What is said at the salon stays at the salon - Hair To Go with Derry's Margaret Doherty

And sometimes I’m convinced the hairdresser knows more.

After all these years standing behind the chair, I’ve realised that doing hair is probably only about 50% of the job. The other 50% is listening, laughing, giving advice we’re absolutely not qualified to give and remembering information that we will take to the grave.

Because the salon chair is a funny place.

People sit down, the gown goes on, the kettle goes on and suddenly the truth comes out.

“I haven’t told anybody this yet, but…” Every hairdresser reading this knows that sentence.

We hear about pregnancies before families know. New relationships before Facebook knows. Break-ups before the other half even realises there’s a break-up coming. We know who’s leaving their job, who’s buying a house, who’s fallen out with their sister and who has absolutely no intention of speaking to their mother-in-law at Christmas.

And obviously I know nothing. Hairdresser confidentiality. What is said at the salon stays at the salon.

I think there’s something about having your hair done that makes people talk. Maybe it’s because you’re sitting still for two hours with nowhere to go. Maybe it’s because we aren’t family or close friends, so there’s no judgement! Maybe it’s simply because women need somewhere to offload.

And believe me, hairdressers offload too. Some poor woman comes in looking for a root tint and leaves knowing that one of my children wouldn’t put their shoes on that morning, somebody has phoned in sick, I’ve forgotten the packed lunches and I’m questioning every decision I’ve made since 2008. Fair exchange, I say.

But underneath all the craic, there’s something quite special about it. As hairdressers, we get invited into people’s lives without really noticing it happening. We do the hair for the first date. Then the engagement. Then the wedding. Then one day there’s a baby sitting beside the chair. Before you know it, that baby is coming in for their own haircut.

We see people when life is brilliant, but we also see them when it isn’t. I’ve had women sit in my chair going through heartbreak, grief, illness, divorce and some of the hardest periods of their lives. Sometimes they want to talk. Sometimes they don’t. And sometimes the nicest thing you can do is make them a cup of tea, do their hair and let them feel like themselves again for a couple of hours.

That’s the part of this job you can’t learn from a textbook. You can teach someone how to colour hair. You can teach cutting, extensions, balayage and blow-dries. But you can’t really teach someone how to read the person sitting in front of them.

After all these years, I still love that part of hairdressing. Yes, I love a gorgeous transformation. But the relationships are what make the job.

So the next time your hairdresser casually asks, “Anything new with you?” Just remember… She probably already knows half of it.

Love Margaret.