe Blank had his feelings hurt because I left, but come on...

Well this letter pissed off quite a few of my clients. First they panicked. (see comments on "F over F") And then they went to any number of social media outlets to find out where I was. And then two of my clients who had previously posted positive comments on YELP went back onto YELP to let Blank know that they did not appreciate the way they were treated.

Another disclosure: It might matter to you and to YELP and to BLANK, but I did not put my clients up to this. BUT I could be a vindictive ex-employee who is also a liar.

SO: Here's where what really pisses me off. "SOMEONE" had those unsolicited YELPs written by my clients removed. And do you know which Yelps were are left on for Blanks business? The positive Yelps that my clients had previously written about me and another ex-employee who also now happened to works with me at a brand new salon! So, basically, as of today, all of his positive ratings are still being generated by Yelps about me and another former employee. As a stylist who's still bringing new clients to Blank's salon via social media shoutouts from my client's past YELP's: I'm appalled. But as a writer of Chicago scandal and social injustice--I love it! Thank you, YELP and Blank.

Shame on the business owner if he was the one who had only the negative Yelps removed. BUT damn you YELP for taking away the voice of real customers. Neither of my clients were contacted by YELP to see if a vindictive hairdresser put them up to a negative posting--so both of them re-posted again--only with a vengeance.

I have always enjoyed a high Yelp rating because my clients are social media users and they can say what they will about me. Thank god, it's been positive--up to now. But also, up until now, I have thought of YELP as an unbiased resource of reviews from real customers of businesses; businesses that I might like to use, such as restaurants, salons etc.

But I do not trust Yelp.com anymore. If a business can keep a positive Yelp ratings simply by removing posts that they do not like, this site has no integrity. Yelp is simply a tool. And maybe a bigger tool than I think Blank is.

I am now going to dedicate a page of my website, http://mafiahairdresser.com/ to making sure that Chicago stylists don't get kicked to the curb by tyrannical salon owners, and that Chicago clients can always find out where their stylist are. More to come...
Please order your copy of Mafia Hairdresser, the novel about my life as a hairdresser to a mob couple in the 80's, and subscribe to this blog!

Sensitivity to Hair-Coloring = Toxic you

2010-06-06T06:07:00.000-07:00

Just today, a client came into the salon only to be diagnosed, by me, to be too sensitive for the same procedure that she has been having done for years—having her hair colored. Not that it is of much importance to this article, but I usually highlight her dark brown hair which is just starting to gray. And then I “bump” the base, which means that I color the root area not highlighted in foil packets—this is the relevant part: hair coloring product touches her scalp.
In my 30 plus years in the business, I have not heard of hair-coloring or hair tinting ever killing or permanently hurting someone. Oh yes, I’ve seen the rare burn marks and patches on scalps from pasted relaxers or lifting or bleaching or highlighting products. (Not done by me, of course.) But hair-coloring products are mostly milder that those that I just listed and have been very safe for putting on the skin.
But wait—times have changed. I have been coloring a long time and, along with every other stylist in the business; we are all seeing a trend. We are noticing our women clients become more sensitive to hair coloring at a younger and younger age than ever before. Sensitivity means that the body or skin can react in any number of ways; by tingling, burning, itching or aching. One could develop a racing pulse, or have shortness of breath and, I’m sure more or less severe symptoms. My client’s scalp had become sensitive to hair coloring and her skin tingled and then she felt burning. So I knew we could no longer use the same hair coloring products on her scalp that had been perfectly fine for many years prior.
This sensitivity to hair coloring phenomenon is now becoming more common. We colorists have all begun experimenting with new coloring systems. Some without PPD’s (paraphenylenediamine) in them or some with ammonia-free agents. We have learned to use buffers and oils to calm the skin. We recommend shampoos without sulfates or too many chemicals in them and the list is getting longer and longer for the extremes that we will go to keep our livelihood and our clients happy and safe. And, ultimately, all we are doing is trying to keep those “witchy” grays from aging our brunette clients, or keeping our formerly beach-bleached blonde girls light, or keeping redheads from fading into orange mediocrity.
About now, if you are women reading this and you are also someone who is not about to stop coloring your hair, you are looking for that one product, or that one suggestion, that you will glean from this article so that you can tell your stylist to use it just so that you will be able to color your hair till you’re ready to be buried in your favorite black cocktail dress.
But there will be no more chemical jargon in this article. And there is no miracle product to add to the ones I know could be causing sensitivity problems for today’s coloring client. In fact, I know that hair tints and dyes and anything that we use on the skin in this industry is now more safe for your skin and hair that at any other time in my career. Not that I trust the FDA, but the “stuff” they have in professional products is just better. And yet it is not good enough or non-toxic enough if your body is saying, “I am being exposed to too many chemicals—and I want that to stop.” You see, if you are alive today, your body has been bombarded with more toxins from the likes of treated beds and pillows, more poisons from gardening products, more DNA disruptors from paints and water bottles, and more radiation from tech equipment than any generations before. AND you are constantly putting duress-stress on you “mind-body-system” by daily taking in 400 times more information than your grandparents did from: your television and TV monitors everywhere, 3G phones, computers, KIDS, and the whole list of crap you do every day just to get by. Add that up and your body is going to start to react. It’s going to tell you something: Stop. Slow down. Treat me right. Get these built-up toxin out of me!
And how is your body going to tell you all that? By getting tired. By upset stomachs. By sensitivity to products and foods that you never had a problem with before. I know you want a miracle product to patch you up so you can keep doing what you are doing. A pill that you can take so that you can address your toxin intake or stress intake on your own time schedule. But yeah, no. The time is now. Do it before your body breaks down or your stylists tells you that he/she cannot color your grays (gasp!). Or worse, before you spend thousands on hospital bills and doctors--like I have.
Back to the story of my client. Along with her sensitivity to hair coloring she had also begun to have skin and stomach problems. One thing that I’ve notice with people who have sensitive skin, it’s that it started out with a sensitive stomach. Her doctor even suggested she could be Celiac which mean she will have to go on a Glutton-free diet for the rest of her life. (I’m close to succumbing to this realization for myself.) Now, when I suggested that she start using “anti-inflammatory foods” (Google that!), she seemed a little interested. But when I also recommended meditation, her mind put the brakes on.
“Whoh,” she said, “all this sound like a lot of time. I’m in sales and I’m on the road all the time. I don’t have time to meditate or wade through the menus at restaurant just to find things that I can eat.”
I did not explain to her that it did not matter if she would take the time or not. She needs to reverse some of reasons her body is sensitive such as the accumulation of toxin and stress on her body. She may not know it now, but her body will tell her when it has had enough. Years ago, I had a few emergency trips to the hospital myself—stomach problems…, then relaxing problems…, then skin problems…, then: bam! I now meditate, exercise and I eat a lot of anti-inflammatory foods, and I avoid toxins where I can. I also read up on what could be my next step to even better health.
By the end of my client’s appointment, I promised her that I would have a coloring product to cover her grays by the next time she came in. I could still use the highlighter because that does not touch her skin. She seemed put at ease but I knew that the hair was not the most important thing. Her health was.

Here are my suggestions to help you make sure that you are healthy. This is my “miracle product” that I think could help all of us. It’s a path. I just hope I can make the path a little less daunting for you by illuminating the way.

Start to take personal action: Don’t change everything all at once. You can slowly tackle toxin purging by getting rid or your garden poisons or toxic cleaners, little by little, or as they run out. They didn’t come into your life over night and you’ve got a few months to get used to the idea of getting rid of them, slowly but surely.
Green Cleaner news: read my green cleaner blog or go to: http://www.ecomaids.com/

Eat Better: http://nutrition.about.com/od/changeyourdiet/qt/inflamguide.htm
For Babys: http://www.earthbaby-organics.com/

Learn a little more: Read about a mom's journey to a healthy life for her sons through a divorce!: http://ecoactionplan.wordpress.com/
You're welcome: http://storyofstuff.com/ This one's a good start for anyone.
A must: http://www.squidgonegreen.com/
Best articles: http://www.icountformyearth.com/ My personal Fav.
Best of Chicago: http://www.mindfulmetropolis.com/
Go to the Green section of MafiaHairdresser.com. Follow my Green Twitter list @mafiahairdreser on Twitter. And, for heaven's sake, subscribe to this blog!

Empower yourself: Once you start feeling more health and energy, you'll get worked up about more health and you'll see how chemicals and toxins need not be in our foods and environment and then you'll start taking bigger actions.
Sign a petition each week. http://care2.org/
Pass on some information on twitter. http://www.chicagoclimateaction.org/
You can’t save the whole world but you can donate a few dollars a month or join one online organization. http://worldwildlife.org/.

Know that it is enough and stop worrying: Please know that what you are doing is enough--for today. For your health. For your family.
And you’ve got to trust that everyone is going to start walking this healthy path one day as well. Each of us is going to wake up on our own time (you did!) and care for ourselves and then the environment by taking actions. If we all do a little bit, on our own pace—all will be well. If you worry about other people not doing their part, you might have to medicate or meditate and exercise more!....
Exercise: You will suck at it for the first 30 days but do yoga ten to twenty minutes a day. Lock the kids in a closet if you have to but just start doing something. Buy a matt and a DVD and get started. Walk!
If you are healthy or ill: HUG A TREE! One of my client’s doctor’s actually told her to start hugging trees. This woman was diagnosed and treated for lung cancer and was told she would die in two years even after surgery. That was 15 years ago. And she attributes her health to getting outside and getting back in touch with nature and the healing (and free!) vibrations of trees.
Stop, look and listen to your body: If you think that you are stressing out your mind and body, turn off the TV, computer, cell phone… And then start looking into the foods, water and chemicals around you and begin your health journey today. MEDITATE. Think about it, if you do not get healthy, I might be out of a job in few years.

Mwah!
Please order your copy of Mafia Hairdresser, the novel about my life as a hairdresser to a mob couple in the 80's, and subscribe to this blog!

Our Homework is Due and We have an Oilspill to clean up.

2010-05-30T06:12:00.000-07:00

The British Petroleum oil spill disaster is disgusting and is the most saddening of holocausts of oceans, nature and human health. But I’m ultimately responsible. And so are you. We’re responsible for letting it happen. And now we are responsible for learning our lessons from this catastrophe, and then making sure something like this never happens again.
Look, I know this is in-your-face. I’m holding up my ugly mirror to myself too. But, we as a collective one-planet, one-society people need to wake up, get educated, and then start voting for leaders who will help us be able to co-exist with nature in harmony. And that means learning how to be green, and taking responsibility for the companies that we buy things such as oil, food and cleaners from. This also means that we might have to read more and learn more than what is in US magazine. It might mean less reality show television per week for some of us, or taking care of yourself so you have the energy to actually register to vote.
Face it, puppets; We’re human and we’re tired from being busy-bees in our buzzy lives. We all just want our lives to be easier and better so we go along with status quo or with what we know is not quite-right-yet. We’re all going to be more green when we get more time to investigate how to do it. We might put our money into religions that discriminate against gays or Jews because they have the best schools in more convenient areas. And we buy products or food from companies that have caused insurmountable agony to God’s little creatures because the product is cheaper or cleans better, or the food is your “little indulgence.” But this negligence builds up and we will have to deal with how we turned our backs on these small atrocities sooner or later.
Every time we just go along with status quo, or put our money into an agency, company or product that hurts someone or an animal or our environment, we are looking away. A company like British Petroleum could very have well by now be making its money by manufacturing solar batteries for clean cars if it had put its vast surplus of funds into this type of research and developement. We could have written them letters or marched against them or stopped driving our Hummers. But hey, we were busy—they’re a big scary company—I’m just one guy…. And they are corporation that responds to supply and demand.
So, we have let the mess get this far. We let our oil consumption ways, our laziness, and our fear of personal change cause a disaster which will affect us all for the rest of our lives in ways we do not yet comprehend. But I’m going to forgive myself. I hope you do too. Let’s dust off the shame. Let’s crack open the “books” and learn and read and do better next time—and let’s vote and make noise where we see injustice or wrong. Let us never let our homework pile up so bad to where we get a big-fat F for fail again.

Here’s were you can start today.
Subscribe to http://www.squidgonegreen.com/ This website is a must-site for everyone. Squid Gone Green lets you ease into green with helpful information, tips, and ways to wrap your mind around your own way of personal Earth stewardship.
http://www.moveon.org/ and http://www.sierraclub.org/ are great political resources which help you make good and sound voting decisions FOR the environment. Join them.
http://www.care2.com/ is the easiest way to do weekly or daily action for a better earth. They will make it easy for you to cast a vote and let your congressmen, senators and our president know that you are watching them and expect a better world.I tweet. And you can go to my personal mafia-green & mafia-solar lists and puruse through the Green tweeps that I learn from and follow. Tweet me personally and I can help you find what you need.
I'll do a special blog to help you along as I grow more green myself. But this is a good start.
Please order your copy of Mafia Hairdresser, the novel about my life as a hairdresser to a mob couple in the 80's, and subscribe to this blog!

Fired over Foursquare?

2010-05-12T08:50:00.000-07:00

Up to now the salon where I have worked for three years has been my financial anchor, and the place where I have chosen to do my clients’ hair. I have blogged about the salon, written pieces for my boss, and I’ve “checked in” on Foursquare to keep the salon name and address in the public eye. I’ve also made mention on Facebook and my website whenever we got a new product in or a new stylist because the salon had no social media presence other than the occasional piece in print. Since the boss had no website I felt I was doing a pretty good job at keeping his name out there. It’s only been recently that he asked me to cease and desist.

The first inkling that I had that my boss had an issue with everything that I had been doing in media for the past three years was when I was a guest artist for “Haircuts for Haiti.” It was an event that I brought up to him and he turned down so I attended with a salon down the street called Joseph Michael’s Salon & Spa. (I had previously worked there for 14 years and left on great terms. I just needed a change.) In fact, I had also helped another happy Joseph Michael’s ex employee dovetail on the Joseph Michael’s event and he did the same event the same day at Chicago Male. I had helped “pool” the publicity, aka, social marketing. This successful event gave a nice glow to the people who worked at Joseph Michael’s and Chicago Male. Two salons and stylists from other salons, coming together to do a good thing: Right? My boss was enraged. He did not like the linking of one of his stylists with another salon in print or internet-wise. Basically, I laughed.

The first cease and desist came when my boss noticed that, when I checked in on Foursquare on FaceBook, the Googlemap would be the address to Bodhi Spiritual Center. Bodhi is where I had been the leader of what is called the Green Ministry. To make matters worse, sometimes my website, MafiaHairdresser.com would show up. Now, I never saw either of these things come up in my FaceBook feed, or anywhere else, but I’m sure they happened. It took the salon manager to figure out that I had innocently put my salon’s work number in all three of my listed jobs as Hairdresser, Writer and Green Leader. So, whenever I checked into Foursuare on Facebook, the Foursquare address and number for the salon merged and matched with Bodhi’s weblink or mine. I guess this is what they call a bug but my boss was bugged off! He accused me of espionage and tinkering with Googlemaps and secret coding and all kinds of other things that he and I don’t understand.

I didn’t laugh that time. In fact I apologized to my boss when we fixed that glitch and I let him know that I would have fired me if I had actually thought an employee actually did what he had accused me of. In retrospect, I think he was afraid that I’d slag him in the social media world.

Social Media is part of what I do to. It helped me walk into a new salon with ½ a clientele, build up a new clientele, and even brought new clients to other stylist; all because of social marketing. It helps me spread the green word, keep in touch with my clients and, soon, it will help me publish my two novels and well as a third of which I am writing now. (Based on social media and a "Grindr" murder in Arizona--?)

The parting of the ways from “Blank” salon came when my boss asked me to remove any mention of his name from my website. Instead, he wanted me to put a link to his new up and coming website. He also asked me never to mention his salon’s name on Twitter or Facebook, nor check into his salon on Foursquare. No phone number to where I worked was to be placed in my job listing on Facebook, but I was allowed to put his website link in. All of this was to position and posture himself as sole administrator and director of his newly trademarked “brand.” Oh yeah, he would not put my link, MafiaHairdresser.com, on his new Facebook fan page nor his up and coming website. He said that he was afraid that people would think that he was in the mafia because his last name was Italian.

Now, I’m all for being the ruler of your own brand. I have my own. I’m Mafia Hairdresser. I have a blogspot and a website and it is the name of my first novel. Anyone who follows me on Twitter or has seen my feeds on FaceBook or has read my blogs know that I’m a hairdresser and a green-guy who writes whatever I talk about to my clients—which is exactly what I’m doing now.

And my brand needs to reach people. Sometimes I want to look like a struggling writer: see my simple blogspot or Go-Daddy website. And sometimes I want people to think that I’m a bigger brand so I will partner with an art Gallery like Curly Tale Fine Art to host an Earth Hour fundraiser for Climate Cycle. These entities allow me to blog and Facebook and Tweet about them. And I know that Curly Tale Fine Art and Earth Hour and Climate Cycle have blogged, Facebooked or Tweeted-up my brand up as well for their own purposes. It’s all good.

But what happens when you work for an employer who may not understand how social media works? I know an aerobics instructor who is not allowed to Tweet, Facebook, or blog about his work and he cannot contact his clients in anyway shape or form through the internet. How does he get new clients or keep the ones he has? Of course the employer has not caught up with how social media can help their business and they are using antiquated reasoning trying to handle their own brand. And yet, I guess it is in their own right to try and do so.

Now, here is the slag. When I left my last salon three years ago, they referred all my clients; as well as gave them the option to stay at their salon with a “new client” special. And many clients did stay at Joseph Michael’s Salon & Spa as it is wonderful salon environment. In which case, the clients got to choose, and they are where they are comfortable. When I left “Blank” (over reasons plus more being said here) to go back to the new-location new-salon, Joseph Michael’s Salon & Spa, the clients were not given any idea where I had gone to. They were just told that their stylist would contact them. Is it in the rights of this salon owner to issue such an order to his desk staff; to not tell clients where their stylist went to? Maybe. And maybe that is my problem and every other stylist’s potential problem for as long as I’ve been a stylist.

But how many clients think that this sucks for them? How many clients has this happened to? If I had hair (and I don’t), I think location would be key, along with the environment of where I got my hair cut. If my stylist left to a place where I didn’t want to travel to, I think I’d just like to stay where I was. I would have seen the other stylist work and I could pick out my next stylist. And that has to be okay. Okay for the stylist, the salon, and especially me, the client who doesn't give a "Hootsuite" about how my own hair looks. But if the salon tried to keep me there by not giving me a choice, I would have not stayed at that salon. Location or comfort would be put aside. I would have a bad taste in my mouth and I would just go somewhere else - closer.

I believe those days are over. There is social media. A client can reach out and find their stylist in Blogs. E-mail. Twitter. Facebook. Yelp. CitySearch. And more.
And what about the stylist? What happens when a stylist blogs and Tweets and uses Facebook for his work and passions and yet gets the ‘let-go’ from his financial anchor? I don’t know about the rest of you, stylists. But I blog.

___________________________________________________________________

-----Original Message-----From a client @ dot.com to MafiaHairdresser @ dot.com

Sent: Wed, May 12, 2010 9:23 am

Subject: Where are you!!!!!

Hi JD,
I just called to make a haircut appointment with you and found out that you are no longer at "Blank!" I hope everything is OK with you! Have you gone somewhere else? The receptionist had the nerve to ask if I wanted to see someone else!!! I said I've been with JD for like 16 years!! I would love to hear what is going on. Please email me back when you can. And also - I'm hoping that you are somewhere else - I need a haircut!!!
"Client"

I’m a hairdresser. I’m also an environmental enthusiast who tries to spread the word of good Earth stewardship and I’m a writer who has written two as of yet to be published novels. I’ve had a column in an Orange County newspaper and I’ve sold one screenplay and had a hit play. And every one of these endeavors or occupations has relied on the other to be able to sustain the other. Listening to clients gives me ideas and a pulse on the world for my stories. The money I make from doing hair pays for events that I might produce like an Earth Hour party to raise funds for a group like Climate Cycle or put me through programs like Chicago’s C-3 which teaches community leaders everything green in the city to know. I’m a good community leader because I care and I’m a feisty writer and a damn fine working hairdresser. And you are invited to subscribe to this blog or Tweet about what I say, share it on Facebook or "Yelp" on any other social network with your own opinion about what I say in your own words.

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http://mafiahairdresser.com/

Death Club

2010-04-27T11:18:00.000-07:00

I’m a writer and sometimes I do not get to choose the topic or subject that I end up writing about. Most artists/writers/painters/hairdressers, often say that their work is actually just channeled from a spirit or passion outside or within themselves. Today, my passionate spirit tells me that I am going to write about death.
Damn. I’ve been the “lucky” conduit of sentences and thoughts relating to this subject before. When one of my best of friends, Dennis, died in a car accident five years ago, I wrote a whole fictionalized tale about the incident. What was finally written (#catharsis) was a story about the guilt and loss one feels when loosing someone close who was so young. Because of my loss and with this story I realized my membership into the Death Club. The Death Club is the club that you think you can be a part of but never really are until you loose a close friend or family member. You may know what to say when someone else dies--someone not close to you. You may know how to do the right things, like listen to, comfort, or cook for the people “left behind.” But you will still be the same person you were, and will continue to be until you officially become a member of the Death Club.
When someone dies young or untimely or brutally, it changes the people close to them. For my own loss already mentioned, it got me to thinking that I should have been nicer to Dennis. Listened more. Cherished our relationship more. Before his accident, he had broken his leg, and gained weight and felt lethargic and unhappy. I was his buddy but I kept up my pace, go-go-go, of which he had previously been a part of and no longer could or wanted to. On the night of the accident, we were talking back and forth while he was driving from San Francisco to Palm Springs. I knew he was tired and I knew he probably had a glass of wine with dinner. And I knew he sounded bummed out but both of us always tried to stay “upbeat;” meaning: we hardly talked about what was really up with us. It was only minutes after I talked to him that he swerved into the guardrail and was instantly killed. (No one else was hurt.)
I have not been the same person every since that accident. I hear Dennis in my head telling me to keep writing. Dennis was always my biggest cheerleader and he always wanted me to write about him and our adventures—and I have and I do hope one day to publish those stories. Nowadays, I may be a little bit of a “go-go-guy,” but I don’t distract myself with the silly things that used to jeopardize my goals. And I always try to listen to the writing that is trying to channel through me. I would not be as good or diligent a writer without Dennis, nor without the Death Club.
What brought this subject to mind on this day? #1 Last February, my fourteen year old niece became a member of the Death Club. He beloved friend, Aly, and Aly’s mother were murdered by a mentally unstable ex-spouse.
#2 My friend Mark was murdered in his own Arizona apartment in a few nights ago.
Both of these deaths have linked me to my niece and Mark’s friends and family. I know what they are going through. And I know what the days ahead are going to be like.
Yes, I know what to say to the one’s left behind. And they know I will be here for them. But, more importantly, I know that they will never be the same person they were before their friends were taken. It’s a terrible club to be a part of, but one that we may all have to unwillingly join one day. We have to make what we make with this membership. I write.
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The Savings is lost on me. But Save yourself.

2010-04-15T03:39:00.000-07:00

I am declaring, right here and now, that I will probably never join your rewards program. I will not sign up to receive your discounts. And I cannot fathom even thinking about clicking on anything to get the coupon deal, even if it could save me 50% or more on my next meal at my favorite restaurant or store.
The other day when I was doing my friend and client Kim's hair, she told me to go to Groupon.com and get the $100 for $50 "daily special" for one of my Chicago restaurants, Elate. Well, I have always recommended Groupon to my clients and I love the restaurant at Hotel Felix, Elate. So I told all my other clients about it the rest of the day. I'm just one of those guys/hairdressers that likes to, not only run your life by telling you how you should look, but I like to help you in your day-to-day life as well. This is probably a damaged-ego thing, but I feel it's in the "helpful symbiotic" category and it makes both me and my clients happy.

Anyway, on my way home from "helping" people at work, I stopped at a CVS to get a packet of adult bed wetting pads and noticed that there were two prices on the shelf-marker. One for CVS members and one for non-members. Then I remembered why I did not like to shop at CVS. I had to carry yet another membership card, sign up with my email address so they could hound me, or worse, send me paper shit at home.

The whole reason I was getting the damned wet-the-bed pads was because my room-mate and I have little dogs and we know that the adult pads are cheaper than buying the actual dog wee-wee pads. [See, there I go again, passing on useful information. I can't stop! You're welcome.] But at CVS they have to rub it in my face that I will LOOSE money if I don't join their stupid club or rewards program; of which I will forget to activate online, or I'll forget the actual activated membership card at home when I go to purchase my next packet of adult bed wetting pads. It's not enough that anyone in line thinks I'm incontinent. I have to feel like I'm stupid for forgetting the coupon or card. Or I have to feel like I'm loosing money and maybe I'm just too lazy to save it.

From now on, F-U: Ace Rewards and Best Buy and DSW. Screw-you to every restaurant that gives me those tree-wasting hole punch cards. And ptew-ptew on you Groupon.com and firstgiveing.com. I'm done with you and your complicated savings. I'm paying full price and I will have more time and less money and I'm gonna live my life, god-damn-it!
But I will totally recommend you to all my friends and clients. There are some very good deals out there. Ya'll should know about them.

Soooo, after I got home from Walgreen's with my dogs' cheaper wee-wee pads, I sat down at my computer and wrote what I'm sure was a pleasant blog about hair, or something about how to be green or about cute furry animals. Something helpful. By the time I went to bed I, of course, forgot to go to Groupon.com. I missed the daily deal.

The next day when Kim called me to go to Elate for dinner, there was a surge of hate and bile that riled up in me. I was very angry. At first, I felt it all for Kim for telling me about the deal, of which I lost out on, and then the rage turned upon myself for WASTING money. And then, suddenly, I felt a calm, like I have never known. I found my inner peace. And then I said to Kim, "I'm free tonight. You're buying."

Groupon.com Firstgiving.com HotelFelixChicago.com You really should try them all.

And you should also subscribe to my blog or go to MafiaHairdresser.com. I will probably not reciprocate if it's too hard or if I have to remember a special code or carry a card.
Please order your copy of Mafia Hairdresser, the novel about my life as a hairdresser to a mob couple in the 80's, and subscribe to this blog!

Mad Hatter's Tea

2010-03-25T11:28:00.000-07:00

Mad Hatter's Tea:
1 part 7up
1 part White Cranberry Juice
1 part White Wine
1 part Apple Pucker
1/2 part Blue Curaso
2 parts Absolut Vodka
Mix all together and Chill for 1 to 2 hours and serve shaken in martini shaker with ice: straight-up in martini glasses.
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Social Media and the Death of the RSVP

2010-03-23T05:09:00.000-07:00

How do you feel when you invite someone to an event, via Evite, FaceBook events or by DM or "feed" on Twitter, and then the person does not respond?

Quite unintentionally, I did a little experiment in this realm only to realize that people do like me but are overwhelmed by social media.

I was throwing an Earth Hour fundraiser to benefit Climate Cycle, a Chicago bike ride that puts solar power in Chicago schools. So, like any social "media experts," I tweeted regularly, to alert the media. I emailed the PSA's to the proper media. And I changed my FaceBook picture to the national Earth Hour logo and sent out a detailed Event invite to FaceBook friends whom I specifically wanted to attend this $10 lights-out with-flashlights event at an art gallery. Also sent were 4o Evites via email to my nearest and dearest as well as 300 emails which probably overlapped all of the above.

Do you know how many RSVP's I got the first week? Two.

Of course, I thought I had booked my event on the same night as a bigger better event in Chicago. Or maybe the cost was too high? Maybe my friends hated me? Or worse: my social media "influence" was so low that anything I did was not going to be important enough to attend or mention.

Upon investigation, the media people could only put me on a calendar because there were so many other Earth Hour events going on in the city of Chicago. Yeah for green Chicago! So my feeling were not hurt there. And when I began to message my friends on FaceBook who did not respond, most of them said they had been busy and didn't even notice the event or that they were waiting to respond to see if they could come.

Of the emailed and Evited, I began to make personal calls. And that is when my event booked up. Of all of my verbal RSVP's on the phone, all of them said they felt overwhelmed by Emails and Evites and Facebook events. And most everyone had just shut down, looked down, and pretended that hadn't seen any invites or posts from anyone. Not just mine. They were just overloaded and most all of them appreciated my personal call.

Now, I'm not saying that I'm going to call everyone the next time I have another event or party. But I think I'm going to look at snail-mail and phoning to, at least, the most important friends that I want to come to my next party.

It's sad that social media is overloading people so much that they are not responding at all.

I get it. Many of those invitations are directs sells to something. And we are all victims of being one of many people using social media for personal use-which also makes us targets, publicly exposed to marketers and other social media experts, like me, who have something that we want you to buy or attend.

If I have any advice at all on this subject, it is to respond. Yeah or nay. On Facebook and Evite, feel free to decline. Your invitor needs a head count. I like to add that the "event sounds great but that I have previous engagement." No feelings will get hurt, and you will keep getting invited--maybe to an event that you would like and can attend. On Twitter, go ahead and retweet or DM your twit-friend and say "what a cool event"-you can also say that you would go but you cannot. To me, Twitter is still a personal conversation with many and we do need each other. Maybe not now, but we are all building up "followings."

To all those who don't respond: Don't worry about it. If the person who invited you wanted you to come so bad, they could have sent a real (old fashioned) invite in the mail or (gasp) called you.

My last comment is an apology to all those whom I had not responded to in the past. I promise to let you know if I can or cannot attend your event. Your event is important to you and I respect that you would like me to throw you some love. I can do that, if not in person, then in a two sentence response.

Sincerely,

Jon-David

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Pet Psychic

2010-03-05T07:39:00.001-08:00

Okay, here's a neat one: An animal communicator who has helped a client and her pets.

My client Barbara is a church going gal who was previously not too keen on metaphysics. But when she and her two cats moved in with her new husband and his hound, Elvis; Elvis began to howl every night and he began to shed profusely as well as chew his own cheek. Being a compassionate woman, Barbara instinctually knew that that the dog was having adjustment problems to the new additions to the household.
She and her husband took the dog to the vet which resulted in giving Elvis "doggy-Valium." Her husband also changed the dog's diet and took the dog on longer walks. All to no avail. Elvis still howled, shed and chewed.
So, on they sly (not telling her husband), Barbara decided to call and scheduled an over-the-phone session with a pet psychic: Someone who had also worked wonders with a neighbor's pet. Barbara said, when they psychic answered and got on the line with her, her two cats and the nervous dog came running into the kitchen, where she was on the phone, and the three all sat down and stared at Barbara on the phone.
Weird-kewl, right?
The psychic then preceded to tell Barbara that the dog was freaked out because the husband had been paying more attention to his new bride and had not been paying as much attention to the Elvis. (Which seems normal for a new marriage-if you know what I mean--but devastating to the man's prior best friend.) The Psychic also stated that Elvis had noticed that his master also let the cats up on the furniture which was something that he had never been allowed to do. The dog also"told" the psychic that he feared that his owner liked Barbara and the cats more than him, and that he was waiting for the day that the husband was going to get rid of him.
Poor Elvis!
The advice to Barbara from the psychic was to just notice how the dog looked every time she was at home sitting on the couch with her husband. Were the cats allowed on the couch? Did she and her husband acknowledge the dog? Also, because of the dog's shedding and his nervous tics, the psychic bet that the husband did indeed resent the behavior of his older pooch and truly had been tending to ignore him--which Barbara admitted that he did and was.
After the session, Barbara changed the way she was around the dog and also "led" her husband to pay attention to the dog without telling him her behavior was a direct result of calling a pet psychic--which she never told him anyway.
Long story short: Dog is happy. No howling. Stopped shedding. No more Doggy Valium; but they kept the good new diet for the dog. Husband and Elvis are happy and best friends again.
I've recommended this woman to many of my clients. She's good at what she does. Use her if you have a problem to solve with your pet, or if you think your pet is depressed or needs help that you cannot figure out.
Here's the Animal Communicator's current information:Carol Shultz, Animal Communicator
P.O. Box 577
Pekin, IL 61555

Carol@carolschultz.com
http://www.carolschultz.com/index.htm

As of 8/31/2010, I have not used Carol's services. Today, I emailed her with payment: My dog Junebug (Yorkie) has taken to peeing on my roomate's dog's eating area (Tina the pug) and I cannot get her to stop. I'll let you know how it goes.

I'd also like to mention that Carol is mentioned on the wall on FaceBook Animal Ministry page. She helps animal and owner rights in Illinois. Join her cause and the Animal Ministry.
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Dark Circles/Puffy Eyes & Irritated Acne Skin

2010-03-04T10:29:00.000-08:00

Dark Circles and puffy eyes are due to a build up of toxins under the thin skin around and under the eyes. Some peeps suffer from this build-up more than others. But your diet and sleep should be looked at if you, all of a sudden, get circles and puffy.
Here's a good remedy:mix equal parts [1 tablespoon/1 tablespoon] of filtered or bottled water with plain old corn starch-- then slather a little layer of the white paste mixture under your eyes. The corn starch will naturally pull out the toxins and quiet & sooth the area around the eyes. Leave it on 5 to 20 minutes every morning or right before you go out. This is very safe for your eyes. When you rinse off the now-dry paste, your eye cream and make up will go on smoother and your eyes will be refreshed and clear.

You can use this mask on your entire face too. Great for all types. ESPECIALLY ACNE Skins! Normal/Dry Oily. It calms the skin and lets the impurities loosen up.

For extra dry skins you can mix low-fat milk instead of water. But never use the low-fat milk mixture around the eyes. Only the pure water formula. For skin that is extra oily: you can mix carrot juice with the corn starch. But never use this formula around the eyes either! Only the pure water formula.

Yeah well, you're welcome.
Love ya,
Mafia Hairdresser.
" Best hairdresser in Chicago "
Thank you to you and Yelp and City Search
Please order your copy of Mafia Hairdresser, the novel about my life as a hairdresser to a mob couple in the 80's, and subscribe to this blog!

Green Cleaners

2010-02-15T15:34:00.000-08:00

These are my two favorite recipes for green cleaners that I use regularly at home. They are the first two recipes that I learned how to make when I became a C-3 leader* in Chicago and I have taught friends and classes of people how to make them.

Oh: Why would you want to make you own home cleaners?

Because cleaning products make up the bulk of our indoor air pollution. Even when they are dry or have dried, carpet deodorizers, window cleaners, tub and toilet scrubbers and disinfectants, and more, can interact with your nervous system, aggravate or activate asthma, irritate skin, eyes, nose, throat, lungs. Vapors and gases emitted from these products constantly release carcinogens into the air and may cause pulmonary edema, and inhibit reflexes. It doesn’t matter if these products cause only temporary headaches or dizziness, or short-lived skin irritation, or if you experience a fleeting slight narrowing of blood vessels or an momentary increase in blood pressure; UNLESS you know that cancer is has gone from 1 in 8000 to 1 in 2 people and Cancer is caused by irritation. Cancer is caused by irritation of an organ or a whole body system. Different cleaners irritate different organs and systems in the body.
Agh. We’ve made the connection. Enough said.
(Mafia Hairdresser will always get to the point quickly, unless I’m writing my “fictionistas.”)

Basic Cleaner:
½ teaspoon baking soda (or 2 teaspoon of 2o Mule Team Borax)
½ teaspoon liquid soap/cleaner (**this is the one I use the most)
2 cups hot water
Mix ingredient to together in a spray bottle and you can clean floors, countertops, kitchens and bathrooms and you will have no headaches, nasal or throat inflammations and your home will begin to smell cleaner and fresher. Add two drops of Tea Tree Oil for extra disinfecting. (I get my Tea Tree Oil at The Aveda Store on Michigan Ave. Tea Tree Oil is a natural disinfectant and there are other bacteria-busting essential oils that you can customize your cleaners with.)

Basic Window Cleaner:
½ teaspoon liquid soap/cleaner **
¼ cup white distilled vinegar
2 cups of water
Mix all ingredients in a spray bottle and go. I like this on stainless too.
I had a room-mate who did not like the smell of the white vinegar (although the smell wouldn’t hurt him like a VOC laden product) so I switched to apple vinegar. That one was good, and once it dried, he couldn’t smell anything at all--and that is the point.

**Mrs. Meyers Clean Day http://tinyurl.com/yfdut67
Seventh Generation http://tinyurl.com/2p7up
www.Ecos.com

Try making your own cleaner. Or try buying the environmentally-safe and health-conscious alternatives to your toxic unhealthy old products.

Here are some links to more in-depth articles if you so desire to read on. You can always come back here once you start breathing easier.

This is from Care2.com, Healthy & Green Living: http://tinyurl.com/yodpym It has more recipes for oven cleaners and carpet cleaners and more. I love Care2.com

A wonderful article about VOC’s and Asthma: http://tinyurl.com/mlfr49
NaturalHomeMagazine.com

Did you know that some of the very grass roots looking websites are funded and operated by big corporations that make new healthier and environmentally friendly products? Go to green-clean websites and keep clicking. Companies like Johnson & Johnson know that you are interested enough to want to make your own green products which means that they know that you will be abandoning their old products.
Most makers of products that currently have VOCs and carcinogens are now making healthier and less environmentally toxic products. They are gearing up for their “regular consumers” demanding to have VOC’s and bad elements taken out of their old products. They just aren’t ready to stop making their old products because most people are not quite up to speed on why we all need to buy healthy and be more careful as to what we pour down the drain. I’m ok with that, right now; so long as I know and you know and we spread the good word.
Two more helpful cleaners:
Hydrogen Peroxide: Typically found in the medicine cabinet, this disinfectant can also be used as an effective bleach alternative in the laundry room. Because it’s also a powerful oxidizing agent, it works especially well on food, soil, plant, blood and other organic stains. Just make sure to spot test in a discreet area because, like bleach, hydrogen peroxide may lighten fabrics. For each average-size load of whites, add 8 ounces of 3 percent hydrogen peroxide after you have filled the washer with hot water.
Salt: Perfect for cleaning grungy ovens, this natural abrasive is also great for soaking up fresh carpet stains such as red wine, coffee or ink. Pour salt on the wet stain. Let dry, then vacuum.

* http://tinyurl.com/ygrbkk6 c-3 Chicago Conservation Corps I'm a graduate and you can be too!

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Blackhawks Harris Club and the Cheese-Pretzel Cough

2010-02-10T08:51:00.000-08:00

First of all, let me say how awesome the Harris Club at the United Center is. I posted a link (below) for the official brochure, but the finished room and décor is far more warm and ritzy than the computer graphic brochure depicts. Four of my friends were guests of Vienna Beef. They are generous sponsors of many of our Chicago sports teams.
The four of us snubbed the snow storm last night to watch the momentous Blackhawks beat the Dallas Stars in overtime—no way were we going to pass up a chance to see a game in these special seats. And let me tell you, what a place to watch the game. We snacked on Vienna Beef hot dogs, complete with all the Chicago dog condiments, celery salt, pickles and tomatoes. We grazed on Caesar Salad, Braised Ribs, Prime Rib and snacked some more on cheese and pretzels. Jennifer, our waitress, kept us hydrated with cocktails and beer. And we had Bananas Foster for desert. Thank you, Vienna Beef!
Now for the real story.
My small band of four gluttonous drinkers were having the time of our lives. And we were acting like First-Time in First-Class kids. Each time Jennifer brought us a drink we bowed and tipped generously. We joked how terrible it was that some of the people in the $100+ dollar seats, just one row below us and behind a glass partition, felt the need to get up and get there own pizza. Pizza! De-classah….
We weren’t obnoxious and everyone around us had fun with us as well and we all watched the game as fans.
Then, at the end of the first period (around the time I was on my second helping of prime rib with extra horsey sauce), one of the two guys in Blackhawks jerseys to our left coughed. He must have had a little food in his mouth because something came out of his mouth and went over the little glass partition in front of him and landed on two other guys in the $100+ side. It couldn’t have been too gross because the two coughed-on guys turned around to see who threw or spilled food on them. They weren’t too mad. They just didn’t want it to happen again.
The dudes with the Blackhawks jerseys on my side of the partition immediately went into, it-wasn’t-me mode. And none of us in the “swells” section that saw the cough said a word either. It just goes to show ya how we of the upper levels stick together. But we jokey-snotties were soon going to question our communal silence by the second period.
One of the guys in the Blackhawks jerseys must have had a cold or something because he had a real big mouthful of pretzel and cheese and he had a cough spasm that buckshot his whole mouthful of food onto the $100+ers. About ten people below us in various rows stood up and they did look mad. (Fortunately the two gentlemen who were victims of the original cough were out of there seats getting pizza.)
The game between the Hawks and the Stars was just beginning to heat up. Point for point. A few nasty fouls. The tension in the air was great. But after the big chunks of yellow cheesy pretzel were blown from my section into the seats below, all hell done broke loose. From the middle of the second period, until we walked out of the building, the ten people who were affected by the rain of disgorge began pointing to us in our ivory tower. People with radios were called and mad people began lengthy dialogue with the FBI looking United Center security task force. They seemed to be calmed by having someone to talk to. They certainly couldn't get to any of us behind the glass. And I thought all was well when they were given green “Guest Comment” forms to fill out and return. They were also issued clear plastic bags in which to put their contaminated items into and the bags were then whisked away to what must have been an underground lab in the building for analysis. It was like watching an outbreak-terrorist movie. I think everyone wanted to get examined by a doctor immediately and lynch the perpetrators. Again, thank god for the glass partition.

And then the hats and free beers started coming.
And there it was. These people may have been a little mad, but they certainly wanted free stuff and whatever the United Center would give them if they claimed they were infected with H1N1 or Hepatitis A through Z.
And when the original ten began to get free hats and beers, the people around them seemed to recall how they had been affected as well, like they all had delayed post traumatic spittle memory recall. So then they all began to fill out green forms too and hats and beers followed.
To their credit, the two guys who were originally hit with cough-spew came back with their pizza, sized up the situation, and ignored the grabby gabby people around them and watched the rest of the game like true sports fans.
What happened to the two guys in the Blackhawks jerseys who sat next to us and caused all the extortionary procedures? They were nowhere to be found. They must have ran as soon as the pretzel left one of their mouths.
Since they were long gone and the fact that there was a little bit of orange evidence on the glass in front of their seats, none of us could really cover for them.
But we did put a good word in for the vanishing guys. All of us in the Harris Club who sat around the two fans told the United Center FBI that we didn’t think the guys projectiled any food on purpose. In fact, we were all sure that they were just embarrassed about coughing up dinner so they left. I hope they don’t loose their seats over a cough. Besides, the cough-ees were more than compensated. And most of them didn’t even watch the game after they were coughed on so I felt good about sticking by the guys in ‘our club.”
I loved the show, both on and off the rink that night. But I’ll tell you one more thing: I’ve been to Sox games, and Cubs games and Bears games. I’ve been in the plush seats and the bleachers. I’ve been spit on, puked on, spilt on and kicked and pushed. But everyone gets over that stuff at the games and gets on with it. We’re all drinkin and watching the game, right? This was only my second Hawks game. I was just surprised to see a few spectators acting like they came to sue and get free stuff rather than to see a sports game. I’m just glad they weren’t in my section.

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A Hairdresser Remembers the Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster

2010-02-04T03:53:00.000-08:00

I know it's a weird thing to talk about, a disaster that happened, back in 1986. But I'm a hairdresser and disaster comes up a lot. I listen to disaster stories from my clients all the time. Disaster will happen to us, around us, and can touch our family and friends. All of us, young and old will be affected by them and it will influence our future decisions and shape our characters. When the space shuttle Challenger exploded, it was one of those events that changed the way I thought and therefore changed the way I made choices, even up to today.

I had come into work that morning, at the crack of 11 a.m. (I’m not a morning hairdresser-person!) and there was a hush in our usually bustley busy salon, Jon-Don’s, located on Naples Island, Long Beach, California.

My co-stylist, Carla, who’s hairstyling station was next to mine, had tears in her eyes and knew instantly when I had come into work that day that I had not yet listened to the news because I had my normal morning-dumb smile on my face, happy to start my day.
When Carla told me what had happened, that the Space Shuttle Challenger had exploded shortly after lift-off with all seven crew members on board, I did not believe her. You see, she had actually had a dream the previous night and then told all of us at Jon-Don’s about it. She had dreamed that the Space Shuttle had blown up and told us about it the day before the actual event. And so when I walked into work in my usual peppy mood, I thought she was joking.

I don’t remember how long it took for the clients, my boss, and my first client to actually make me believe this disaster had happened. But it took a while. I really thought they, all the clients and co-hairdresser’s, were playing a joke on me. Space Shuttles just didn’t blow up, and I had played some pretty good practical jokes on my co-workers in the past, so…

Do you know what convinced me? It was the emotion and empathy that the clients and my co-workers had for the crew and their surviving families and for the larger ramifications of the tragedy itself. A teacher by the name of Christa McAuliffe was on board for a Teacher in Space Program. The clients in my salon actually wept for the children of the world that had no-doubt been excitedly watching the live television feed in the safety of their own classrooms. This was the day when space missions were not common and kids had no cell phones and cable was not common, so watching the Challenger take off on TV at school was a big thing. And no one ever thought that NASA’s space ship with a teacher would explode while taking off. Things like this were just not common! That day, the women in my salon cried and shook their heads for all the people that were affected by the tragedy and they stayed in the salon for hours after their hair was done. It was as if the salon was a part of where we needed to be to help, to mourn, to understand. That salon experience made me think of how I thought small town barber shops were: a place where men would hang out, discuss town policies, celebrate and mourn.

When the two planes struck the buildings in New York City, it was a work day, yet I was still at home. I think I even saw the second plane hit, almost live. I remember thinking I’ve got to get to work. My room-mate at the time thought I was crazy. She knew I had to take the Red Line Chicago Train, from the Bryn Mawr station and get off at the Chicago Avenue stop. She tried to talk me out going because the trains went underground for three of the last stops and the world was surely coming to end (for all she and I knew) and we had no idea if planes were going to be dropping from the sky directly onto downtown Chicago.

I did go to work that day. And I comforted clients and expressed my own horror and dismay. We all talked about what we knew about what happened in New York, and then DC, when that news came in. We cried and said our silent prayers for the survivors of the tragedy and for their families, as well as for the safety of ourselves and our own families.

Tragedies have taught me that we need to stick together and talk about the disasters that strike us. We as human beings feel deeply for our fellow men, women, children and animals, and we honor that by doing things like going to a hair salon and talking about it. Crying about an earthquake in Haiti and then laughing about Lady GaGa’s last outfit while getting your highlight touched up is so right. So good and healthy.

What made me think of this was a tweet posting of an amateur video recently found showing the Space Shuttle disaster. I watched it and I cried. And then I remembered where I was after it happened. And it was then that I realized that this particular disaster changed me. It was one of the tragedies that affected my life and had made me go to work on 9/11 and then do things like donate my time to Haircuts for Haiti.

I’ll always be at the salon when you need me.

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http://tinyurl.com/ycwpna2 this is the video of the disaster.

Haiti Relief-Giving-It takes nothing from you.

2010-01-24T05:32:00.000-08:00

I know. I know. Life in these United States is not so united and some of us are barely making a living. More than 3 million people in our own country experienced homelessness last year. And depending on whether you were a Republican or Democrat, the blame was put on the last white President or the current African American President, Obama.

We're still trying to get the word out to Americans to boycott puppy mills and to save shelter dogs. New Orleans morale may have been recently uplifted by Saints, but the city still needs a few more patron-saints to repair the damage that Katrina had wrought.

And then along comes an earthquake in Haiti. It's a situation. The kind of situation that we cannot ignore. It would be nice if I could stay focused on "my things" and just keep plugging for the dogs or raise money for breast cancer research and then relax in the evenings and watch The Situation on MTV's Jersey Shores. But that's not going to happen. Haiti's plight is everywhere. The devastation and human interest stories and relief efforts are big news. So that means that the problems and charities that we have been trying to address and raise money for, and even the mindless TV that we like to chillax to, is being invaded or taken over by news of Haiti.

As I was cutting and coloring one of my Gold Coast clients the other day, she mentioned how she was just sick of hearing about Haiti.

"Everything is for Haiti,” she said, as I began weaving pieces of her gray hair to lay on foil packets and then brush with honey color. “I’m just sick about hearing about Haiti. We have our own people we have to take care of. The silly Americans who’ve borrowed more than they could pay back and used their credit cards to live on have bankrupted our country. We have to concentrate on that. Not Haiti. And what about our own homeless children?”

Normally, I could have kept my mouth shut. I would have nodded silently and folded up all the little foil packets and then got her some regular coffee, instead of her requested decaf, and then let her read her People magazine in heart palpating silence for the next thirty minutes while her color developed.

But this particular day I wanted to say something. Maybe a direct rebuttal or at least, throw out a few non-neutral thoughts which is what a good hairdresser should do so as not to piss of your clients too much. I could have chosen to tell her that I was a Silly American and that I still had way too much credit card debt. But I decided to take umbrage to the whole theme of her dislike of the Haiti media circus. Of course I said it with a smile and layered with a veiled directness.

“The whole Haiti thing reminds me of the 80’s,” I said. “I was trying to put together a cut-thon-for AIDS when we in the U.S. were just learning that you couldn’t get it from a kiss and that it wasn’t just a Gay disease. There was sentiment out there that was like, ‘why should I give my money to people who probably did something to get the disease?’
Well, eventually, there was an AIDS Walk and an AIDS ride. And Liz Taylor had worked magic and put a popular giving spin on the situation. And people began to give to the AIDS cause and continue giving to this day. What I’m saying is that I think the ingenuity and the giving spirit took over and Americans eventually came together to give and to help their fellow man.
I’d very much like to think that, like Christmas season, this giving spirit is ignited and then trickled into the rest of the year. Not just for Christmas beneficiaries, such as Homeless shelters but for the World Wildlife Federation and the Red Cross Haiti Relief fund.”

“But we have to take care of our own,” my client said.

Obviously my client and I were speaking from deep seated passions from opposite spectrum's of political hues of red and blue. If I was a still a Republican, I would have still disagreed with her and said, “Look bitch, Haiti is our own. We are totally going to be buying up that real estate with what they are going to owe us. And then we’re going to build big fucking hotels and golf courses and make the damn villagers work for us so they can afford to live in the shacks that we’re building for them now.”

Or I could have gone with the: what about We are the World – one-world theory. Spiritually speaking, aren’t we all just one people? One person on the other side of the Earth is just as important as the one standing right next to me. Human life = precious. Maybe I could have expanded on that very thought and added an Americany imperialistic twist on the world thing so that she could digest it better. “Look bitch, we use up ¼ of the worlds’ resources and energy, and spew out ¾ of the worlds trash and pollution. It’s like we have been shitting on these people for years and they haven’t asked for much.”

I think I had too many cups of coffee that morning myself and I just wanted to pick a fight and call my client a bitch. But my natural tendency to keep my client comfortable as well as keep her coming back to me won out.

“What I’m saying is,” I said, “maybe Haiti is igniting that giving spirit. Maybe the gift, if any, is that the situation in Haiti has to offer us is to see our true human character emerge. I mean, how cool that even Americans out of work, and poverty-level Americans are giving and average of ten dollars apiece to Haiti. And George Clooney and his friends helped raise more money in a telethon than any other in history.”

My client started to talk, but by now, the other stylists and their clients were listening to me so I wasn’t going to miss an opportunity to let my fine caffeine fueled opinion get its due.

“Listen,” I said, “beyoches, [I got it in] when this whole Haiti thing is better, we’re going to be taking long look at ourselves and we are gonna say to ourselves: job well done. We are gonna feel good about the giving and we are gonna start to think, hey, if we can do that, just think of what we can do for our own homeless. Our animal shelters. Pollution!
I don’t think Haiti is taking away from us. No. The devastation in Haiti has awakened our passion to help and to see that we are one people and one world. And we Americans have opened our eyes to our own humanity and we have opened our hearts and we will never again close our eyes and hearts again!”

Okay, so maybe I had three cups of coffee and my memory of the conversation may have sieved through my “blue passion.”
My point was and is, is that giving to Haiti doesn’t take away anything from us Americans. This is an opportunity to be thankful for what we have and to give what we can. And bitches, you can certainly continue to give and love and take care of your fellow people, and animals, long after we help to take care of our neighbors in Haiti.

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The Pope and I agree on being green.

2010-01-15T03:53:00.000-08:00

http://tinyurl.com/yb4vrqq

http://tinyurl.com/ye7m9ar

The Pope and I finally have something that we agree on. Being Green is our spiritual duty. I have always thought that much of the Catholic rhetoric has been divisive. But because of the Pope's urging of Green consciousness and recent green dialogue, I feel that I can sit at the same table with him and get something positive done. If all faiths came together and agreed to honor this creation, Earth, I believe we'd reverse global warming and, in the process, find the commonality in our societies different faiths. We'd also be putting our faiths into action (do not judge...?) and we'd be doing a little god-like creating ourselves. How about a Utopian co-existence, and clean air and water for our children. Count me in. Let's get started.

I belong to a Science of Mind church. Our belief is that there is one God. And we don't moralize what we call God; Him... Her... Universe... Martini... And we don't care if you don't want to call "it" anything or believe that there is a God at all. We believe that everyone is part of this God, so every individual is perfect in our God's eyes. That means that we are all the same, whether it looks like it or not, or whether you believe that or not--so we appreciate and try to remember that daily. Pretty neat, huh?

But, just like many churches, the people of my congregation have been attending services and classes where we learn how to be better individual spiritual persons and then we take the teachings and try and work them into our daily lives.

There are a few Ministries in our church, like the Animal Ministry, that actively puts to use what they've learned within the community and out. The Animal Ministry serves the "outside" community at-large by collecting funds and donated items and disperses them to needy animal shelters in our area. And they do their own brand of spiritual prayer treatments for pets and their owners and have parishioners sign petitions for better laws for treatment of animals. (I just set up a FaceBook group page, ANIMAL MINISTRY, for them.) I like this ministry because it practices "faith into action," and it allows members and non-members alike to practice our spiritual principals.

But, like many churches, temples, and synagogues etc, I believe my church has been coming up short on the spiritual message to actual action where it concerns being green. Up to now we have not been walking the talk, or actually doing what we preach. Our new-thought and ancient-wisdom has taught me that we humans are stewards of this Mother Earth and we here to take care of this planet, ourselves, and all of Earth's inhabitant, human and non-human alike. But we have not fully made the connection that to change laws which protect our children from drinking tainted water or making sure that we all have clean air in the future is actually spiritual practice and not necessarily politics. We say we should love our fellow man and take car of our bodies but we have continued to buy energy wasting light bulbs in our church and we still use Styrofoam cups and we still buy bleached white paper towels, all of which adds Co2 into the air.

My spirituality says this human existence is the manifestation of our collective spirituality. This is our world. We made it this way. So when are we going to collectively going to make this world of form the beautiful place we desire it to be? It will take everyone to do it. Christians, Jews, Muslims.... The Pope is just one more dude realizing that we got to come together.

Look, I know all churches are worried about the dollars to keep our doors open. How do we get more people to attend church? How can we empower our congregation to be better people? But I don't think that we should have to worry about the bottom line. We should let God do that. I also believe we can attract people and empower ourselves by putting our faith into action. Here's an example:

There is a Rabbi Rosen of the Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation. He and his core council had a choice when their old building was no longer big enough to hold the growing congregation. Either they had to tear down and build a bigger building on the igniting site, or move and buy or build another larger Temple elsewhere. Sometime and somewhere along the way of deciding, Rabbi Rosen had a spiritual epiphany. He had caught the "Green bug." Rabbi Rosen realized that being green and being a steward of this earth was a spiritual edict of his own religion.
By studying the Jewish principle of Bal Tashchit, which appears in biblical text as well as in later rabbinic interpretation, he gleaned that a Jewish environmental ethic teaches "do not destroy or waste."
"God led Adam around the Garden of Eden and said, ‘Look at My works. See how beautiful they are, how excellent. See to it that you do not spoil or destroy My world — for if you do, there will be no one to repair it after you.’" (Midrash Ecclesiastes Rabbah 7:13)

Rabbi Rosen and his core council decided to stay on the same site, tear down the existing building, recycle the demolition, and then make the new building the very first LEEDS Synagogue. http://tinyurl.com/2xqdgy Of course, this was going to take millions more to do this than had they only decided to tear down and build traditionally in this bad economy.
Well, today he preaches that the money for the tear down and build-out for their new building came easier and faster because they chose to go green. The money poured in because they chose spiritual over practical or traditional. Faith and spirit won. Fear lost.
The Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation is a beacon of faith into action and attracts followers, admirers and has shown the religious communities that being green is the way to go. I'm definitely an admirer.
If you'd like a tour of the now famous LEEDS certified Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation:
303 Dodge Avenue Evanston, Illinois 60202-3252
Phone 847-328-7678 info@jrc-evanston.org

Every congregation has to have a pastor or priest or rabbi that gets nipped by the Green Bug. Then the blessings can start happening in our temples, synagogues, churches and mosques. And may that good fortune happen for all of us who run green groups in our churches. Maybe now with the Pope on board it's going to get a little easier to make the connection that this earth and we humans are spiritually connected. (Did you see Avatar?) I never thought I'd say this, but thanks, Pope. I look forward to working with you on this one. Maybe we'll find some other things to work on together. Solar Energy? Feeding the worlds poor? And maybe by working together I'll find out that you aren't so divisive and maybe you won't think I'm so bad and that I'm one of God's treasures just the way I am.

I am the leader of The Green Ministry at Bodhi Spiritual Center in Chicago. WE are GREEN and we are Getting better at it, every day. And we belong to Faith in Place, an interfaith group of like-minded green organizations in different churches, synagogues and temples etc in the greater Chicago Area. http://www.faithinplace.org/

Best Sangria Recipe

2009-12-26T12:14:00.000-08:00

This recipe is from one of my buddy, Evin.
4 bottles of red wine
2 litres of Ginger Ale
8 oz vodka
8 oz rum
4 oz Grande Marnier
2 cinnimin sticks
You can add some sugar. But I left that out because I add peaches later.
Add all of the above and then let chill/set overnight (24hrs).Before serving: take out sticks. Add fresh fruit.I like sliced peaches frozen in sugar water and then broken/chopped just before adding. Also fresh sliced apples, oranges and frozen blue berries.

Brunettes Save Money between Color Appointments

2009-11-27T14:34:00.000-08:00

I know I’m going to get flak from my own profession for telling you this. All of us hairdresser’s know that the client cannot color their hair at home and get “salon results.” Celebrities hocking the at-home color kits wouldn’t even dream of using the products they are getting paid big bucks to tout without their own hairdresser, at least, applying the hair color to them. But I’m going to tell you that, sometimes, it’s going to be beneficial, economic, and even professional to recommend that a client use an at-home color. You’re just not going to buy it in the grocery store. You’re going to get it at a beauty supply store, and you might even get the blessing of your hairdresser. I’ll try and convince your stylist with my words that you will be doing both of you a favor and that color touch-ups at home are part of keeping you happy as a client.
There is the new normal in the hair business. It doesn’t matter how rich or what economic bracket our clients are in, they do not book ahead like they used to. Of course, this is due to the economy. Every business is feeling the new norm there; the average sales being down 10%- to 30%. Another reason that clients don’t book ahead is that a lot of regular color clients are also of the age and income that they are having kids. The old axiom has applied here, when there is a recession, people have more kids. And kid's schedules make clients walk around with "roots" a lot longer than before the little time-usurpers arrived.
In the salon where I work, there is another added reason that our clients can go longer between visits. We use new color lines that don’t fade and they keep their shine. [They have no PPD’s and are low-ammonia which keeps the integrity of the hair: better for your body & the environment. But that’s another article.] One of the major reasons people rush back into the salon to get there hair re-colored is the fact that older hair color lines have a shine shelf-life and will fade. Old colors used to get dull, and get lighter and warmer. Old colors always a huge contrast in the 4 to 6 weeks between the new growth and the colored hair. But now, if the hair color doesn’t fade and it is still shiny, clients can get a few more weeks of growth and they do not have to revisit us as much as they used to. Good for them.
Now, let’s us imagine, Ms. Brunette. She’s working and has two small kids and a husband who used to work for the banking industry, but now Ms. Brunette's husband has been laid off. Ms. Brunette has been coming to me for ten years. I did her hair for her wedding and I do her husbands hair and I’ve even started doing the kids hair. Ms. Brunette feels that her hair makes her sexy and that her salon-colored hair gives her the mojo and youthful appearance to be competitive at work. But, she’s not stupid; she’s got a family and responsibilities. In the coming year, she’s got to tighten up her Prada belt. In fact, she stopped buying Prada when she got married and she’s been buying Banana Republic accessories. So now she’s bummed because she thinks she’s not going to be able to buy any new belts in the near future at all.
Ms. Brunette has brown hair with about 20% gray. Unless she gets more gray, say, 40% to 50%, she’s going to want to stay brunette. I would probably give her some lighter gold or caramel highlights where the gray was poking out, and then color the rest a rich brown. The highlight will distract the eye from incoming gray and soften a solid brown color. But after she leaves the salon, that gray hair starts screaming look-at-me! - around week three. So, is Ms. Brunette going to come in again in three weeks? Good for me.
The new norm for me is to tell Ms. Brunette to walk down to the corner beauty supply after her salon appointment. I tell her to buy a 3 oz. bottle of hair color. A color that is in-between the high-light color and the brown color that I’ve just put into her hair. I tell her to also buy a bottle of 20 volume peroxide that goes with that color line. (usually comes in 8 oz. or more) The last thing that I want to her to pick up is a bag of disposable mascara wands.
Note:The added benefit from buying products from the beauty supply is that you are buying more product for less. You are not paying for wasteful mark-up and packaging.
And this is how I tell her how I want her to use the products at home: at week 2 or 3 or 4… pour a quarter sized portion of each the peroxide and the hair color into a bowl. Fine china is fine. The color won’t hurt ceramic, porcelain or glass. Then cap both of the bottles for future use.
Mix the two products in the bowl with one disposable mascara wand and then apply to those cursed aging grays that seem to want to poke out in the part and around the face. Don’t worry, this is not an exact science here. You will overlap a little on my highlights and browns. But just try to do only the grays. The color quality will not be as good as my hair color application but you’ll be in soon enough to get the better quality color. The eye won't be able to tell.
Now, if you are doing this in the morning before work or at night, let it sit on the hair for, at least, fifteen to thirty minutes. The hair colors that I recommend are never progressive. They just color the hair to the level I chose and then they stop and become impotent. Leaving it on past the time will not fry your hair. Leaving it on under 30 minutes just means that the color might not be as full-coverage as it could be – but it will stain the gray. And just remember to jump in the shower after, at least, fifteen minutes, and don’t get it in your eyes when you are shampooing it out. Please use professional shampoo from your salon! It will neutralize and keep the color from fading.
Ms. Brunette can do this again the next week and in two more weeks, up until the grays from the sides and crown really start singing. So, I’d say, she could probably visit the salon every 8 to 10 weeks now, like the blondes.
And what about blondes? What about red heads? Well, I really only recommend this for the brunettes because they have such a contrast between the gray and the browns. It’s such an economic and time hardship to try and keep on top of their hair color. I know I would loose my some of my brunettes to the box colors in the grocery stores if I didn’t share this information with them. They’d still come in for haircuts, but I’d probably get blamed for her color not being as beautiful as it had been and someone’s going to know that short cuts were taken. But blondes could do the same trick. And so could redheads. The only difference is that I cannot give you a general formula to buy like I can for brunettes unless I’ve seen your hair personally. Some blondes come out too warm if you use a level of color without added ash in it. And some red heads are blue-red or orange-red. Only your own stylist could tell you the exact touch-up colors to use between colors. Sorry. I’m still a hairdresser. But I do want to keep your business and I know that these are tough times. I truly believe that we are in this together and I hope this information helps a few people.
I blog about the same things that I talk to my clients about. Martini's/Tips/Life/Hair.
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My dog, Daughter

2009-11-25T02:08:00.000-08:00

My dog had me. Completely. As long as she needed me. She had me as soon as I parked and got off my motorcycle at the City of Long Beach Animal Shelter on a lunch hour. Once inside I could have been the Grinch with a millimeter-sized heart. But when I saw her pleading jet browns begging me to let her out of her doggy jail cell, my heart grew in my chest and it sprouted wings. At that moment, I vowed to take care of her forever or the rest of her life.
Leslie, a fervent dog lover and the owner of the salon I had been working at, knew that I was only beginning to entertain the thought of getting a dog myself. Thinking she was going to ask me to take one her more taxing clients that day, she instead came at me on the stylist floor and handed me a handwritten piece of paper that had a code number on it. I’ll never forget it. SW30. Leslie had been secretly keeping her eye out for me. And she watched The Pet Place, a Long Beach cable-access program that showcased adoptable dogs and cats from the local shelter. “Go there on your lunch break,” Leslie commanded, “instead of getting skin cancer.” Leslie was not only the sweetest of animal lovers, she was also very motherly to me and the rest of the staff. She didn’t like me taking my lunch hours and tanning my skin at the beach, which happened to be only a few blocks away from her salon. SW30 was the code to the dog at the pound that Leslie wanted me to check out.
I did not expect to take my dog home that day. I told her that it was just a look-see to appease Mama Leslie. I hadn’t even warned my new roommate that I was even thinking about getting a dog. As the female dog-warden escorted me down a long aisle in the dog prison, I kept my chin and eyes up. I knew enough not to look at any of the dogs that yipped for my attention from the insides of their six foot high chain link fence cages. If I saw too many of their pleading puppy and doggy faces I’m not sure I would have come home with only one special dog.
Luckily, the numbers were affixed to the outside of the cages, just above eye level. I could count down to the number code that matched the mutt that Leslie wanted me to see. Taking a breath, I abruptly stopped a few feet in front of the cage with the engraved metal plate that was stamped 30 in the Southwest building of the pound. Taking a deep breath, I let my eyes scrape down the chain links to look at, for the very first time, my little terrier-mix, Daughter. She certainly wasn’t a purebred, but she was very pretty. She had evenly curled light multi-colored fur that looked soft instead of course, like a pure-bred. A blonde Toto, is how people used to describe her. In her cage she was silent, which was the opposite of all the other dogs. But the veil of her dog bangs let me see more than enough of her beseeching, hypnotic brown eyes that looked like they were lined with mascara. She reminded me of one of those Life magazine photographs of a hungry orphan of war in the devastated streets was a war-torn country.
“You have to be mine,” this dog was saying to me with her eyes. “You have to be mine because I don’t think that I can take it in here anymore. I have been through so much – you don’t want to know. If you don’t take me out of here, I will not live another day. I just know it.”
She looked directly at me and paid no mind to the dog-warden who was at my side as if she knew the woman was useless to her on the subject of her release.
I choked on my breath and did an immediate about-face. I suppressed only my visible tears from the dog-warden who had to follow me quickly. Walk-running back to the main office house, I informed her, “I’ll take that dog.”
“I’m so glad,” the dog-warden-woman said, not a bit surprised. “That little dog seemed to smile as you ran away. Like she knew you were going to sign these papers.”
“She’s a little dirty now,” I sniffed. “But her fur looks so pretty that after I condition it with a little bit of Nexxus and style her she’ll be the Veronica Lake of dogs.” I always babble when I’m emotional or drunk.
“She’s intelligent too,” the dog-warden said. “But people seem to want the more playful, loud dogs.” Behind a counter, she began shuffling papers and then guiding my hand around a pen and made me sign things. (I couldn’t see clearly because there was a film of happy love-tears in my eyes.) “And, you’re in luck. She has had all of her shots so you can take her home right now.”
“Oh,” I said, astonished and apprehensively happy at the same time. “I thought you had to, you know, get her fixed or something. Aren’t there some kind of adoption papers I have to fill out?”
“You just filled them out.”
It all happened so fast. No time to think. No time to tell my roommate that we had a dog.
“This dog has already been spayed,” she informed me. “We do that for all the dogs on The Pet Place. But you’ll have to take her today because this is her last day here. You understand.”
“Why is it her last day?” I asked, thinking that I was going to have to try and outbid someone else. “I don’t understand.”
“She’s been here for awhile…” She bounced her head back, from side to side. “She hasn’t been adopted so …”
“Because people want the loud stupid dogs?”
Dog-warden shrugged.
“Can I pick her up after work? I get off at seven.”
“We close at five. After that …” Her head bobble-headed again.
At first I was appalled and I took personal offence. My dog was on The Pet Place, for god’s sake, and there wasn’t a line of people to adopt her? The whole world must have been stupid, because they wanted loud stupid dogs.
And yet there was something else that needed to be brought up.
“But, I’m on a motorcycle,” I said. “And I’m only on my lunch break.”
“Ok then …” Left to right… Then right to left – went the warden’s head.
After I screamed for her to get my dog, the dog-warden brought her to me, with a complimentary rope to use for a leash. The rope slipped off of the dog’s neck just as I began to lead her out the office. But she did not run off. In fact, she had paid no mind to the temporary leash when it was on her. She stayed well-heeled by me all the way to my parked motorcycle in the parking lot. A stupid dog would have run off. But not my smart dog. My dog knew she was coming home to the best home in the world and that we’d be the best pals and live together forever. We both just knew. We were fated for each other. It was the perfect time in my life for a dog. This dog. I had had my last break-up with my high school sweetheart and we had been together for eight wonderful turned sour years.
“What do you think?” I asked her, as we stood looking at my motorcycle.
She looked me, like the situation was pretty self explanatory. Duh, she said.
I picked her up and put her in one of my saddle bags and zipped her up to her neck. Of course, she was a perfect fit. And she rode back with me to the salon with her nose to the wind and a flapping tongue that hung from her smug-mug smile. We looked at each other many times while waiting at stop lights or at left-hand turns. We noticed pedestrians, bike riders, and drivers and passengers alike that looked at us. They all smiled at the new dog owner taking his dog for her first ride home on a motorcycle.
I named her Daughter, after the dog of the man who mentored me in the hair biz. His toy poodle, Daughter, had passed away of old age only a few months earlier. My friend was more than touched when I asked him if I could make my dog his dog’s namesake. And, like a mother, Brooke was happy that I was going to have unconditional love for a very long time.
Daughter never became a clingy lapdog and she never licked my hand or used a leash. She never had to beg me for another thing after that day I adopted her. With only a simple look or a long patient and demanding stare, she has conveyed to me whether it was time to go outside for a walk-and-sniff. Or that she just would appreciate a rub on the bum as well as to tell me how she didn’t appreciate me leaving her too long whenever I got home too late from work. Most dogs were a little more forward and vulgar. They used their paws or barked their needs or defecated. But not Daughter. Without a scratch or a whine, Daughter has been able to assure me that a piece of chicken off of my plate would not upset her stomach at all. Maybe all terriers were like that, sophisticated. Ever since she begged me with all her soul from the inside of that doggy jail, I have been able to understand her like I will never understand people.
Our friendship has been more than a fair relationship and we would be companions for as long as her life would allow. I accepted the awful responsibility of alleviating any suffering that Daughter might ever have to go through. I had minor practice many times over the many years; taking her to the dreaded doctor to get a tooth pulled or get treated for a parasite or get stitches as a result from an imprudent scuffle with a German Shepard. She always sat still while I blow dried her fluffy fur near a sunny window after a bath. She’s was mine. I was hers.
I don’t think anyone can trust people who don’t like dogs—especially my dog. My dog used her eyes to speak and I know that can be very intimidating, like she was looking into your soul. But, if you didn’t got nothin’ to hide, then you didn’t have nothin’ to worry about. Being a dog person made me a better person.
My last human love-relationship did not make me a better person. In some ways it made me bitter – for a long time. And Daughter went through those two years with me. Oh, not patiently. She let me know that he was not so good for me. And I should have known that the relationship was doomed when I moved in with him to Canada, where he lived, and he suddenly informed me that he was allergic to her and she had to sleep at night in the hallway, and not at the foot of the bed, which had been her place for the last fifteen of her eighteen and a half years.
To give my lover some credit, he simply didn’t know how to have a real pet and was afraid of Daughter and her soulful eyes. According to his growing up, animals only communicated by bleating, barking, mooing and oinking to convey they were uncomfortable, hungry or acknowledging his presence. He grew up on a farm. If Daughter acknowledged him at all, she would just stare at him as if she couldn’t believe her own eyes that he could have put on such a tragic outfit combination. Or maybe she was asking him, “So, you’re leaving when?” It didn’t help that he kept trying to win her over by talking baby talk to her or bringing her treats like the ones from Canada that were actually made in moose shapes. She didn’t eat anything he bought for her.
“That’s the way terriers are,” I kept trying to tell him. “They’re smart and finicky. Just don’t talk baby talk to her. She knows what you’re saying.”
“She’s a dog,” he would say. “She’s a spoiled city dog who doesn’t like dog food.” It was like talking to a tree. He continued to talk baby talk to her and kept trying to feed her moose-shaped things.
“She’s an American and only eats things that look processed like Jerky Treats, and Puperoni’s, and Science Diet,” I argued. “She’s never even seen a moose to know if she even wanted to taste one.”
“I suppose she told you that?”
Well, neither of us Americans in the room had to say anything. He could see it in mine and Daughter’s eyes. Of course she could talk. Duh. And she continually communicated to us both that she had no use for him.
After my latest break-up and a return to my latest home-city, Chicago, we had the best three years of Daughter’s life. I had felt so guilty that I dragged her though that last relationship that I promised her that I would take her to the dog park by my new apartment, rain, snow or sun-shine for one hour a day until the day she died. And as she grew older, she became more socialized, more secure and came into her own person, if you will. She had old dog friends and she taught young dogs and new dogs how to play and behave in the park. She was like the sweet and firm granny that everyone loved to see yet everyone knew they couldn’t get away with anything in front of. Everyone loved Daughter and she attracted so many new friends to me as well. These people were my new posse. The dog-people who listened to the story of my break-up and patiently watched me heal.
Those three and a half years were the best of her life. She was the life of the party and the center of my universe and she was certainly the most popular girl in the park. On the last day of her life she woke with a little bit of arthritic pain. I had already made an appointment with her vet to drive up at 3 p.m. to just talk about pain meds for her. I did not plan to take her because she had not been suffering from pain very much, she just had a few rusty days, every once in a while.
When she wet the carpet that morning, she knew I wouldn’t scold, but she just looked at me, as if to say, “Really? Is this what getting old is all about?” She looked mad and I could tell that she wanted nothing to do with this age thing anymore.
That was the first and only day that I carried her to the park across the street. We were an hour early for our regular 8 to 9 a.m. peeps. But we got to see the 7 to 9ers. We loved them too. Daughter didn’t run and play, but she just stood on all fours, while all the other dogs came up to sniff noses with her as they always did, to pay their respects to granny. She stood there for the entire hour and it was so amazing to see the reactions of the other dogs. They said hello and then their heads went down and then they walked away.
One of the 7 to 8 a.m. people had tears in her eyes and said, “Is she saying goodbye?”
“I think so,” I said. I had never seen anything like it.
By the time our 8 to 9 regulars began to trickle in, Daughter just splooge-plopped onto the pavement. She had been standing and receiving for a full hour. I scooped her up and held her in my arms like a baby. As she let her head lull over my arm, for the next hour, she said her goodbyes to her very good dog friends from her human cradle and I comforted my friends with my words and kind smiles. They were shocked to see such a touching moment as this and they knew, from the past three and one half years, this dog was never a clingy lapdog. At the time, I don’t think I was fully letting the emotion of the situation sink into my heart, but I was very thankful that I had until 3 p.m. to make sure that Daughter was ready.
Oh, the responsibility ... I took it on and I think I kept my vows to alleviate any suffering. I drove through McDonalds and bought and fed her a whole hamburger on the way to the vet. She appreciated the treat but she knew what her last dog-job to me was. It was to give me long patient stares of love which assured me that she was, indeed, ready. That last day was the day that she picked to go. Most dog-people and dogs would never be so lucky.
She’s was mine. I was hers. We trusted that this was the constant and the commitment of our relationship (something I've never been able to do with humans) and I think it’s made us both better people.

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Coca-Cola, I'm on your side.

2009-11-18T06:32:00.000-08:00

Dear Coca-Cola,
I'm on your side. Retailers should not be able to put so much pressure on companies like yours to lower your wholesale prices to the point that you cannot make a fair profit. If retailers, like Walmart, K-Mart and grocery stores did that, it would force you American manufacturers to move your production of products out of the United States. Which, in-turn, would put many Americans out of work. Which, in turn, might make that out-of-work American start looking for lower prices of products they like to buy. Which, in turn, would probably force retailers to compete for those out-of-work American's pennies which would lead to those retailers to ask companies like you, Coca-Cola, to lower your wholesale prices. Whew. What to do...? What to do...?
Look, why don't you decide what is a fair profit from your product? Not exorbitant. Not outrageous. You don't need to pay your executives enough to buy themselves five houses. I'm sure you could use that money for raises and benefits for your lower-paid workers who, in turn, are consumers. And why don't you take some of that profit to train the American public? We are not dumb. But not all of know that if you are forced to lower your profits you'll move your company to a country where don't have pay fair wages and you're allowed to pollute their environment. (That's who's really paying for the price of Coke.) We will pay a fair price for a product we like and we expect you to make a fair profit. We also expect that would keep your company in the United States, and that you don't pollute while making your quality product.
I'm a Coke drinker who's on your side.
http://www.storyofstuff.com/index.html
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Fall/Winter Check your Vitamin D Levels

2009-11-16T06:42:00.000-08:00

Last year, one my clients, an M.D., F.A.C.P., (I dunno), and I were talking while I was cutting and coloring her hair. She was telling me that either or both the
lack of fall and winter sunlight and/or the lack of vitamin D was creating a mini-epidemic for her
female clients. She informed me that a lack of either could cause minor or major depression and
a loss of energy in the coming winter months.
As the best hairdresser in Chicago, (thank you, yelpers) I feel I have a responsibility to pass on valuable information like this to my clients.
"Get your iron checked," I have always said, for the tired vegetarians and poor eaters.
"Drink more water," I would tell my clients who broke-out and had dry skin.
But this one needs to be told, again and again, to everyone, every fall and winter: if you are tired, rundown, low-energied, or if you think that you might not be feeling as good as you should
emotionally: get your 25 hydroxy Vitamin D level (or Iron level) checked.
But do not just start taking mega-doses of these vitamins if you only think that you need them, as they can cause havoc on the liver if you overindulge and you don't need them.
Only a doctor can prescribe the right amount. And only a doctor can do the proper tests.
Also, if you are suffering from a normal case of lack of sunlight: A few simple minutes with a full-spectrum light in the mornings might be all that you need. These units can sometimes be paid for with a prescription from you doctor and good insurance.
Go see your own doctor. Or you can go to a facility like the The Northwestern Center for Integrative Medicine and Wellness is at 150 E Huron Ave, Suite 1100, Chicago, IL 60611. Phone 3129263627
www.nmpg.com
This client I was telling you about? Well, she admitted to me that even she had been feeling tired and rundown. She's a busy gal with a family. So she took the time to take the Vitamin D test in her own office and she was stunned to learn that her levels were way below the proper levels. Just like many women who take care of the home, multi-task, raise the kids and run a medical practice etc, she ignored her fatigue and kept on going! Look, if it can happen to her. It can happen to you. Now she is using full spectrum light from a unit in the mornings, but, more importantly, she takes the proper dosage of supplements.
I blog about the same things that I talk to my clients about:Martinis/Restaurants/Hair/Life

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Holiday Martini's

2009-11-16T06:19:00.000-08:00

I made this one up for a holiday party a couple of years ago. My peeps luuuved it! And it was easy to make.

Mafia Hairdresser's Holiday Ornaments
1 part Ginger Ale
1 part Cranberry Juice
1 part Apple Pucker (in liqueur section)
2 parts Absolut Vodka
1 Cinnamon Stick
Mix all together and Chill for 1 to 2 hours and serve straight-up in martini glasses.
Then add a few FROZEN GRAPES or/and FROZEN RASPBERRIES or/and FROZEN BLUEBERRIES to each glass to keep chilled and Ornament your drinks.

This one is light and crisp tasting. Cucumbers were last years rage.
Mafia Hairdresser's Winter Snowflake Martini
This is the latest and bestest.
In a Martini shaker add;
1part Absolut Citron
1part White Cranberry (Dominic's or Jewell)
Ice
1 slice of peeled cucumber
AND SHAKE
Pour into a martini glass and add 1 sliced & peeled cucumber to float on the top and you got yourself a winter refresher!
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Fine Hair gets Thicker

2009-11-12T14:42:00.001-08:00

You can go to the Best Hairdresser in Chicago and they may never have heard of this product: Nexxus Aloxxi Polymeric, formerly called Emergencee.
We don’t even officially use in my own salon but I buy it myself and laminate it on my clients who have fine, wimpy, never-grows, wispy-weak hair.
This product is a polymer that coats the hair, thereby thickening it. And once the diameter of the hair is increased it is also stronger, shinier and more reflective of light. And “Emergencee’d” hair also accepts color better and the product keeps your color lasting longer. Does your hair seem to grow a certain length past your ears and then just look too thin? Does it just break off after a certain length? Not anymore! You can order it yourself online from HairCareChoices.com, and do the treatment yourself. Or you can bring it in to the salon and have your stylist do the treatment on you, if he or she doesn’t mind. We can do many other treatments over Emergencee’d hair, they always work better when we do. Nexxus Aloxxi (Emergencee) Polymeric Reconstructor
Here’s the Nexxus explanation:Stops hair breakage, repairs and strengthens severely damaged hair.Dramatically improves hair's health, condition and shine.Contains a renewing blend of Polymers, Elastins, Amino Acids and Collagen.Creates an internal framework within the hairshaft to restore integrity.Strengthens internally and externally.Repairs and smoothes damaged cuticle; restores flexibility.Magnifies shine and depth of colour.Improves body and stylability.Acidifies hair, pH 2.5. (Closes and fills in cuticle.)Excellent pre-treatment for delicate hair prior to all chemical services.Great nail strengthening treatment. (I wouldn’t know this one but interesting.)How to do the treatment the way I do like to do it:
On the bottle, it does not say it needs heat, but it does! On wet clean/towel-dried hair, I put about a 1/4 ounce amount (Quarter sized) of the product on and work it through. Since it goes on like honey, you will not be able to get a comb through it. Then I put a layer of foil on each panel of a flat Iron with a control setting. I would use a 2 out of 10 range. So not too hot! Then I just laminate the product right on the hair directly with the foiled iron, section by section, root to ends. Five to ten sections all over the head. No need to "linger" on the hair with the iron. Just run the iron quickly through the hair shaft. The foil is the "buffer" that insures you are not boiling the hair. When done, rinse with cool water and follow with your regular (salon bought) conditioner. When you start out, do Emergencee 3 times in one month then one time per month after that. Once the hair is coated up well, there is only so much more thickness you will achieve.
Good luck. That’s how I do it. I just wanted to help ya’ll fine haired gurlz and guys. Especially the ones who need color for body but are so tired of “trashed” hair.
No, Nexxus does not endorse me or my way of using their product in anyway. And please don’t sue me if you burn your head off.

This is a tip I learned from some of the Best Stylists in Chicago.

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The Mafia Hairdresser

2009-11-09T11:13:00.000-08:00

MAFIA HAIRDRESSER

BY JON-DAVID

REGISTERED WRITERS GUILD EAST

Chapter One

"On the main floor of the salon, hair stylists and hurried assistants scuttle for hurried clients--throwing them into gray muumuu smocks, fetching them coffee and then shampooing them while smearing the clients’ first makeup application of the day. The clients then surrender their hair to be twisted into tin foils or plastic rods doused with chemicals, after which the stylists will hack at the completed synthesized product. For a final polish, it’s wrenched around aluminum brushes and torched with supernova heat from dryers and curling irons. During this temporarily unsightly beautification process, it will be a contest between service person and client to see who gets more talking time. That‘s what we stylists do. We talk. This is a social job.
It was Saturday morning, at the crack of 10 am, and I was in the lab where we stored our hair supplies, which was also where we ate and relaxed amongst bottles of peroxide-based “magic potions” that made blondes out of mouse-burgers and gave full-body to those who previously had only wimpy wisps. The lab is where we could freely talk about our clients without worrying about being rude and shrinking our expected generous tips. “Can you believe what she was wearing?” “Her husband slept with my mechanic.” “Stretched tight as a drum…” As this day had only begun, there wasn’t a lot of high-quality gossip yet. It wouldn't take long. I could wait. I had nothing to do but skulk by the water cooler. My first client didn't show up for her scheduled appointment and had a called-in forgivable excuse of “my dog ate my Valium.”
Paco was a cross between Iggy Pop and Ichibod Crane: skinny and usually ornamented in too many zippers or ruffles. He was the salon manager, a proper fair and fey guy and our resident Master Stylist. Paco was rinsing his gloved hands under the tap in the sink after applying a color. On the opposite end of the lab (and scales), sat stylist Carmen Scraper, who was eating a plain grapefruit with a spoon. Carmen's large form always looked cramped in the modest staff booth amidst the shelves of perm rods.
The coffee I was drinking was basically espresso with the liquid filtered out, and seeing the stains at the sides of my mug reminded me that I had just spent two weeks of evenings bleaching my teeth by soaking them in lethal-tasting acid-filled plastic trays. Liz-Beth, the new receptionist, had made the coffee, and worse, she had been slow to catch on to our fast-paced salon ways. My boss had hired Liz-Beth just because “Liz-Beth needed a family.” I thought she needed de-programming. Liz-Beth was a New-Ager who didn't drink coffee or any other “toxins,” hence her lack of coffee-making knowledge, and she was always muttering astrological nonsense. According to Liz-Beth, my moon was “in Saturn,” so that meant I shouldn't make any sudden decisions. So, I thought, slowly, how I was going to repay her in-kind for the russet color that, I‘m sure, was now my teeth.
As I was contemplating adding a fourth spoonful of Creamora into my cup, Brooke McFarland, my boss, came whooshing by us all, grocery bag in one arm and her neon lime Hyper Color coat sliding off her opposite shoulder. Brooke, a former professional beauty pageant contestant (she never placed but always won “Miss Congeniality“), was always running in late for her clients. She was what one would call over-committed. Brooke spoiled her son and daughter, put up with her ogre husband, fawned over her five dogs, ran our salon, and constantly tried to fix all of our personal problems. In literal, yet true, martyrdom fashion, Brooke’s only personal time and hobbies consisted of buying and doing her own makeup, which was extreme or, what I liked to call, four-dimensional.
“Jessy,” she said, while trying to catch her breath, “what are you doing just standing there?”
“I had a 9:00 no-show,” I said, hesitantly. “And then I had a 9:30 that did show. But she was bad for me.”
"You dismissed another client?"
"I ‘dismissed’ her taste in haircuts. We couldn’t agree."
Brooke put a plastic-covered bowl of what looked like baby diarrhea into the small refrigerator and spun around to face me with one hand on her anorexic hip. Archeologically speaking, my boss looked quite amazing. She had to be at least 40 but she never missed an aerobics class and she ate little-bird portions of puréed healthy foods which, I recently noticed, gave her a fabulous glow that managed to radiate up through her layers of foundation.
"I can't just do a trim,” I explained to her. “I have a reputation at stake, ya-know. I mean, she was going to, like, wear her hair in a ponytail for God's sake! Barf me out."
Carmen stopped eating grapefruit to butt in. "And you let her go? Nice."
I was less distracted by Carmen’s interruption than I was to see her eating something natural. Carmen usually only ate microwave popcorn and Herbal Life products. The latter for which she was a distributor/"pusher." That is not to say that Carmen's figure didn't belie at least three thousand calories a day.
Paco snapped his reusable gloves off of his milky white soft hands.
"Well," I said, "I offered to cut her hair so it looked like it was in a ponytail. You know, like, shave it around and leave a Hari-Krishna thing? That would be kind of cool, but not a ponytail! She lacked individuality and style. Let her go to Polly’s Pretty Palace.”
They all stared at me, the misunderstood artist. Pissy, most would say.
“You are a shit, Jessy,” Carmen said, “Your head wouldn’t fit in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.”
I directed a squinted eye to the fatty in the booth to imagine what else wouldn’t fit where. Carmen growled and then pounced all her attention onto Brooke. “Brooke, I apologize, once again, for recommending the little monster to our salon. If it wasn‘t for me, we wouldn‘t have to put up with Jessy’s insolence.”
I hated how Carmen’s shoulders raised when she said “insolence.” But it was true. Carmen had got me my job at Beautious Maximus and I should have been more thankful. And, at one time, I could have been more thankful. But that all changed when I realized out that she had once slept with my boyfriend.
“Don‘t use big words in the morning,” Brooke said, exasperated. “And please, just get along.”
Paco, the most rational and "matured" one of us (sometimes he wore leather ties), chimed in with his usual coolness. "Jessy," he said to me, while wiping his perfectly arched eyebrows with the tips of his spindly middle fingers, "I don't care how much you play at being the Hollywood Hairdresser, you are not that cruel. Nor do you own a tiara. You are a nice young man and I do not believe that you would intentionally hurt someone's feelings."
"Okay, you know me,” I said, smiling demurely, “I just told her that I didn't think I should be paired up with her. Doing someone's hair is a two-way street.” I nodded my point home. "I have to be comfortable with her hair as much as she has to. Besides, rubber band." I experienced a touch of vertigo even thinking about a ponytail.
The way I saw it was that this place where I worked was a SALON. Pronounced like the French: SAAALon. We offered foil color-weaves (not caps), hair extensions, spiral perms, manicures, fake nails, pedicures, facials, makeup applications, and massage therapy services. Our name said it all: "BEAUTIOUS MAXIMUS - A Full-Service Salon."
I was the youngest stylist. But I was one of the best and busiest. Our saaalon catered to a high-rent clientele in Naples Island, California, and I was young. Impressionable. So, naturally, a little of our clients' high-brow attitude would rub off on me. Besides, stylists with bigger personalities always made more money.
Brooke looked at me and shook her head.
“You better get that ego in check, Mister,” she said.
I nodded non-committedly.
Brooke heaved a relieved sigh like she had just settled the war in the Middle East. That was one of the things that I loved about Brooke being my boss. No stomach for discipline. If I ran this place, I would have fired myself. But Brooke decided that she had had enough quality time with all of us, her children, so she started toward the swinging doors of the salon’s main floor to her waiting client. She paused only long enough to gaze at what I was wearing. Today: white Reeboks and black parachute pants. Punk fashion had morphed into New Wave. I had successfully side-stepped Preppy. But it was my sleeveless white sweatshirt which had a Japanese flag printed on the front that Brooke disapproved of. In sunburst rays were strategically cut slits to show a teensy-teasing-bit of my beach-tanned torso, yet none of my excess baby fat. (It had been a few weeks since my last gym visit. This was due to a few busy work weeks and home stress, which begot hamburgers.)
Brooke flung her wedgy bob of copper red hair off her face and looked up at the ceiling as if to seek divine guidance. She reminded me of my real mother and I couldn’t help but feel a rascally wave of accomplishment.
"Would it save any time if I just went insane now?” she asked. And, before she left, she informed all of us that "there's homemade cauliflower soup in the fridge for everyone. Dig in."
I chewed on my coffee and said, “Someone better check the linoleum after lunch to see how much I liked the cauliflower soup.”
Carmen took a bite of her sour fruit and pointed a fork at me. “Your ego is out of control,” Carmen slurped.
"’He's the ego-monster,” I protested as I pointed at Paco. “He makes his clients wait for hours, teases them like hell and then charges them an arm and a leg.” Paco smiled proudly. “After all that,” I said to him directly, “they tell you how wonderful you are!”
I really loved Paco and he had been my mentor since I began working at Beautious Maximus. Paco also made more money than Graceland and had an endless clientele list who waited weeks and sometimes months to get an appointment with him. He owned a fabulous condo and two convertibles and traveled all over the world on his vacations. I worshipped him. This was L.A. A million-dollar home, an E-type Jaguar, and a platinum American Express Card were compulsory. The whole population was “pauper-impaired.” But how long would I have to work on my feet to get the Barbie Dream House too? I was 21. Paco had been in the business for 25 years!
Paco put his arm around my shoulder and said, “Jessy, it’s time you and I had a talk. After your last client today, hmm? We‘ll call it a meeting.” His smile was both teasing and condescending. “For now, let me say, my dear boy, you are mistaking age and seasoned campiness with youth and boldness. We are alike in that you are a wonderful artist, and a good listener, but you must wear your abrasive behavior with an air of humor. You see, clients just want to be able to feel like they are in capable hands and then when one provides that security, they are very, very thankful. Even I find it difficult to keep a grasp on reality when every client tells me that I have saved their life simply for doing their hair. You must try."
"Yeah," Carmen said, between chomps of a dry looking rice cake she pulled out of nowhere. (Her ass?) She must have been onto yet another new California diet. I wanted to mention that I didn't think it would work, but Paco struck a pose to change the subject. He was wearing all white except for a black vest that was made of rubber, and his bony mass mingled with our space-age/Art-Deco wallpaper to look like checkerboard tiles after a 7.5 earthquake. He claimed he was one of the first Caucasians to ever have bleached-out colorless hair and he left his beard its natural Irish red. I didn’t know where he got the name Paco, but it was essentially cool to have a single name, ala Cher, Madonna, and Sting. Bonus cool if hyphenated, such as Ann-Margret. He was a hairdresser so, to me, that explained everything.
"I have a juicy piece of Scandatatattle,” Paco said. “If you beg me, then I must render it you, my fanzzzz."
When a group of hairdressers get together to casually talk about other peoples' lives and secrets for judgment and desecration it is not simply called gossip. We called it “Scandatatattle”: a little bit of scandal, data, and tattling. Paco made it up and it was a Beautious Maximus exclusive. I knew it wouldn't take long to get some dirt on someone this morning.
"Okay. I bite," Carmen said half-heartedly. "I saw your driver’s license and I'm going to tell everyone your real age if you don't tell us what you know."
Paco feigned exasperation, then shot off, "I lied on my drivers license. But I have three words for what I found out about a certain silly someone... Fab-u-lous!"
"Spill it will you?" Carmen said, with her usual tact and grace.
Paco pretended to be offended. Paused. Then lithely flew to land and perch beside her.
"Wee--ell,“ Paco lisped, “remember my last client, Peter?”
"The drag queen?" asked Carmen.
“Honey, anyone who wears a uniform, baby-blue eye shadow, pin-stripe suits, has a cartoon character tattoo, or talks Valley Girl is a drag queen. Anyhoo, he, I mean she was out at the Red Onion last night. You know, that breeder place where girls have fried perms and you can’t get a decent white zin?”
"Carmen goes there,” I said. “A lot.”
"Oh hisss," said Paco. “Well, Peter, I mean, Muffy, was dressed in a blue beaded number. It sounded gorgeous.”
"Isn‘t Muffy a lesbo name?" asked Carmen. “Lesbos can’t be drag queens.”
"Anyhoo! Muffy saw and set her sights on, none other than, our Donovan."
Paco rolled his eyes and clicked his tongue.
The Scandatatattle had taken an ugly turn. Donovan, another stylist, started at Beautious Maximus about the same time I did and he was my best friend. Donovan was originally from Australia, a little older than me, but we both came from Catholic families and liked to go out drinking and dancing, and we both worked extra hard to make it big as stylists. Our professional differences were that I learned my craft from Paco, such as cutting, coloring and styling, and Donovan learned just enough to pick up girls in his chair. When we went out, that’s when he worked his hardest. But what he was working on would be trying to convince girls that he was straight once they found out he was a stylist especially if he was hanging out with me, someone who is transparently and categorically gay. And my poor Donovan was extremely heterosexual. A man-slut for the ladies. The thought of Donovan in a bar, probably after a few beers and near a seemingly willing female, allowed my imagination only one conclusion.
"This is goood!" Carmen cooed to encourage Paco to keep going with his Scandatatattle.
With a smirk on his face, Paco took a deep, energizing breath before he went in for the kill. “Muffy,” he said, “told me that Donovan kept on buying her drinks before inviting her to his Porsche for a little surprise. When the heroine of the story finally did get a wobbly Donovan into his love-mobile, she said he began to get very amorous with his hands. Muffy began to fear that Donovan might find out her true identity. Her un-Muffyness, if you will. But she wryly played the offensive and decided to cop a little feel herself and, low and below, Donovan has a little dick.”
"Aaahh!" All three of us yelled.
In the main part of the busy salon the continuous hum of uninhibited chatter and blow dryers suddenly dropped a decibel or two because we were yelling so loud.
"Yes!" Paco exclaimed, “Indignant, not knowing what to do with such a small portion, Muffy stormed out of the Porche and went back to trolling inside the Red Onion.”
Paco, flung his wisp of a wrist and snapped his fingers triumphantly.
"That does explain why he doesn’t have a lot of repeats…” Carmen said, rubbing her chin. “He does drive a Porsche.”
These were the days before Viagra and clipping your pubic hair to make your penis look bigger. And Donovan was my buddy. I had to say something in his defense.
"That is totally bogus," I said. "Donovan does not have a little dick."
Once again, my co-workers turned on me.
"Well, call me Nancy Reagan!" Paco exclaimed as his pinkies swept sinuously over his clavicle. "I doth hear protest regarding genitalia girth fromith best friend!"
I looked at Carmen for a little help. Some support.
"Don't look at me, Jessy," she said. "You're walking on tar again and we might have to ask you how long is Don Juan's schlong?"
"I wouldn't know!" I said. "I mean, I've never seen it! I just don't think he has a little one."
Almost on cue, Donovan walked into the lab, returning a "roll-about" with tint cups and foil strips. He was humming and then stopped to look at all of us, who were looking back at him, only lower.
In his low-rent Aussie accent he rhetorically asked, "Did ya guys see the cute little blonde chicky oim doin'? Oim makin' her even more blonde than she was before. Gawd, I love this job!"
What was he doing going out without me, his main mate, looking for chickies? “What’s your damage?” I demanded. “Why didn’t you call me last night?”
“Mate,” Donovan said, “you were in my heart, just the same.”
Not caring how I knew he went out last night, and totally oblivious to our scrutiny, Donovan whistled as he left us to go back to his chicky client.
"Bummer," I said, unconsciously.
Paco and Carmen busted up laughing. Again, at my expense.
***
By 5:45, my 5:15 appointment was officially another no-show (an old excuse of “caught in traffic,” which was called in from a mobile phone, a new phenomenon), so I thought I would just go home and see if I could catch a glimpse of my boyfriend before he had to run off to his job. I was pulling the plugs on my blow dryer and curling irons when Liz-Beth shuffled over to my station with her head down, like a puppy who had wet the carpet.
“Uh, Jessy, I know how you feel about no-shows,” she said, “and this is your second one today, but there’s a man up front and he needs a haircut.”
“I don’t take walk-ins,” I said, struggling to stay focused on getting home and trying not fixate on the moon and star design printed on her hemp peasant blouse.
“Yes. Um, I know. But everyone else is all booked up right now, and this man can't wait.”
If she had any idea how much her words and blouse were stinging my senses, I would have totally respected her for it.
"He said his limo driver has just enough time to get gas and fill up the bar if you can cut his hair," she said. “He wanted someone really good.”
“Well …” I said, re-plugging in my irons and blow dryer, “if he wants someone good ...”
Just then, Donovan walked from the reception area with one of his whorey looking clients.
“He does look like your kinda client.” Donovan said to me, “Obnoxious.” Then he slipped me a less backhanded compliment as he passed: “But I wish I could have half yer confidence, mate."
"If only you could have half of my -- nevermind,” I shouted.
Twirling around, I turned my attention back to our receptionist.
“What's it going to hurt to have one more new client?” I said to Liz-Beth. “I'm a Gemini, as you have pointed out, and I can let my benevolent twin rule today, hmm? Tell him to wait for me, Liz-Beth. I can't have him thinking that I need a new client."
I turned my back on her again.
"Yeah. Right," she said, behind me and with a just a hint of a patronizing tone.
She was making fun of me. I immediately coiled, ready to strike with my provoked fangs of payback, when my shoulder was strongly tapped from behind.
“Ahem,” came a man’s voice into my ear.
Startled, I turned around to chastise whomever had interrupted what would have surely been a glib and slightly cruel comment on Liz-Beth’s peasant blouse, but I was instead shocked to be face to chest with a mutantesquely tall man. The man steadied me from falling backwards on my hot irons by grabbing my right hand. Behind the big guy, I could see Liz-Beth shuffling and chuckling back to her front desk.
"Heeey, bud-buddy,” the tall man billowed, “are you Jeffery?"
I caught my balance as my hand was vigorously shaken and released. As any stylist would, I backed up and took the offensive and smiled in my most “you are putty in my hands” way.
"I'm Jessy," I said, through gritted teeth to make it obvious that he had slaughtered my name. (I had not yet legally chopped off my last name like Paco, but to the clients I had no last name -- and no middle name. There was no reason to fuck it up.)
"I really appreciate you taking me on such short notice," he said, belying a softer personality than his girth would suggest.
"Well, I guess I'm ready for you now," I said, motioning for him to follow me. “I'll shampoo your hair. All the shampoo assistants are busy, with scheduled clients.”
As the man followed me to the shampoo lounge, I tried to fire a glare at Liz-Beth as we passed near the front desk. But she would have none of it and never looked my way, and I realized that the bitch might be acclimating faster than I thought. We had all better watch our backs or we might end up being booked with a highlight at 7PM on a Sunday by “accident.”
He was wearing a black satin jacket with the latest Star Trek movie logo embroidered on the right pec and a centered, much-larger version on the back. It was one of those jackets a studio gives to the staff and crew that had worked on the set of a movie. The tall man looked like a producer. A time-is-money type, anyway. Not so much artsy but antsy. This guy, I sensed, was probably a little pushy and, in my opinion, successful people probably had to be. I’d make sure I got a new client card made out on him if he tipped well.
After shampooing his hair, I commanded him to follow me to my chair. As we passed Brooke, she was combing out one of her geriatrics who looked either asleep or dead. Paco’s chair was empty because he went home, half way through the day, due to coming down with a cold. I made a mental note to self to call him. Then, on second thought, I made a mental note to scratch the last note because I remembered that we were supposed to have a meeting, obviously canceled, about my attitude after work.
When I walked by Carmen's chair she was telling the same blonde joke to her latest client that she had been telling everyone else (except the dumb blondes) all day. "You can tell that she owned a vibrator because of her chipped teeth!" This time I heard only the punch line but it finally tickled a nerve so I laughed and she glared at me like I had spitefully eavesdropped. Geez.
Donovan seemed to be consulting with Whorey on what he was going to do to her hair. But I knew he was just toying with her as he massaged her head before she put on a smock or a cutting cape. Donovan once told me that massaging women’s heads made their tits pointier. As I passed him, I experienced a slight flash of rage at his unprofessionalism.
When we got back to my station, the tall man sat in my styling chair as if he owned it. He moved the products on the counter so he could see more of me and the whole salon in the mirror, as if casing the joint. Then he adjusted his cape so not a pinhead size of clipped hair would fall on his arms or clothes.
“I've got a real important meeting tonight, Buddy,” he said. “Real important. So just trim it into what I already have, but shorter. But not too much shorter."
“Okay,” I said, as I jumped right into the haircut. “But are you sure that this is just a business meeting? Could it be a possible date? It sounds very important."
After I realized that he hadn’t replied and I saw that he was squeezing the arms of the chair, my scissors stopped cutting. Instinctually I backed my torso away from the wrenched arms of the chair and looked up to see that he was glaring at me through the mirror. I eeked out a smile.
"Heyee," he said, and then finally laughed. "You are a wise guy! Hey-hey. I think I'm going to like you, Jess-boy. Yeah. You're all right."
I exhaled, feeling as if, for a brief moment, I had been in real danger for moving in too personal, too fast. Regaining my mental balance, I continued to trim his dirty-blonde hair into the surfer look that he came in with.
"My hair is very important to me, Jessy-boy," he said. “I gotta warn ya, the last guy who cut too much of my hair off, got somethin' of his cut off. Hey, hey, hey."
Male clients always came back to me because I never cut too much and I always clipped the hair on their ears and eyebrows without asking and I never made their hair over-poofy. So I wasn't worried about cutting his hair too short but I kept more of a distance from the arms of the cutting chair.
This guy was they type of client who let me do most of the talking, which I was happy to do after a day of mostly listening. He seemed like a nice dude who liked to laugh and paid attention to my chatter well enough. And he must have been okay with my forwardness at our introduction. But he loved his finished haircut because he tipped me with three crisp one hundred dollar bills. When he slapped them down in my palm, my jaw dropped in happy surprise and for the sting in my hand.
"If I didn't like it," he said, "I would have given you ten times that much and then run ya down in the street just so you couldn't spend it." He always ended his sentences with the same smirky laugh. "Hey-hey-hey."
"Say, Buddy,” he said, “I have an associate, who, just might need your services. To do his wife’s hair. She could use your help. Mind if I pass on your good name? You'll make a lotta dough."
"Sure," I said, still rubbing the sting in my hand. "Any friends of yours are friends of mine.” And any associates’ wife’s hair that will make me a lot of dough are definitely friends of mine.
Before he walked out to his gassed-up limousine, I invited the new big-guy client to fill out a client card at the front desk and to grab one of my business cards."

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Mafia Hairdresser Issues a Fatwa on Flip-Flops

2009-11-09T11:03:00.000-08:00

"Just say no!
Your feet need to breathe, you say? Bullshit. Your feet are an appendage, not an organ that usurps air.
Easy to slip on? So is a Banana peel.
Fashionable? Yes. Some even have rhinestones. (Regretfully, I wish I thought of that.) But shoulder pads were in fashion once and we all regret that one. And no, shoulder pads are not coming back.
You like the freedom you feel in Flip-flops? This is America. Your freedom is an illusion. But nothing will prevent you more from attaining the new American dream of looking cute, climbing up the social ladder and being on a reality show more than looking dowdy and walking shlumpy.
Exposing your hooves to city dirt makes your pedicure choke and you'll end up galloping from The Water Tower to Saks like a farm animal while trying to avoid getting stepped on. And if you wear the damn things the country, you’ll get thorns up your toenails, weeds under your heels, or bitten by a rattlesnake.
Flip-flops are supposed to be worn to separate your feet from the athlete’s feet fungus on the gym shower floor or for walking on the hot sand at the beach. Wearing flip-flops outside the gym or the beach is like taking a "Mr. Grumpy" in front of your boyfriend. Not too many women can get away with that without stripping away what little bit of mystery one can only try to maintain in this void-of-privacy world.
Flip-flops force you to hunch with a Sasquatch-like squat while you loudly scuff the sidewalks all because you've been curling you toes to hold on to the damn slap-pads to the bottoms of your feet. Are you exercising your toes to work like monkey claws? Because you will certainly be able to snatch up lost change from the floor of a bus.
But hey, maybe the whole look does go with the short frilly skirts and crop tops that show "muffin." At least stop the accessorizing of these chiropractic contributing contraptions by adorning them with tacky Hello Kitty pusses that look up from the plastic that separates your big and second toe. A big peach-colored, plastic flower will just make your feet look like that of a fat androgynous forest hobbit. Men do not think dirty women’s feet with scrunched up toes with flowers on them, look hot. Men want to sleep with a classy woman in a simple black dress with nice flats or open-toed heels. They like fit sporty women who wear Nike’s which leaves her feet a sexy ambiguity. Think Jessica Biel in the daytime. Loud sneakers with a pair of pompom socks isn’t too cute either. But at least you’ll look a little athletic instead of resembling a dirt-poor peasant who has had to work in the diamond mines, and who also apparently has to take a dump by the way you are scuffing, hunching and walking in your fucking dirty flip-flops.”

I know, I know... But this is what the hairdresser in my second book writes about. (A writing hairdresser?!) I know, I know.

Anyway, subscribe/read my blog and keep up with what this hairdresser talks about behind the chair in Chicago.
or come get your hair done
Please order your copy of Mafia Hairdresser, the novel about my life as a hairdresser to a mob couple in the 80's, and subscribe to this blog!
http://www.mafiahairdresser.com/

Von Bitch: A Mellow Drama

2009-10-14T06:43:00.000-07:00

VON BITCH
An original screenplay by
Jessy

Scene: Twelfth floor hallway in a Toronto high-rise apartment complex. A door opens and TERRY a dead ringer for an uncreepy bald Tom Cruise walks into the hall and quietly shuts the door. He is wearing a lime-green tank top which has the words “VonBitch” stenciled across the chest and shows off his fabulous tan and defined workout body. Over one shoulder he has slung a meshed pet carrier with his cat, KITTY HOLMES inside. In his opposite hand he holds the leash connected to his dog, DAUGHTERGIRL. With his chin up, TERRY carries his cat and walks his dog only a few doors down to the elevators and pushes the button.
KITTY HOLMES is fussy and is mewing loudly. She does not like being out of the only apartment she has ever lived in.
TERRY taps his foot as minutes begin to pass. Suddenly, without warning, TERRY bursts into tears. TERRY and KITTY HOLMES seem like they are competing.
The same door which TERRY had just come through opens up and DICK, a tall, haggard and nervous looking man in a conservative gray suit (think Dr. Smith from the original Lost in Space series, in earth clothes) pops his head out to look at TERRY. This man is now TERRY’s ex-boyfriend, who is ten years younger (but yet who looks ten years older), than TERRY. DICK has tears of regret and guilt bleeding through his scheming, pallid blue eyes.

DICK
Are you going to be alright?

TERRY attempts to hold in his emotions.

TERRY
You’re the one who’s going to feel
guilty for, like, about a zillion years.

DICK
Are you going to write about this?

TERRY
I’m a writer, Dick. It’s who I am. It’s what I do.

A dam bursts from deep inside of TERRY. He did not want to cry and show his searing pain in front of DICK.
The elevator doors open. NUMBER ONE MAN in a business suit with briefcase is in the elevator. Bravely, TERRY takes a last look at DICK who appears like he just might hang himself after TERRY is gone. TERRY takes his screaming cat and silent dog into the elevator. The elevator door shuts.

Scene: Inside elevator.
Embarrassed to be crying in front of NUMBER ONE MAN, TERRY pulls it together for a moment. KITTY HOLMES’ cries are overwhelming and TERRY lets out brief burst of tears before he is startled quiet again as the elevator doors open up. DAUGHTERGIRL sits smugly on the floor.

Scene: high-rise apartment complex hallway in front of elevators: tenth floor.
NUMBER TWO MAN in a suit with briefcase stands at the opened elevator doors. Wet-eyed TERRY, mewing KITTY HOLMES, DAUGHTERGIRL and stunned NUMBER ONE MAN stare at the new would-be passenger. TERRY wipes his tears, assuring NUMBER TWO MAN that it is okay to enter the elevator. NUMBER TWO MAN reluctantly enters the elevator and turns around and exhales while facing the closing elevator doors.

Scene: Inside elevator.
TERRY, KITTY HOLMES, DAUGHTERGIRL, NUMBER ONE MAN, NUMBER TWO MAN in uncomfortable silence, until...

TERRY
I just broke up with my boyfriend.

NUMBER ONE MAN nods. NUMBER TWO MAN frowns.
KITTY HOLMES begins to meow loudly again. DAUGHTERGIRL wags her tail.

Scene: ninth floor hallway in a Toronto high-rise apartment complex.
NUMBER THREE MAN in a suit holding a newspaper views the following as the doors open: TERRY in a lime-green “Von Bitch” tank top sniffling with a duffel bag over one shoulder and a mewing KITTY HOLMES in a cat carrier over his other. NUMBER ONE MAN stares straight ahead and NUMBER TWO MAN rolls his eyes. DAUGHTERGIRL moves to the back of the elevator and sits down.
NUMBER TWO MAN slightly shakes his head to NUMBER THREE MAN who decides to get onto the elevator anyway. The door closes.

Scene: Inside elevator.
TERRY begins to cry again. NUMBER ONE MAN, NUMBER TWO MAN, NUMBER THREE MAN all startle. KITTY HOLMES mews. DAUGHTERGIRL yawns.

NUMBER ONE MAN
He just broke up with his boyfriend.

NUMBER THREE MAN
Oh.

TERRY nods in agreement as he cries.

NUMBER TWO MAN
You were with Dick, on twelve, right?

TERRY
(nods)
I’ve wasted months of my life. Months.

NUMBER ONE MAN
Maybe you’ll get back together?

TERRY
Yeah. No.

Number Three Man
I know Dick…

NUMBER TWO MAN rolls his eyes again.
The door opens again. In the hall facing the elevator, NUMBER FOUR MAN in a suit with briefcase looks in.
NUMBER FOUR MAN gets into the elevator and turns around.

TERRY
He was selling Ecstasy. Ecstasy!
The elevator doors close.

Scene: sixth floor hallway in a Toronto high-rise apartment complex.
NUMBER FIVE MAN views the following as the doors open:
TERRY bawling, KITTY HOLMES mewing loudly, DAUGHTERGIRL barks once. NUMBER ONE MAN ignoring all, NUMBER TWO MAN shaking his head, NUMBER THREE MAN man rubbing his chin, NUMBER FOUR MAN scowling.

NUMBER TWO MAN
I was wondering how he could afford
to live in this building at his age.

Scene: Inside elevator.
TERRY cries. NUMBER ONE MAN, NUMBER TWO MAN, NUMBER THREE MAN, NUMBER FOUR MAN all take a few side glances to each other and then look straight ahead.
NUMBER FIVE MAN tries to be inconspicuous. KITTY HOLMES suddenly stops mewing. DAUGHTERGIRL lays down on the floor and sighs.

TERRY
I’m going back to Chicago where it’s warm.
And I never want to see a small dick again.

TERRY stops bawling long enough and begins to smile at what he has just done and said in front of these men on their way to work. YVETTE MEW MEW starts mewing again.
NUMBER FIVE MAN shrinks into a corner as the rest of the standing men in the elevator begin to chuckle.

NUMBER ONE MAN
He just broke up with Dick on twelve.

NUMBER TWO MAN
Dick has a small dick.

NUMBER FIVE MAN nods.
NUMBER FOUR MAN
So, Dick sells Ecstasy?

NUMBER ONE MAN frowns. NUMBER TWO MAN raises his eyebrows. TERRY starts laughing through tears. NUMBER FIVE MAN cowers. All the men in the elevator, except for NUMBER FIVE MAN giggle and laugh.

TERRY
He was too young for me anyway.

NUMBER TWO MAN
Small dick.

NUMBER ONE MAN
So you really think Chicago is warmer than Toronto?

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S.O.L. & S.O.S. from the 80's

2009-10-12T09:14:00.000-07:00

"On rare occasions, I was allowed to walk freely on the grounds. I can’t remember how many times I had tried to escape (it’s all so hazy now). But now there are too many tattooed guards with guns to think about it, even if I could still think clearly. Some of my fleeting thoughts are really only faint recollections of desires to get outdoors. To stretch. To breathe fresh air, and not this re-circulating oxygen that blends with the strawberry reek of crack cocaine buildup on the walls.
This was my home until something happened. Something else. I “lived” in a bathroom, sitting, days on end, on a pink rococo vanity chair, with hardly enough concentration to digest page one of yesterday’s newspaper. Maybe it’s Wednesdays‘?
Possibly soon, Big-Don, my host and the owner of this house, might return. Then I’ll pilfer a hit off his crack bong and cut his hair with my shaky hands. I’ll pretend to listen to his bragging deliriums of how he made the company millions and I’ll laugh at his gay jokes. I’ll pretend to care about his grand delusions of his immense indispensability to the company while I trim the fifty-four hairs on his head and the abundant crop growing out of his nose. He likes his hair "just so" and I‘m a good listener when there is coke are crack are around.
I really just want to sleep. But I hardly did that anymore and I didn’t seem to need to. It’s the crack.
Even though I was docile and numb from being a “kept boy,” somehow I knew that Brie and Kelly were on their way to rescue me. The girls would karate chop their way through the tattooed guards and then they’d cut through the chain around my ankle that connected me to the toilet. Then the three of us would kick Big-Don’s big ass. After some quick repartee (and a stint in re-hab for me), the Angels and myself will meet at the office, the place where we got our assignments from a voice from a speaker phone and Lee Majors who would, hopefully, replace ugly Bosley. Then Lee Majors will announce that he is gay and getting a divorce from that skank, Jill, who quit being a team-playing Angel before I got there.
But my Angels were not here yet. And my real friends, my lover, nor my family knew where I was. I'd done such a good job at hiding my "other life" from them, my secret life as an undercover dude-Angel, that they wouldn't have had a clue. Literally and figuratively I was in the crapper."

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Mafia Hairdresser

National Coming Out Day

Thank you, Carrie Fisher

"You losers are going to hell, just sayin..."

My Facebook Wall is my post and Ad for my book this week.

Jon-David J-d Have you read Mafia Hairdresser? If you have not, you can rectify that oversight here http://ow.ly/5R3Tf use insider code KY72M

Miracle Whip Contest--I don't qualify.

I'm a hairdresser who writes. Take your tech and shove it.

Description of Mafia Hairdresser

Vote for Chicago's Anti-Cruelty Society.

More Help for Fine or Weakened Hair

If you are anti-Social you will probably poo-poo Social Media

I don't see Breast Cancer.

Event for Silver LEED certified Apartment Building, The Morgan at Loyola Station

LEED

Giving some Love to the Social Media Writers.

Drinks: Vegas Bombs & Lemoncello Martini

Jon-David is the Mafia Hairdresser on JenChicago.com

Snowmeggedon Super Bowl Sunday.

We are Green at Joseph Michael's Salon and Spa

Credit Card Fraud & The Elderly

How to live with man.

For the love of blogging.

Bad Swiffer, Baaaad

10.10.10 Global Work Party

Happy Dogs and Cats with Flower Essences

Chicago Police Officer runs the Chicago Marathon for LUNGevity Foundation

Green for Beginners, Phase Five

Green for Beginners, Phase Four

Green for Beginners, Phase Three

Take down the Deflector Shield when you have Conflict

Break the Biking Rules and Blog for Blago

Giving Hallmark a run...

Anthropologie on State St. in Chicago Wasting Energy

Green for Beginners. Phase Two.

Green for Beginners. Phase one.

Hotel Felix in Chicago

A comment about the right to marry spawns a Facebook debate.

I do not Trust Yelp.com

Sensitivity to Hair-Coloring = Toxic you

Our Homework is Due and We have an Oilspill to clean up.

Fired over Foursquare?

Death Club

The Savings is lost on me. But Save yourself.

Mad Hatter's Tea

Social Media and the Death of the RSVP

Pet Psychic

Dark Circles/Puffy Eyes & Irritated Acne Skin

Green Cleaners

Blackhawks Harris Club and the Cheese-Pretzel Cough

A Hairdresser Remembers the Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster

Haiti Relief-Giving-It takes nothing from you.

The Pope and I agree on being green.

Best Sangria Recipe

Brunettes Save Money between Color Appointments

My dog, Daughter

Coca-Cola, I'm on your side.

Fall/Winter Check your Vitamin D Levels

Holiday Martini's

Fine Hair gets Thicker

The Mafia Hairdresser

Mafia Hairdresser Issues a Fatwa on Flip-Flops

Von Bitch: A Mellow Drama

S.O.L. & S.O.S. from the 80's

Jon-David J-d
Have you read Mafia Hairdresser? If you have not, you can rectify that oversight here http://ow.ly/5R3Tf use insider code KY72M