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<p style="text-align: left;">"...as a beauty editor, if you allow all the people who want to cut/color/gloss/perm your hair to have their way with you, you'll be completely bald in less than a month."</p>
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<p style="text-align: right;">—<em>Lucky</em> beauty director <a href="http://www.luckymag.com/shopping/blogs/beauty/2009/04/when-life-gives.html" target="_blank">Jean Godfrey-June</a></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">It's true—beauty editors are always being offered freebie cuts and colour jobs, which admittedly is a pretty darn cool perk of the job, especially in a recession.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">But Jean is right. <strong>Playing guinea pig is no fun</strong>, which is why—after years of being encouraged to "go for it! You're in fashion!"—I now refuse to let anyone near my head with a pair of scissors or or a bottle of dye, unless I'm paying for it. When you haven't properly vetted your hairstylist, the situation will inevitably result in too-short bangs, colour that's too light or too dark, stripey highlights or fried ends. (And yes, I've had all five, thankyouverymuch.)</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Better to spring for the cut or colour by the person you <em>really</em> want than start the vicious cycle of correcting the previous person's work. So what I advise, for beauty editors and civilians alike, is to <strong>do your research</strong>. If you don't have a regular stylist, find out who styles the people whose hair you admire. That's how I found my colourist, actually—I asked a girl on the subway. (I couldn't see her face, just her amazing blonde highlights. Turns out, she was my long-lost friend J.! A fortuitous day indeed.) My mom found the guy who cuts our hair by watching the makeovers on <a href="http://www.cityline.ca" target="_blank">CityLine</a>. Gee, is it any wonder I turned up in this profession?</p>