Kayley Olsson has seen her fair share of bad hair days. A hairdresser at Capri Waterloo, in Waterloo, Iowa, she has the privilege of fixing all of those ratchet box-color jobs and butchered self-cuts—am I right, hair stylists?
But on Monday, August 7, she “had one of the hardest experiences” she’s ever had with a client. She detailed it in a post on Facebook.
“I had a 16-year[-old] girl come in who has been dealing with severe depression for a few years now. She got to the point where she felt so down and so worthless she couldn’t even brush her hair, she told me she only got up to use the restroom.”
Kayley Olsson
The teen told Kayley that she heads back to school in a few weeks, but her school pictures were on Tuesday. Then she told the hairdresser to “just cut it off,” as to not deal with the pain of combing it out.
“She called herself worthless for it,” Kayley writes.
Hearing the young girl explain how she felt about herself broke Kayley’s heart. She and her colleague, Mariah Wenger, did everything they could to keep the girl’s hair for her.
Kayley says she wants this client’s situation to be a “lesson” to others:
“Mental health is a thing, it affects people all around the world and of all ages! Parents take it serious don’t just push your kids off and tell them to get over something they legitimately can’t. A child should NEVER feel so worthless to not even want to brush their hair.”