The instructor is trying to put a positive spin on an unfortunate situation
Explanation:
When the author's mother took her to a beauty training school in the Mission district, she put her in the hands of a student who didn't know how to cut hair, who couldn't even hold scissors without shaking his hand. The author wanted to get big curls, but ended up having a mess of uneven short hair. Then the instructor comes up then and tried his best to make the hair even. In the end, her hair was cut so short that it looked like a boys head. Then the instructor says this words to put a positive spin and to make the author feel better
