Monday, June 9, 2008

Haircut boy lives!


Spent time today with my barber and although it had been awhile since I saw him last, I am going to make a point to not let so much time pass before the next time.

My barber is one of a dying breed, literally. He's what I consider the "old man and a chair" type barber that is getting hard to find these days. In the early 1990s he did take steps toward becoming a modern salon, such as adding a head sink, use of conditioner and selling hair care products, but the reasons I see him have have remained unchanged.

He does a damn good job, for one. You can walk in there, never having seen him before, tell him give me a good haircut, and leave with what very likely is the best haircut you've ever had. I found that out because that is what I told him at the tail-end of my wannabe hippy days/daze and I walked out of there feeling better and dare I say, dignified.

Another is, he takes his time and only sees one person at a time. No codgers hanging out not getting a haircut, no TV, the phone hardly ever rings, it's just you and him. He isn't cheap, but is reasonable. When I pay him, I always think of a sign I saw years ago in front of a different salon: "We fix $6 haircuts--$10."

I also like seeing my barber for more personal reasons, such as the fact that he's originally from my town, knows a lot of the same people I know, is aware of what is going on in town, and even though there have been times when I went a year or more without a haircut, he remembers what we talked about last time and what we didn't talk about. Today, he asked about my mother, my dad and my brother. But even though I am pretty sure he knows I got my ass divorced a little while ago, he said not one word about it. Not that I would have minded him asking, but the fact that he didn't bring it up speaks volumes about the kind of person he is.

Now that haircut boy lives again, I'll just hafta shoot a new profile pic...