Violet Set

Monday, April 13, 1998

It was time for another set. The weather forecast was for scattered showers later in the evening, but at 4:00 p.m. when I left the sky was mostly clear, although it was cool and windy. I did bring my umbrella as a precaution, and left for my usual salon with my clipping file of hairstyles, and my laptop computer as well.

I arrived at my usual salon at 4:45 p.m. without an appointment. This time there was only one client ahead of me, a woman getting a haircut, a permanent on white, grey, pink and blue rods.

Two other women and a small girl were there as well. I spent my time waiting looking through the Hairstyle books, both for possible styles for myself and for a woman friend whom I know from the Rollermania chat room.

After the woman was set on perm rods, she had the perm solution applied and her head was wrapped in a towel.

Then it was my turn. The stylist draped me in a towel and cape, and washed my hair several times at the shampoo bowl. I showed her the style that I had selected from my collection, and she proceeded to spritz on two different conditioners, then applied a generous amount of mousse.

The rollers used ranged were colors and diameters: Buff 1-1/8 inches, Yellow 1 inch, Orange 7/8 inch, and Blue 5/8 inch. The larger rollers were used on the top, with the orange ones over most of my head, and some of the smaller blue rollers at the nape. As usual, each one was secured with a single clip against my scalp.

As I was being set, a man came in for a haircut by the male barber who shares the shop. I was then placed under the dryer, after retrieving my laptop computer to begin preparing this diary entry.

The woman then had her freshly-permed hair trimmed, then styled using a medium-sized curling iron.

When my hair was dry, the stylist came over to the dryer to get me. I had her take a picture of me still under it, starting this diary entry on my laptop. She also took pictures of the set, to the chorus of "cheese" from the other ladies still in the shop.

After the rollers were removed, the set was loosened with a rake, then my style was finished with a plastic styling tool with a teasing comb and a metal pick at the end. A little backcombing was done on top and in front, and my entire head was sprayed with aerosol hair spray.

The stylist also took pictures of the finished style. Then she asked me to watch the shop for a few minutes as she got her car from the garage. She returned shortly, and I left the shop with my new style at around 6:45 p.m. It was partly cloudy, with no rain in sight.