My personal trainer, my eyebrow lady, my weight trainer, my hairdresser are all abandoning me.

[LeftBereft]

Last year I started a thread because I had a mild panic that my personal trainer was about to up and leave the city we live in. Here's the thread. She didn't leave. Good news and all has been well since.

But now she is actually going. And leaving the fucking country this time. So deja vu. But worse. I'm absolutely gutted. But I'd kind of mentally prepared myself last year so I can just about handle it.

This was about a week ago that she told me she was leaving.

In the seven or so days since:
My eyebrow lady told me that she's moving away to be closer to her parents.

The chap that leads the small-group, women-only weightlifting sessions that I go to said he's taking an undetermined break to restructure his business.

My hairdresser text me to say she's having another baby so after my next appointment, she won't be around until late-2025 if she comes back at all.

The fuck?! What have I done to all these people?!

I've tried venting to DP, he doesn't get it. Can you let me vent and wallow a bit, MN?

I was kind of motivated to seriously start exploring a new PT. But then I lost all will when I also realised I'd need to find a new eyebrow lady, weightlifting instructor and hairdresser. Or I could not bother, just let myself absolutely go to seed. It's clearly what these abandoning bastards want 😭😭

Well groomed and shaped eyebrows make a massive difference to my entire face. Glad that you’re on your moral vanity doesn’t matter high ground though..

I mean, them all telling me about their unavailability in the space of a week does feel slightly personal 😅

I feel you. Finding new services is a pain in the ass. My fave trainer quit at the gym last year and still haven't found a new session I enjoy.

Break them up 😉

neither of these things would do anything to my hair or my eyebrows 😂

Maybe you are born with the perfect eyebrow shape, some people are.
I am not, my eyebrows need to be given a shape by my amazing eyebrow lady.

I get you but for a different reason. As you get older your regular doctor dentist optician hairdresser etc get older too and suddenly they retire! Usually replaced by younger people (perfectly ok) who then either go on maternity leave or being at the start of their career soon move on, and the stability you’ve known for years is gone!
Replace them one at a time and you’ll get there OP

Yep, a summer and autumn of trial and error is definitely on the cards. Bloody hell.

Without regular eyebrow upkeep I look like a Gallagher brother. That might be fine for some, but I prefer to have two eyebrows. I can and do pluck them, but my threading lady gets them into a far better shape than I ever could, and threading is a lot neater than plucking. Plus the magic trimming scissors which I can just never get right.

My partner, damn him, has perfect eyebrows which do not meet in the middle and always look the same. I envy you both.

Some excellent resources on YouTube while you find a new PT and weight trainer:

General fitness/HIIT: Growingannanas
Weight training: Caroline Girvan (the absolute best)
Yoga: Yoga with Kassandra

Okay. Seemed easier than writing "The woman who does a personal training session with me, the woman who does my eyebrows, the man who runs a women-only weightlifting group that I attend, and the woman who dyes and cuts my hair every eight weeks are abandoning me"

I do understand what you mean OP but kindly you are taking it all a bit personally - they’re not abandoning you as a client but simply moving on with their own lives.

I must admit that losing a good hairdresser or beautician that you’ve built up a nice relationship with can be really hard though - almost like a bit of a break up! I still keep in touch with my old hairdresser who moved on to better things - we were particularly close due to going through similar health circumstances and still meet for a coffee and catch up every few months which is always lovely

I shouldn't laugh, but this just made me laugh out loud.

I get it though, i get attached to my kids teachers!

True, those people aren't going anywhere. Neither are my chauffeur, my personal chef, or my lady in waiting. Phew.

Only my hairdresser would upset me. I'd manage to replace the rest easily

I have natural eyebrows, don't shape them or anything... no one has ever recoiled at my face. Natural eyebrows are completely fine.

That said I have had my eyebrows professionally waxed/tinted about 5 times in my life (like my wedding) and people did definitely comment load that they looked great.

Its kind of like how no one cares if your not wearing make up and just wearing jeans/t-shirt on the school run but if you do make big effort with make up and a nice dress for something special they will comment that you look great on that day because you look different (not because you usually look awful). Surely if you do it ALL the time though then no one notices because thats now the 'standard'.

What strikes me about the OP is the 'main character syndrome'.

'The fuck?! What have I done to all these people?! '

Well nothing, because their lives don't revolve around you. You aren't even family or a friend you are simply a client and their business is undergoing change. You simply do not factor in to their major life choices like having a baby or moving in with a sick parent etc... Try having empathy for what they are going through, its a mild inconvenience to your life having to get someone new to do eyebrows (lets face it they ALL do the same thing) but massive life changes to them.

How rude of them all lol
I would so take it personal, even though its not! Hahaha

I remember when my beloved hairdresser left for Manchester, as soon as she said..i have something to tell you, i butted in and said dont you dare say your leaving, i laughed and cryed so hard! I think she thought i was having a break down! Hahaha! She was my hair dresser turned good mate so it was a double whammy!

I have never given any thought to the shape of my eyebrows. They appear to look like eyebrows. The only eyebrows I've ever noticed are ones that are drawn on because they look silly.

Just to clarify I don't have abandonment issues. I'm very aware that these people are just living their own lives and their suspiciously simultaneous decisions to piss off are absolutely nothing to do with me.

I was being light-hearted. I really really didn't think that would need explaining.

I don't personally know any men who have them done? Why are women fixated on eyebrows?

Lucky you, not everyone is so fortunate to have naturally perfect brows. If mine aren’t done every 3 weeks they turn into a bushy, unshaped unibrow. It’s not rocket science that not everyone’s hair grows in the same manner as yours does 🙄

I feel your pain OP, while I don’t have a PT or an eyebrow lady I have had to adapt to new dentists and hairdressers and it is hard for the first few visits until you are comfortable in each other’s company.

Thank you for the suggestions. I eat fresh food, I get out and about in the sunshine, and I do a lot of walking but none of these have ever shaped or coloured my eyebrows the way I want them. Maybe I'm doing them wrong.

Or maybe its the physical job (which I don't have) that tames eyebrows into the eyebrow-owner's hearts desire. No wonder every builder, scaffolder, roofer, plasterer, gardener I've ever met has perfect eyebrows.

The hairdresser fear is real. Mine is great and going nowhere, but DS' left, she had six DC of her own and I've never seen anyone cut children's hair so well, we've had a number of disasters since
Eyebrows go for threading it seems more consistent/less risky and more of a natural shape and you can get it done everywhere.
Can't help with the boxing, yoga, PT situation. When my aqua HIIT teacher fell pregnant one of my classmates did the course and took over, so that's an option if you're motivated!

Because I like them to be neat, well shaped and tidy? I couldn’t give a toss about what men do/don’t do.

I do actually.

There's no shortage of men who have decent hair cut, colour their hair, get their eyebrows trimmed. Many of us don't find monobrows attractive.

Just because it's subtle doesn't mean it doesn't happen.

Nicely shaped eyebrows improve your face, at least improve mine. Some women are happy with a light moustache, I am not keen on that either. No one is superior because they care, or don't care, about their facial hair.