My daughter went to beauty school. She is tatooed, and has had multi-colored hair, and piercings. Often the young people who attend beauty school are on the cutting edge of fashion, and culture. If the person going to the school doesn't like how these young people represent themselves, she can go somewhere else for a full price cut. Tatoos, piercings and rainbow hair do not define a person's morality or talent.

LW2 needs to realize that what inspires her may not inspire the majority of the school's clientele, and that's not a bad lesson for Kathy/Marcy, either. Presumably, those students will adapt to the environment of the salons that eventually hire them, just as jeans-clad college kids can adapt to wear suits on Wall Street. Remember, some of those beauty school students WILL end up working in establishments aimed at younger & edgier clients, and others will be working where they're clad in smocks and discreet makeup, where the silence is broken only by the water trickling in a serene fountain.

When you choose to go to a beauty school, the tradeoff is that you're paying only for good work done in a clean environment -- you're not going to get atmosphere tailored to your particular taste & comfort level, just as you're not going to get the work done as quickly as you would in a professional salon.

MY advice : Are you satisfied with the work? Is the price agreeable? Why not plug in earbuds and your favorite music to drown out the gum chomping, and close your eyes to the cleavage -- that should up your relaxation factor considerably.

Old people may think they can refuse to go into a nursing home, but sometimes it's the only option. I hope LW1 stands her ground and refuses to move in with them. Her mother is 71 and probably has another 25 years. They should realize that she can get their "power of attorney" if they become incapacitated, and then they'll have no choice if she puts them in a nursing home.

I wish people wouldn't get into such a dither over other people's appearances. Yes, tattoos and piercings can take a little getting used to if you're older, but it's so much easier to accept change and try to see the beauty in it. Being cranky and judgmental takes much more energy than accepting people as they are.

LW1 - I hope the LW holds her ground and does not move in with her parents. Her parents should look into a retirement community, where they WILL have 24/7 access to medical care, but their medical personnel will not be burned out from working 24/7.


LW2 - I'll join others in the opinion that if you go to a beauty school for a hair cut, you deal with how the students look. Piercings and tattoos may not be your taste, but rest assured, those who keep flaunting them will not get jobs at establishments that prefer a more conservative look. If you are more concerned with the looks of your hair stylist than with the quality of his/her work, go to more conservative-looking salons.

When I go to a salon or am looking for cosmetic advice, I look at the person doing the work and decide whether our tastes are similar. As I'm boringly conservative in appearance, I usually choose someone of similar style, so the stylists written about wouldn't appeal to me, not on a moral or judgmental basis, but just because we might not be speaking the same language when trying to define what I'm hoping we're shooting for. If more flamboyantly appearing workers made her uncomfortable, that might be why. You do take the benefits of a lower cost style along with the fact that these are trainees. It does seem it might be good for the school to be working on the gum cracking, though. That's not a style choice.