Even when she has to count every expense, Chantal keeps a pleasure all her own. An appointment that changes your entire week.
In the long list of expenses that many reduce with inflation, the superfluous often disappears first. But Chantal, 69, refuses to touch her Thursday ritual. To afford this moment, she sacrificed everything: no restaurants, no trips, no expensive outings. It’s her only luxury, a sacred break that she wouldn’t miss for anything in the world. An hour when she leaves her everyday life to find the one she tenderly calls “her little fairy”.
For more than twenty years, in the town of Saumur, in Maine-et-Loire, Chantal has taken her car to travel the five minutes that separate her from this familiar place. Always the same route, the same streets, the same habits. She arrives with her leather bag clutched to her, her lipstick applied a little too quickly, and this discreet smile that she saves for the days that count.
This is not a simple meeting. It’s a refuge. Here, we take off his coat, we notice his blue sweater, we speak to him gently. When the hot water runs over her head, she closes her eyes. This is his suspended moment. She thinks of her grandchildren, of the evening meal, of simple things. And when the brush detangles her hair, the mystery becomes clear: Chantal is at the hairdresser. She feels like everything is returning to its place, starting with her. Every week, she meets Léa, her hairdresser, thirty years younger. They exchange news, anecdotes, projects. Chantal takes out her granddaughter’s drawings; Léa tells him about her next escapade. It’s a gentle relationship, without pressure, which feels good. A bubble.
Sometimes she is told that she could save money. She smiles. She knows what that means for her retirement, while the average price of a woman’s service now ranges between 42 and 65 euros according to the UNEC. This is a significant budget for a modest pension. But she doesn’t smoke, doesn’t drink, doesn’t travel anymore. So she repeats it without shame: “My hairdresser is my own restaurant.“It’s not just maintaining a haircut. It’s feeling upright, present, aligned with yourself.
After the show, Chantal gets back in her car and always follows the same route. She stops at the baker’s who greets her with “Always impeccable, Chantal!” . Further on, the florist tells him that she looks good. In the small neighborhood convenience store, they still tell her that she is elegant today. Nothing extraordinary. But she keeps these sentences. They extend its Thursday. They connect it to the world.
More than a flirtation, this meeting is his breath. This is the moment when she remains true to herself: well-groomed, alive, standing. Because on Thursday, it’s not just his hairstyle that straightens, it’s his morale. A feeling of existence that no trip or restaurant could replace.
