Habibi, Would You Straighten My Hair This Evening?

It was a circus at the hairdresser‘s salon on Sunday- I walked in to find every hen in the neighborhood waiting to get her hair puffed “bombe” style.

But there was a larger than usual fuss happening in the center of it all, everyone was ooohing, aahing and gushing over a bride-to-be seated amidst the chaos on the biggest chair in the room, getting her wedding hair primped by the hairdresser- who happened to also be- THE GROOM!

Everyone seemed to treat it like a common practice, except for me.  I thought it was the most bizarre thing! Whatever happened to the myth of “ bad luck” for the bride and groom to see each other before the ceremony?  Here, the groom was sticking extensions on his bride-to-be’s hair and she was grasping her veil, directing him every step of the way.

As soon as I got over the weirdness of it all, I then thought about how convenient it would be for this bride during the wedding party, whenever a strand of hair would fall out of place all she would drag him out of the dance floor and make him pull out a bottle of hairspray and a pin from his pockets and give her a quick touch-up. Better yet, she can guarantee great hair days on her honeymoon since she’s with her hairdresser the entire time.

I still think it’s all very strange, but yet another one of those incidents that makes our Lebanese culture so distinctive in its own way.  Would you date your hairdresser? Let alone have him style your hair for your wedding to him?