Getting Hair Care Services with Pso

Have you ever gotten self care services and felt like you were scary? I have. When I go for a hair appointment, I make sure that I let them know when I am booking the appointment that I have scalp psoriasis. Long ago, I made the mistake of setting up an appointment to get a hair cut, shampoo, and style without telling them that I had scalp psoriasis.

When I arrived, I stated who I was and was walked to the beautician's chair. The beautician was busy so the assistant walks me over and then the shampoo girl approached. She was friendly. She stood behind my chair added the cape and started to raise my chair. She was asking what I was going to get done. The next thing she did was tell me to come back to the shampoo area so my hair could be washed, conditioned, and treated. About this time, I was seated with my head in the basin. She adjusts the water temp and begins giving me a gentle scalp massage while applying shampoo. As she washes my hair she chats about the weather with me. So far everything feels great!

My hairdresser noticed my psoriasis

We continue on to the conditioner and it smells tropical. Since I live with psoriasis, my hair is very dry. The young lady suggests we had a moisturizing scalp treatment. I agree to the extra cost and enjoy the massage. After all this is done, the shampoo girl sits me up and pats my wet hair with a towel. We are done. As I go back to the beauticians chair and bid the shampoo girl farewell she already has her next customer waiting for her. The beautician begins combing my hair and talking to me about how I wanted my hair cut. At this point, it is shoulder length. She asks if I would be okay with shaping my hair. I learn that it means framing my face and using my natural wave to make a style. I agree. This young woman begins combing my hair and parting it. She is cutting and styling my hair.

Suddenly she stops. She stares at my scalp. Then she calls another beautician over to look at my scalp. I watch as the two girls are moving my hair about with the long handle of the comb. The second beautician is whispering to the first. The second one walks away and goes back to her customer.

Meanwhile, my beautician walks away grabs gloves and places them on her hands. She begins moving my hair and treating my head as if it is a bomb about to explode. She is barely touching my strands of hair? Her movements remind me of the way a dead bug is handled in disgust. At this point I am wondering what is wrong. I smile and ask if there is a problem.

Was there a risk with doing my hair?

She states that I have some sort of infection on my scalp. She tells me it is red and irritated. I explain that I have psoriasis and it is a skin disease. She sighs and says, "Why didn't you tell me?" I told her I didn't know I needed to. She begin by rolling her eyes and telling me that I should always tell the beautician so they can decide if they want to take the risk working on my hair.  My mind starts to ponder about the risk... what risk? What does she think is wrong with me? Now I am embarrassed by her reaction to me.

I felt ashamed as if I had done something wrong. I felt like I was dirty or gross. My heart was beating so fast and I asked her what risk she was talking about? The young girl walked away and went to get the manager. She walked over to me and was red in the face. She begin frantically apologizing telling me that the beautician had never heard of psoriasis. She thought it was a disease that was contagious. She was taken back by the whole situation and asked the manager to finish with me so she was not exposed.

I could feel my eyes filling up with tears. I calmly and quietly said, "I am not a leper. I have a skin disease that makes my scalp sensitive. It is red and has patches of new skin that is delicate." As the manager begin to assure me she knew it was okay she kept saying she was sorry. We talked about educating other beauticians in not making them feel like a monster. The young girl who was near by approached and apologized. She thanked me for explaining.

The beautician didn't charge me for the hair services. She thanked me for teaching her. She gave me a hug with tears in her eyes and told me she was so upset she made me nearly cry. I did cry hearing that she noticed. We hugged and I realized that people don't always know but most are open to learn.