The great Sarah MacLean dubbed Sports Romance 'Competence Porn.' I love that phrase. (You can find Sarah on the Fated Mates Podcast, or pick up one of her historicals. I love her Bare Knuckled Bastards series.)
The star of my latest Romantic Comedy, DISASTER, is a master hairstylist and the owner of the top salon in Manhattan. Six feet of gorgeous, well-muscled Scotsman, who is prone to kilt wearing.
I’ve shamelessly dubbed it 'Transformation Porn.'
Why? Let me explain.
I have curly hair. The kind that grows out instead of down.
I know the kind of effect a bad stylist can have on your self-esteem. I’ve had stylists tell me that men wouldn’t find curly hair attractive, or that it didn’t present a professional appearance. It took me a long time to shake off that advice.
I stopped straightening my hair and learned to appreciate what I have. Now I think my curly hair is one of my best assets, and I have a great barber who helps me show it off.
(Her name is Stormy and she works at the female owned, gender neutral barbershop Hairrari on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. If you live in NYC I can't recommend her enough. She will help you love whatever kind of hair you have. instagram.com/shaves.the.day)
Bad stylists can make you feel like you need to hide your true self. To be beautiful you must become someone else, or so they say. Your grey hair is not sexy; your curly hair is not professional. Your hair is too thin and needs extensions who’s cost rivals your rent. Blah, blah, blah.
A great haircut can make you feel strong, or sexy, prettier, edgier. It’s possibility. It’s transformation. That’s why I think hair stylists are sexy. They help accentuate what you find most beautiful about you. A great stylist reveals your secret self.
Isn’t that what a great partner does? Sees you in the way you want to be seen. Sees your true self and helps you embrace it. To me that’s incredibly sexy.
Hamish Stuart, my Scottish ‘Hair Whisperer,’ the hero of my newest Enemies to Lovers Romance is the favorite character I’ve written yet. Running his business leaves him little time for Romance, and he’s a firm believer in the idea that ‘love at first sight’ is a myth.
When he meets the woman who's been posting pictures all over the internet, of her ‘haircut from hell,' claiming it came from his salon, he plans to make her pay for attempting to ruin his good name. He never expects to fall, and fall hard.
However, he’s adaptable, and quickly embraces his new mission: Make Audra Harrison his in body, mind and soul.
Well, obviously I have to read this now! I, too, have the kind of hair that must be “tamed”... one of the joys of my 30’s was learning that that advice had always been dead wrong!!