Whichever planet rules "happy hair days" must be in major retrograde because a bunch of people I know have been having a tough time with their styles lately. First, I went temporarily bonkers and box-colored my blonde, highlighted hair an unimaginably bad red. Then my friend Lynn got extensions that make her look (and feel) like Bozo Barbie. And now, my sister-in-law, Cathy, may have to break up with her longtime stylist because he went all Christina Ricci on her hair and she's stuck with awful, way-too-short bangs.

Poor Cathy. She's one of those perfectly groomed, overall fabulous women that we'd all love to be. She works hard at maintaining all aspects of her life and does a wonderful job of it. That's why she feels so ... what's the word? Let down, betrayed, even deceived by her stylist (let's call him Richard).

She and Richard have been together since 1989. He's become a friend, a confidant, an advisor who helped her arrive at her signature honey-blonde highlights and Jennifer Aniston-worthy layered style about 20 years ago. That's why she feels so blindsided by what happened. Here's the Cliff's Notes version...

It was an average, run of the mill, Tuesday afternoon cut/color appointment like so many others before it. Cathy sat in the chair. Richard unexpectedly said, "How about we mix it up a little -- give you a pretty bang?" and Cathy, who'd never had reason to doubt him before, agreed. An hour later she -- with her way too short bangs -- was crying in the car. (The fact that her youngest daughter burst into tears and repeated "Oh no, I hope Daddy doesn't divorce you now," over and over again, didn't help matters.)

Now, of course, this isn't the end of the world. Cathy's bangs (which truly are terrible) will grow out and that'll be the end of it. But, in the meantime, there's the high school reunion that she was looking forward to (she's not so sure anymore -- a baseball cap at a nighttime function doesn't really cut it) and the bigger issue -- will she break up with Richard and find a new stylist? Was his error so egregious as to warrant a split or does everyone "make mistakes?" What do you think? Would your trust in your stylist be shattered? Would you move on to someone new?