A woman who was so crippled by depression she didn’t get out of bed for six months leaving her with a giant dreadlock, has been transformed by a big-hearted hairdresser.
Unable to bring herself to wash, the lady pulled her hair into a bun which eventually became so matted it was ‘as hard as rocks’.
But after finding the strength to visit a salon and asking a hairdresser to make her feel like herself again, the lady’s wish has come true. Touched by her story, Kate Langman spent eight and a half hours combing through the tangles, colouring and cutting it.
‘I could see the sparkle in her eyes and I could see her cheeks get rosy pink from the excitement,’ she said.
The American hairdresser posted the full experience on Love What Matters Facebook page.
She wrote: ‘I work at The Salon inside Ulta Beauty. About a month ago, I saw this woman pulling every product off the “All Soft” Redken line. When I asked her if she needed any help, she began to tell me her story.
‘A very long story short, this woman suffered with a very deep depression. She couldn’t get out of her bed for six months. Which meant she didn’t wash her hair or brush it.
‘She kept pulling it back into this bun, which after that long of time turned into a huge dread lock. The bun was so matted that it felt like she literally had rocks on the back of her head. This is when I mentioned to just put all the product back on the shelf.
‘We made an appointment for the following day and she didn’t show up. She then called about two weeks later and booked another appointment. And once again, no show. At this point I figured she wasn’t going to ever end up coming in. It actually, kind of, broke my heart. I wanted to help her so much.
‘So today, out of alllll days, she comes walking in and asked if she can get her hair done today, and that she finally got herself out of bed again. I, of course, said yes. I didn’t care how late I stayed, I wanted to make sure she got taken care of.
‘She wanted to keep it on the longer side if it was at all possible. Most of the time the advice is to just cut it off. But I wanted to make this work for her. I wanted her to know how hard I was going to try to make her feel great again. I explained to her prices and she said ‘I don’t care about the price, I just want to look like myself again.’
‘I spent eight and a half hours with this girl. Four and a half hours of combing, three hours colouring and half an hour for the cut. All of this time, I’m just telling myself to keep going, that this is going to be all so worth it.
‘By the end of this service, I could see the sparkle in her eyes and I could see her cheeks get rosy pink from the excitement of not only being able to run her fingers through her hair again, but she felt herself again. I changed someone’s life today and I’ll never ever forget it.
‘And if this ever makes its way back to her, I want her to know how great, wonderful, kind, loving, and how strong of a person she is. And not only those things, but how beautiful she is. She deserves nothing but happiness, and I’m so thankful and so grateful I got to help with her first step.’
The post has since been shared almost 21,000 times and has more than 4,600 comments.
One lady wrote: ‘Depression is awful. So many times you WANT to, you just CAN’T. Getting out of bed is a major accomplishment. Making it to work in clothing that matches and doesn’t smell? Victory. What you did for this woman, your patience and understanding most likely meant the world to her. Imma go ugly cry now, in a good way. Much love to see for your kind and generous heart.’