Every salon has the same characters - Hair To Go with Derry's Margaret Doherty & Co.

First, you've got the organised one… Her appointments are checked, her station is immaculate, she knows exactly what's happening for the rest of the week and she's probably already thinking about Christmas. Then you've got the complete opposite. The one looking for her clips while they're literally clipped onto her clothes. 'Has anyone seen my comb?' No. But we can see the six others you've somehow managed to collect at your station. Every salon also has the hungry one… It's 9.17 am. 'What are we doing for lunch?' We've barely opened. By 11 she's asking if it's too early to order. Then there's the detective. She knows everything. Who's getting married. Who's separated. Who's back together. Who bought a house. Who's selling a house. Who's pregnant. You could ask her something about someone she has never actually met and she'll say: 'Aye, I know who you mean.' Of course you do. Then there's the quiet one... Doesn't say much. Gets on with her work. But every so often she'll come out with one sentence that has everyone laughing. And obviously every salon has the one who is always cold... The rest of us are sweating with 7 hairdryers going and she's standing beside the radiator asking if anyone else thinks it's freezing. No. Nobody else thinks it's freezing. Then there are the clients. Every salon has the client who apologises because her hair is 'absolutely disgusting' when it was washed approximately six hours ago. The client who says, 'Do whatever you want.' You suggest something. 'Not that.' And my personal favourite… 'I only want the ends off.' You show them half an inch. 'Maybe a wee bit less.' At this stage I'm basically cutting nothing off the hair. And then, of course, there's the boss. Now you'd imagine the boss would be the calm, organised one holding the entire operation together. Absolutely not. I'm answering the phone, doing someone's hair, replying to a staff message, thinking about stock, wondering which one of my four children needs picked up, trying to remember why I walked into the staff room and asking everyone: 'Has anyone seen my phone?' It's usually in my hand. Running a salon can be stressful. You're managing people, appointments, clients, bills, stock and approximately 700 tiny problems that nobody outside the business ever knows happened. But there's also something brilliant about it. You spend more time with your team than you do with half your family. You know when someone's having a bad day before they've even said anything. You celebrate their good news, listen to their problems, annoy each other, fall out over absolutely nothing and ten minutes later someone is asking what we're eating for lunch. And honestly, I wouldn't have it any other way. Because the hair is obviously important. But it's the people, the craic and the absolute madness in between that make a salon what it is. Now excuse me while I go and find my phone. Love Margaret.