Are you sure you want to delete the O and the R and the H?

We live in a world of acronyms. Or, call them monograms, if you like: DVD, IBM, LED, CVS, and on and on. Sign of the times: Quick. Portable. Condensed, Mysterious and Impersonal.  But, QED. That’s it.

            It’s tempting to continue the tradition. 9 out of 10 entrepreneurs choose to squeeze their titles into acronyms because it’s cool. Since there’s always room for another, welcome ORH.

            It’s specific and yet it’s an entire philosophy of life. Old Reliable Haircut. The acronym originated with Sara Barr, a stylist at FACES Beautiful in Westport, which, interestingly enough, just changed its name from Beautiful Faces, but that’s another story. 

            Sara has hundreds of clients, all ages, and all occupations. She says that she’s noticed that around 50ish, women seem wedded to the hairstyle, the clothes-style, and the make-up style they’ve had for years. It’s safe. It’s OK. But it’s boring. There’s no thrill anymore to looking in the mirror, there’s no tingling excitement to walking out of the salon.

Sara thinks that the current craze about age is awful. It’s made every line on a woman’s, or even a man’s, face a Grand Canyon of sunken hopes. “The avalanche of products that say they’ll help erase wrinkles eventually is kind of fanatic and confusing, don’t you think?” she says. (And, she works in an environment which is known for authentic skincare.)

If women would think of abandoning the ORH for something different, they wouldn’t obsess about wrinkles that much, she says. “It’s complicated. It’s emotional. It’s guilt. Leaving a hair stylist who’s been your confidante for ten or fifteen years is like a divorce. But that’s often the only way. Here’s what often happens: A woman who’s been getting an ORH for a long time sees a friend whose hair looks fantastic. That’s it.  The seed has been planted.  Maybe she can convince her tried-and-true stylist to experiment, but maybe not.” Big conflict.  Big choice.  Big, and better, change.

Often, something dramatic in a woman’s life has to happen to create the courage to try something really new. Lately, losing a job is a very effective motivator.

 It’s like that sentence in fortune cookies. “Changing your tresses is losing your stresses.”