The time I worked at a strip club.....

Now, you all can get your minds out of the gutter and wipe that image from your head that I was a stripper.  Being naked in public is a major phobia of mine...  That is why you would never see me at a nudist colony.

Being a hairdresser and makeup artist for 25 years, I have had some real adventures in my line of work.  Besides working out of a salon, I also do work that is considered "on site".  That means, I travel to the client with all my necessary tools of the trade to work.  Normally, I go to a person's home, but there are times I go to hotels, reception halls, bars, and even schools.  It all depends on where the client is and where they need me.  Special events happen everywhere that range from fashion shows, weddings, and mini spa parties hosted by businesses.  It just might require a little travel on my part, but people are willing to pay more for the convenience.  Having your hair and makeup done at the hotel or place you are staying at is way easier than trying to drag a wedding dress and veil across town to a salon that might have hair all over the floor.

Well, today, I was at a client's home.  This client is now homebound because both her and her husband have lost their driving privileges and driving to a salon is no longer an option.  Every week, she calls me in to do her hair.  They are an elderly couple and still like to look nice even though they are stuck at home.  Well, I also think they like to have some company.  I know I would if I was trapped within the same four walls - day in, day out - I would welcome having some people over.

My client was feeling bad about making me travel to her home every week and wondered if it is normal practice for me to do this for her.  I explained to her that being a person in the service industry, you need to be flexible in where you work, especially in these tough economic times.  People are doing whatever it takes to make ends meet.  It is all about survival of the fittest.  If the tree does not bend, it will snap.  I have had my fair share of jobs that I was never really proud of, but nothing I could never talk about.  Just after saying that, I decided to tell her about the time I worked at a strip club.  The look on her face was priceless.  I obviously am not the type to strip for money, but just saying that I worked at one definitely made her wonder.  I definitely had to clarify the meaning of that statement.

Years ago, I worked at a salon that was trying to expand its client base.  On site services was what the owner thought would be the thing to push them over the top.  The owner was not a hairdresser in any sense of the word, but she was an amazing sales person.  She traveled all around, trying to find an avenue that was never thought of for selling hair and makeup services.  She met the owner of a local strip club and gave him a really impressive sales pitch to have her salon showcase their employees talents in his business.  Needless to say, he was quite interested in her pitch and hired her salon to being in 2 hairdressers and 2 makeup artists to do mini makeovers on the strippers that work for him.  He felt he needed to make his place just a little more classy since the girls that work there had no clue how to do their hair or makeup for work.  I guess having a rockin' body is not enough in that line of work.

I have to admit, I never stepped in a strip club that only had women as the performers.  It was never on my bucket list of life to go to one, but if I did, I can definitely scratch that off my list.  Quite an uncomfortable place for me to visit, but a job is a job.

You see, I was one of the 4 people called in to do that on site job.  I did makeup on at least a half dozen girls.  I got to know their stories of how and why they are in that profession.  I can tell by the look in their eyes that they were ashamed of their choice, but once you talked to them, you learn how brave they were for doing whatever it takes to make ends meet.  Some were college students, others were single mothers from broken homes that did what they could to feed their babies.  Bad relationships seemed to be commonplace for these girls, but they all believed that things will get better.  That job was just a temporary thing to them.  Pretty amazing to learn something that changes your perspective of a person.  That experience definitely drove home the fact that there is always more to the book than its cover.....  Life is such an adventure.