The Aveda Institute is like a box of chocolates

I really needed a hair cut today. There's an Aveda Institute in Tempe, where they train the stylists. They'll do my air for $10, since I'm a student, which is less than I'd pay at most barbers. So I go there.

But the real reason I go is that it's just such an adventure. First, you pay, then you sit and wait for your stylist. You watch these girls practicing, styling on wigs...they're all looking at each others' work, explaining what they think they did wrong. Then you start to notice the stylists themselves. They come up to the front every few minutes and get a customer. Some of them have gorgeous hair, and you think, "I hope SHE calls me." Then the quite overweight lady with the bleached, spiked hair comes up, and you start to tremble with fear. "There's no WAY she's touching my head!"

Last time I went there, the girl who did my hair said she really didn't know what to do with guys' hair. She'd only cut one other guy's hair, and about a week later, she'd run into him in public, and he'd said, "Hey! You screwed up my hair!!!" This came out when she was about half-done with my hair. And she was right. It came out pretty badly. I looked like a little kid from the 80's.

But today, I got a girl who was only four weeks from graduating, and who was planning to get a job at a Scottsdale resort when she finished. She did a great job. Even her gay supervisor liked it.

You never know what you're gonna get.