To all the Hairdressers I’ve Met. Thank you for making me feel nice.

Although.

I’m not a fan of stainless steel instruments flying around my head at fifty miles an hour (it seems), sharp or not. In this category, obviously, hairdressers, but also dentists. I have yet to do a dentist tessellation, but have many hair related tessellations. Here goes.

During a recent and enjoyable conversation, a friend revealed a past career as a hairdresser. I’ve had many meaningful encounters with people in this field of work. Mostly listening, but sometimes sharing, some revealing insights, either for myself or for them. Enough words, many drawings follow. OMG.

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Fifi at the Salon,©2013 — She is cutting her own hair on another instance of herself. Fifi is the dog. The Shampoo brand, LOL Dove, right down the first mirror along with Fifi right below (and above) the bottle; the other mirror contains the hairdresser and her(self as her) customer. The second picture is the single extracted tile outline, a visual clarification after I’ve messed with your head!

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Hairdressers Run with Scissors, ©2020 — I could never figure out, at the time when the pandemic started, why there was this big concern about manicurists, hairdressers, and gyms. Do normal people worry so much about the way they look? Anyway. A few months after lockdown, they carefully reopened these establishments with strict protocols, masks, gloves, social distancing… Which is where this tessellation popped-up. A great rush to get back to our normal looks and locks. This one is super hard to see, because I inserted the Fifi tessellation on one of the smocks. She is also combing another hairdresser’s hair. Do look at the second image to see how I built it all out. Three-way rotations here, but no mirrors. Uncanny, as there usually are mirrors in a salon.

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The other tessellations, in this series deal with the customers, and their unusual hairstyles. Or where their hair figures prominently anyhow. I’m surprising myself at the number of tessellation in this topic. Might I have a hair obsession? Hair is quite useful in a tessellation as you can make it fit any unused space.

Definition of a tessellation: A tessellation or tiling is the covering of a surface, often a plane, using one or more geometric shapes, called tiles, with no overlaps and no gaps. These nested shapes are built using four operations; repetition, mirror, rotation and glide reflection.

Probably do have a fascination for hair. In the past few years carved well over 30 combs. Or maybe it’s all about a previous life as a hairdresser.

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Beehive Hairdoo, ©2020 — I’ve only every seen this hair style in movies. Urban legends about all sorts of bugs nesting in there.

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Diva, ©2021 — Check those perfect curls, and manicure…

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Blue Rinse with Handbag, ©2013 — Not a great idea to laugh of others, because it usually falls right back on you.

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Djeeeewizz Its Hot Outside, ©2016 — Amazing what you can squeeze to fit into a space, stretch, skew… a tad colourful here, except the hair, it’s quite consistent. Easier on the eyes with the second image, the single extract of the character.

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Mommmm Where’s My Comb?, ©2023 — Usually in panic mode at the last minute.

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Redhead Pearl Bailey, ©2016 — Spikey hair loopee earrings and her best Pearls.

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Ruffles, ©2019 — He’s got to be one of my favourite tessellations.

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Sasquatch, ©2013 — Luckily there’s software to help with the repeats. That’s a whole lotta hair to draw.

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Unibrow Boxer, ©2013 — A little bit of a mirror trick going on here, everything facial is reflected in two mirrors, one vertical which is normal for a face, but the other way, a horizontal mirror, is just weird, but somehow it seems to work. LOL.

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Cheers! (an anagram of Escher)

Francine

😉