Have I told you lately that I love you?
We can mock Valentine’s Day, but any chance to celebrate love is precious
IT’S Valentine’s Day, a day for the celebration of all things romance and love. And this year we could do with some of that. So today there will be cards, flowers, smiles, tears and probably a full salon of Valentine dates, having their hair blow dried, pinned up and smoothed out for that romantic dinner at a bougie downtown restaurant. Here, you and another million couples will be enjoying a Valentine’s Day special menu of standard restaurant staples and sexy cocktails followed by a sharing dessert all for the price of a small mortgage. But hey, who said romance is dead?
Valentine’s Day has always been a bit of funny one in hair salons; we hairdressers are the goto help on days like this. Like a mini wedding or anniversary celebration, Valentine’s Day allows you to be a little more glamorous or even over-the-top. It’s an opportunity to let loose .
Winter is almost gone, your postChristmas fitness regime is on target, the nights are getting brighter and let’s be honest its time to start shedding the layers of clothes that you’ve accumulated since early October.
In fact, it’s the first opportunity of the year to be darn right sexy, and the hair needs to say: ‘I’m bacl.bring on the summer.’
So it will be sexy, bouncy blow outs, Brigitte Bardot pin ups with tendrils and eye-bothering fringes, a few vintage pin-up girl sets for that old school Agent Provocateur vibe or what about a super-sleek, scraped-back ponytail, shiny and swinging, emphasising the eyes and cheekbones? How killer will that look with your new 40s inspired trouser suit or 60s jumpsuit, eh?
But whatever you do with your hair, you’ll be sure that your hairdresser not only knows what is going to look amazing on you but what is really going to turn heads — especially the head on your date’s shoulders.
All this Valentine’s talk got me thinking about my own Valentine’s days, 40 of them now spent working in a salon; 30 nearly in our own salon.
Every year is the same, the staff arrive, then so do the flowers. One by one each staff member comes to the reception to receive their bouquet or arrangement, notes compared and sideway glances exchanged, clients also reading their cards, a little giggle here and smile there. They share the details with their stylists and the atmosphere is light.
Meanwhile Mrs S and I are busy with our regulars who are enjoying the fun and frolics. Mrs S, of course, a veteran of these days smiles as the staff run around excitedly. I often catch her laughing to herself as we hear a shriek of surprise when another outrageous flower display lands at the reception desk.
Everything she does is calm and meticulous, beautifully curated and offered with love and affection. I think a lot about Valentine’s days in the past when we’d close the salon late at night after a long day and walk home passing the busy restaurants with the loved up couples. We’d stop for a takeaway Chinese and a bottle of wine and make our way back to our flat and listen to Van Morrison, exhausted but madly in love. We loved hair then just as we do today. Mrs S would never complain that I hadn’t organised a dinner date or weekend away — we were both so dedicated to our business that it didn’t occur to us that we might be missing out. Even so, there was always a sense of celebration, a day or evening to remember how lucky we were, or more importantly how lucky I was to have met this incredible woman who asks for nothing or at least very little, and enjoys the most simple of things.
As the years fly by and children come along, relationships change — sometimes we forget to tell our loved ones what we are thinking, how we are feeling and yet, for me, Valentine’s Day presents an alarm call or trigger. Of course it’s a little clichéd - maybe it’s too obvious - but what the hell. Is there a better day to simply say ‘I love you?’
On Saturday I had an 87-yearold client, her first time with me and she told me that the haircut was a Valentine’s Day present from her husband of 65 years — how wonderful is that?
Mrs S and I have been together for over 35 years, most of that time we have worked together — our personal life is intrinsically linked to our professional lives. Every up and down has been navigated together — being married to your best friend is a gift and it can’t be taken for granted.
Leisa Stafford steps away from the limelight, avoids the glare of the media and is happiest with her family, her clients and her dogs. But she is also a champion of talent and a fighter for others she hates bullying and meanness and never forgets. She is also generous to a fault, giving of time and a true friend to those she cares about.
Tonight, February 14, Leisa and I will be celebrating Valentine’s Day, in the year of our 25th wedding anniversary in the company of an artist who has literally been the soundtrack to our lives. From our bedsit days listening to Astral Weeks under a duvet in a freezing, mice-infested flat in Belfast to sitting in an Irish bar in Bangkok on St Patrick’s Day to the sounds of Van and the Chieftains belting out I’ll Tell My Ma. There were late nights listening to Veedon Fleece, there was the time when we heard my oldest daughter Joni singing Brown Eyed Girl to herself in the back of the car.
But tonight Van will be back in Belfast performing at the Ulster Hall. No doubt Van being Van he will avoid every opportunity
‘The hair needs to say: I’m back, bring on the summer’
‘Is there a better day to simply say ‘I love you?’’
to perform any of the songs that his adoring fans would want to hear but as unpredictable as he is, the occasion to see the great man live is always an opportunity to remember how important he is and how lucky we are to have him.
It’s a sad day for us too. Leisa’s dad, Tomaso or Tommy as he was known, was a wonderful man strong, tall, handsome and kind; an Italian immigrant, a boxer who hated violence but was a champion of the sport.
He adored his wife Patsy, and photographs of them from the 50s suggest that they were a golden couple - good looking, glamorous and stylish as hell; a little Hollywood glitz after the Belfast blitz. Sadly they grew apart in later years and separated. Tommy though never stopped loving Patsy and died on Valentine’s Day 21 years ago, we believe of a broken heart .
As I write this, we are driving home and Van is singing ‘Someone Like You’. I am reminded of his words: ‘I look at the side of your face as the sunlight comes streaming through windows in the autumn sunshine. And I’m thinking wouldn’t it be great if it was like this all the time?’
IT’S Valentine’s Day - and hopefully you won’t have received a gift of uncomfortable lingerie that your partner, in a panic, has picked out for you. Perhaps for the day that’s in it you might even be digging out your only matching set, which spends most of the year languishing in your underwear drawer.
But what if I told you that wearing sexy undies doesn’t mean you have to compromise on comfort?
Thanks to innovative technology and fashion-forward designs, there are lingerie brands that guarantee to have you looking and feeling your best.
What do they all have in common? They’re all founded by women, with styles and sizes to flatter every figure.
So forget dressing to please your other half, and indulge in some selflove with beautiful undergarments you’ll wear all year round. Cut out and keep these pages for next year - both of you will be happy.