At Any Price

Hadassah

I was so excited for Lakey when her salon opened.

There’re three of us sisters, we all live nearby, and we’re close. Sara’s the high school mechaneches — classic oldest, super practical. Then there’s me, and then Lakey. She’s the baby of the family, and to be honest, she’s always been a little floaty. Head in the clouds, relying on Sara and me to get her out of trouble. Typical youngest.

But in the last few years, it seemed that even she’d grown up. Two little ones, husband in kollel, and money was tight. Sara and I could both relate to that — Sara and her husband are in chinuch, and as for me, the graphic design industry is not what it used to be. It’s flooded, and you need to up your game and lower your prices to stay in the loop. Lakey had been a stay-at-home mom for the first couple of years, but eventually we heard more and more mention of “maybe getting my name out there” and “I’d love to be bringing in some money, it’s not easy…” Still, knowing Lakey, I was surprised and impressed when she actually opened up a salon.

Of course, we cheered her on. Sara talked her through a ton of decisions (what paint color? How many appointments in a day? Should she match the prices of the established hairdressers or charge less? Would she look unprofessional if she charged too little?) and I offered to design her store logo.