HAVEN FOR LONG HAIR
Maria Matarozza
may very well be
the patron saint of long hair.
Madora, as she is known
to a loyal group of Rapunzels
that includes such luminaries as singers
Crystal Gayle and Judy Collins.
Madora owns
~ Madora Long Hair Haven ~
an unpretentious salon
on Manhattan's Madison Avenue
that caters to people
who want to grow hair that reaches,
in some cases,
to the floor.
After more than 35 years
in the business,
Madora has lengthy opinions
about hair issues.
"If you study women with long hair,
you will always find a woman
who is more patient and happier,"
she states as a-matter-of-factly.
"Girls with short, blow-dried hair
tend to have frustrated
and angry temperaments."
"Bangs are out," she adds.
"Having two extreme lengths
of hair on one head
produces a shock
and you shed more hair."
"Coloring is unnecessary," she advises.
"There is nothing wrong
with beautiful salt and pepper hair."
One would think
the discouraging standard salon services
would quickly drive Madora out of business,
but Madora's clients are wild about
the motherly woman
with hip length white hair.
Of her 5000 regular clients,
some fly in from as far away
as Japan and Switzerland
to indulge in her salon's
$70 deep conditioning treatment.
They swear by her salon's
practice of "dusting",
a procedure of carefully trimming off
only the split ends, when a $40 cut
takes all of three minutes
and leaves only wisps
of hair on the floor.
Pretty Kathy Condon,
a bartender in Brooklyn Heights,
concedes that long hair
can be a drag at times.
Her gorgeous chestnut tresses
reach down to her hips.
"Occasionally it becomes
caught on the bottle tops,"
she explains laughingly.
"But if I ever had
to cut my hair short,
I would be traumatized."
"Never brush wet hair," Madora advises.
"It will stretch and snap.
Always use a wide tooth
tortoiseshell comb."
"Always air dry your hair," Madora adds.
"If you must heat dry,
roll your hair on large rollers first
and then sit under a hood dryer."
"Never ever use metal barrettes
or rubber bands," Madora cautions.
"Both can damage and break your hair."
Researcher comments:
Many women of all ages
have super long hair
and look incredible,
while many other women
who wear their hair cropped short
look perfectly stunning.
The key, of course,
is to find a hairstyle
that suits your face,
your time commitment to upkeep
and your capacity
for stick-to-it-iveness.
Long or short
your hairstyle should age gracefully
as the rest of you ages.
In my humble male opinion,
there is nothing in this world
more feminine or more beautiful
than profusely long hair.
Long hair displays
a certain extravagant elegance
that quite simply
cannot be duplicated.
Nothing else on earth
pushes every button
I have never had
or will ever have
in my lifetime,
rings all my bells,
blows all my whistles,
or sets and resets all my switches
like supremely
incomparable
long hair.
