Woke up, got out of bed, combed the
hair across my head. Oops, that’s a Beatles song. Anyway, when I woke up last
Thursday morning, I made a spur of the moment decision to go to the barber rather
than wait another week or so. Because it was unplanned, I didn’t make an
appointment. Not that it mattered at this particular barbershop. It seemed like
a first come first served establishment.
They open at 8 a.m. and when I got there at
about 8:15, the guy who had given me a haircut the last three times was already
busy with a customer and another person was waiting. Pretty soon, a female
barber whom I’ve never seen before showed up and motioned me to her chair. I
haven’t had a woman cut my hair since 1981when I was new to this country and my
aunt took me to her hairdresser. Prior to that in the Philippines, most of my
haircuts were done by women after high school but not too often because those were
my long hair years. In those days, I only had a trim to snip off the split ends
that I got from playing too much tennis under the hot sun.
I’m not real picky nowadays about
who cuts my hair after my barber of almost two decades got too expensive for my
budget. Besides he was going to retire soon anyway. So I sit on Sylvia’s chair
(I got her name before I left) and she asked me what kind of haircut I wanted,
and I told her – a high fade, shaved at the sides and slightly long on top. She
asked me if I wanted a #1 or #0 blade for the sides of my head, and I said #0. So
she starts using the electric razor on the sides of my head and it seemed to be
going okay. Then she switched the trimmer adjustment and proceeded to do the
top of my head. That was new to me because in the past, the barber would use
scissors and a comb to cut that part of my hair. The razor size that Sylvia was
using felt a little too short so I told her not to cut the top too short. When
all was said and done, my hair appeared okay by the looks of it in the
barbershop mirrors. I complimented Sylvia that she got it right the first time
and she said to ask for the #8 blade next time. I paid her and went home. Upon
further review after seeing my close up in the mirror, I was shocked to see how
short the hair was on the top of my head. They were actually spiky! Well, a
little too late now. Perhaps a #12 blade would be more to my liking next time. If
there was a good thing that came out of this, it is that Sylvia speaks English
very well so we can communicate better. The previous guy spoke mostly Spanish
and it was harder to tell him how I wanted my hair cut. In the meantime, don’t
anybody touch the top of my head because it could be considered a deadly
weapon.
Introducing: forehead in widescreen format and spiky hair - no gel required.
Public comments below, private comments: E-mail Me!
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