My salon has undergone a major redesigning. One of the things that were changed were the mirrors.
Instead of these mirrors
the salon has installed these:
But the new mirrors are not to everyone’s liking. The salon’s owner was shocked when she started receiving complaints from customers who claimed that the new mirrors were making them anxious and depressed.
Can you guess why people hate the new mirrors and prefer the old ones?
These mirrors are full-body, which makes some people insecure about their bodies.
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Wow, that was fast.
It took me forever to guess, so I thought it would be hard. Yes, people freak out when they have to stare at their bodies for 2 hours straight. Even though hairdressers shroud them in black robes to protect the clothing.
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Still beat me to it. I knew immediately too. I discovered that I am happy with how I look standing up in a full length mirror but sitting down is the best angle for my body. I had the good sense not to complain to the owner of the salon I go to though. I know when something is my issue. 🙂
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Edited to add that “sitting down is NOT the best angle for my body.”
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Honestly, I’m not staring at myself in the mirror for two hours straight during a haircut because I’m chattering with my hairstylist. It helps that I have to take off my glasses and that my vision isn’t the best. Even when I have contacts on I’m focusing on my head. Maybe I’d feel differently about a full length mirror?
My first thought was the florescent lights are not flattering and make people’s faces look old by washing people’s faces out and exposing every wrinkle and skin problem.
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The glare of the vertical lighting tubes would really bother me.
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The issue may be lighting. Light spectrum can affect mood. Staring into lighting can be a problem, especially for older women with issues with cataracts. (In this age of allergies and steroid inhalers, if you don’t have cataracts now, you will.)
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I was going to guess people who are on the run from the mafia, since the wider mirrors would allow them to see assassins coming. (I’ve probably watched too many action movies.)
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My first thought was of course it’s the full body mirrors (too much information) and thought maybe it was a trick question and it was really the harsher looking lighting or something.
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I would have said the flourescence and the narrowness.
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Also still favor your natural hair, that is natural in the top picture, right?
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What if it’s the removal of the usual hairdresser table clutter? I doubt I’m the only one who spends most of his time being hair-cut looking at all the doohikies and doodads and thinking which of them could be used as lethal weapons in an all-out brawl.
So it’d be removal of visual stimulus and not so much a body image problem. If that’s the case, then shrouding the bodies only makes the problem worse.
By way of experiment, perhaps your stylist could try to putting some shiny baubles, posters or stickers near the mirrors to see if it helps? Or, if they want to retain that clean-and-professional look of the space, go for colourful or patterned body shrouds?
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My first guess was “This way the customer sees only themselves and can’t snoop on what’s happening elsewhere in the salon, which is half the fun.”
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My first thought: are those fluorescent light boxes that make the people in the chairs look too much like the undead?
My second thought: I really, really should stop watching late-night crime dramas and documentaries … 🙂
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A conservative literary critic and college professor
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