I had a big "a-ha!" moment last night...I think I figured out what set Lorraine off.
As I said on my previous post, Lorraine Massey of Deva completely trashed me on Twitter yesterday (and it looks like she is continuing to do so today). I was thinking about what could have possibly upset her this badly and it hit me yesterday.
Right before I left for the show, I tweeted Lorraine with the following message:
@LorraineMassey Let's hide all the flat irons while we are at Premiere ;)
Meaning, of course, that the two of us should run around to the other vendor booths and hide their flat irons! It was just a cute message to show my support since I knew there was going to be a lot of keratin treatment vendors there, etc. Deva is the one company I can count on to be at Premiere to show there is a beautiful alternative to straightening hair.
Her first tweet back to me yesterday at the start of all these unpleasantries was: "struttswife???? what does that MEAN?", which I took as "what does 'struttswife' mean"? Of course, I was reading it out of context...but, now that I think about it, she was asking what I meant by my tweet since she apparently didn't understand it.
Clearly, she (incorrectly) assumed I meant that she should hide HER flat irons and that understandably upset her. Instead of asking me privately to clarify it, however, she chose to believe the worst and has been very publicly writing all these nasty tweets (her latest is calling me "the imposter Curly Girl") and attacking me.
Mystery solved. But what a sad ending :(
Lorraine Massey was my idol for the past seven years...the woman I looked up to all of my career. She truly has been the woman "who started it all" for women with curls. To find out she is really this mean-spirited of a person has me stunned and saddened. There was no need for any of this...she should have approached me privately and we could have resolved this quickly and easily, without the ugliness she instead chose to start.
I wish her well, but I consider my association with Deva to be at an end. I pride myself on my professionalism and I expect the vendors/manufacturers/companies with whom I do business to show an equal level of professionalism as well. If this is how she and Deva do business, then I have no wish to associate myself with them any further.
And that's the saddest ending of all :(
21 comments:
Well, that makes sense, but why not just ask? She has no problem publicly making fun of you, but is willing to confront you about it like a grown woman?
Apparently she doesn't even realize that you are listed under her salon locator site and thus not anti-curl.
Between the labeling fiasco and this Twitter immaturity, I am boggled. What type of business ownder acts like this?
I suppose she'll find someone else to harp on next week.
Very sad! I don't even know what to say. When I read your explanation this morning, I still don't understand how she didn't understand your tweet. Very unprofessional. Tiffany I purchased your book and it has been amazing. Thanks again for what you do.
I think we've got a shining example of why Twitter sucks. It's too easy to just shoot off messages without doing the due diligence that almost any other form of communication might require (yes, even email). The fact that Lorraine's got a captive audience probably also makes her feel like she's holding court or something (another common phenomena).
This is why Twitter is so popular with really young people. They are accustomed to not thinking before typing or speaking. You'd expect better of an adult, though.
I am completely and utterly through with this ignorant, incompetent fraud of a "business" woman. She can peddle her relentless curl puns elsewhere, thank you very much.
This is truly bizarre behavior from a professional :? You're so much better then this Tiffany.
oo soo sorry!that annoying all this!
be not sad you are fantastic!
Tiffany, I have read your nc.com posts and your blog for a while and have always found you to be a warm-hearted and fair person who wants everyone to be happy with their curls, no matter how that happiness is attained, be it with Deva or any other system or technique. When I read Curly Girl a few years ago I loved it, but I ordered some Deva items a year ago and watched their DVD and was totally put off by Lorraine's personality. She appeared to be very abrasive and haughty, but I hoped it was just a bad example of marketing.
Well! I stopped using Deva some time ago due to their labeling practices; I just felt uncomfortable with their comapany and felt they were getting a bit too big for their britches. But for her to attack a person that so many people admire...well, I am willing to bet that her business will fall off quite a bit. Lorraine has always been like, "NOTHING will work on curly hair except Deva and everything else sucks!" Well, that's not true, and I for one will not contribute to her arrogant childishness ever again!
Michellle
Thank you, ladies...I appreciate the support far more than you know. I have been in a bit of a funk today over this...still not quite willing to believe it really happened, I guess.
I've decided, however, I am going to let this go and let her tweet on to her heart's content. I can't change her opinion and I can't change her behavior, so the only thing left for me to do is ignore it and get back to the far more important business of creating beautiful curls for everyone I can.
Thank you again...some days, I don't know what I'd do without you all :)
Wow, Lorraine has sure been popping up negatively recently. It's sad to hear that an idol of so many people isn't worthy. Oh well, she's only human, I guess.
What a disappointment that she would act so unprofessionally. On the flip side, I wonder when she twittered back, "Struttswife, what did that MEAN?", that her capitalization of MEAN is implying that she thought it was a really mean comment - especially if she didn't get the joke in the first place. Just a thought, but disappointing for her to stoop to such a juvenile level about it.
What a disappointment that she would act so unprofessionally. On the flip side, I wonder when she twittered back, "Struttswife what did that MEAN?", that her capitalization of MEAN meant that she thought it was a really mean comment - especially if she didn't get the joke in the first place. Just a thought, but still very disappointing for her to stoop to such a juvenile level about it. You are the true professional here.
With her Twitter style, it's hard to tell what she means in many posts. It could have gone either way.
I see the few references to Deva inspired/trained/not trained and wonder if she is insinuating that you aren't even trained (which is ironic since you're listed on her salon locator) or if she wants people to get trained. I can't tell.
But, it seems that she won't reply publicly as she didn't respond to your Tweets, we'll probably never know.
I use Twitter, and I know 140 characters can be limiting. But, dayum, I pull off more sensical comments than that.
Maybe she should read CurlJunkie's Twitter. It's readable, friendly, makes sense, and still talk about her busienss
I've been horribly disillusioned with LM since the whole Deva labeling debacle. First, they lie about what in bottle. Then they tell us they lied. Then we're supposed to be believe them because they're telling us the truth "this time". When I point this out, one of LM's minions called me "blood thirsty". No, I'm not not some hand puppet dupe. I expect companies I give money to should act in a responsible fashion and FIX THEIR LABLES BEFORE SHIPPING CRAP. I can't trust you to tell me what's in the bottle, which BY LAW, you have to do but I'm supposed to trust that your facility is sanitary? I can't trust you to tell me what's in the bottle, which BY LAW, you have to do but I'm supposed to trust that you haven't put some harmful ingredient in your products?
Frankly, if I can't trust you to at least label properly, I can't trust you at all. That's your legal duty according to the FDA.
I've come to the conclusion that LM has,somewhere along the way, become a complete an utter f-tard. And if she's an F-tard about the labeling and an F-tard about this, what else is she being an F-tard about? It really ought to make everyone wonder why anyone pays her any credence at all. I guess it really is proof that monkey can write Shakespear if you have enough monkeys & typewriters, or in LM's case... monkey & football.
She might be the CG "founder" but I'm officially boycotting her products. If Deva was the last product line on the planet, I'd have to use horse piss. Sorry, but that's how I feel about it.
You and I have gone back and forth on NC many times, but I've never thought that you were rude or unprofessional. LM, on the other hand, has left me completely underwhelmed.
I came across your blog and information from a Naturally Curly group on a knitters' website called Ravelry. I love your ideas, your recipes and how easily you explain it all. I wish you much success in your business.
I don't know LM too well nor do I know her products, etc., except for what I've read on the NC website. But just by TRYING to follow her Tweets, I can see how she can misunderstand something. She doesn't sound like she's all there and she writes like a teenager texting her friends or posting on MySpace. I admire the fact that you handled this maturely and professionally.
Keep up the great work.
Rosi G.
hey hunn just stopping by showing your blog some love...very interesting ...we love it : )
**YANTAN**
COME STOP BY SOMETIME.. ;-P
Ooh how disappointing. I saw her twitter account and cringed. I'm for Team Tiffany! Yeah!
That's sad that she would do such a thing, and react so much to an innocent comment. I hope you know that your blog has helped many curlies from www.naturallycurly.com and I hope that she stops acting so childishly soon!
At first I wondered how I'd missed all of this, but then realized it all happened right after I last saw you. You were leaving for Premiere the same day you did my hair.
I'm sorry that she had to resort to cheap comments and threats(?). I think her success has gone to her head.
I'll be seein' you in 2 weeks.
Tiffany, your LCLF site and e-book are a hundred times more helpful than the CG book ever thought about being! And except for one item, I never liked any of the Deva products - fortunately I never wasted my money on anything more than a travel-size set. And I don't really even know much about the labeling fiasco others referred to. LM's book was interesting but really not particularly useful, IMO. I had already decided all this on my own, and then my underwhelmed opinion was further reinforced when I heard some not very flattering things about her dealings with Deva and LM from my own stylist.
I'm late in hearing about all this brouhaha and couldn't believe it when I read this. I didn't see any of the actual tweets, but I do not see how anyone could take offense at your little quip about the flat irons?!
Anyway, keep your chin up - we at NC.com all love you and find your information much more useful than LM's! I never adopted much of her CG method except for avoiding sulfates and most silicones and co-washing part of the time, and now I've totally lost any respect for LM that I did have - I don't think I'll even call myself modified CG anymore, LOL!
Auntnett
Maybe she isn't mean-spirited. Maybe she is threatened by another curly-guru and she lost some self-control for a few hours. A misunderstanding could cause anybody to put their worst foot forward. Yes, it is mean-spirited to bash someone on twitter, but who doesn't let their anger get away from themselves once in a while? That doesn't make them mean-spirited throughout their whole person.
Just a thought.
First, I love your blog! You are amazing!
Regarding this issue, which happened last year, I'm just curious: why didn't you call LM once the misunderstanding started to set things straight? I totally agree that negative tweeting on LM's part is unacceptable, but she clearly thought you were taking a dig at her or trying to out her as a fraud. It just seems like somehow this miscommunication could have been stopped or slowed down before it blew up with nothing other than CLEAR COMMUNICATION (on your part, to set the tone) once you realized something was off.
Anonymous, I did actually. When she didn't respond to my email, I even emailed one of her partners about it. Neither of them chose not to respond back so there wasn't much more I could do, unfortunately. It would have been nice to clear this up, but that apparently wasn't meant to be. I've moved on and I certainly wish them the best.
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