Hair's The Thing
by Steve West on April 24, 2009
I just got back from getting a haircut. I sat in the chair at a local salon and reminisced about my childhood and accompanying my father to his weekly hair trimmings. We went to a pretty old-fashioned Mayberry barbershop in suburban DC that was the Italian version of Floyd's. The type of shop where the combs are all submerged in that unidentifiable blue liquid and all the chairs were hand cranked. The customers all knew each other and the only haircut available was the "regular". A place in which the customer to your left or right was just as likely to be getting a shave as a haircut and you could also get your shoes shined. They had that spinning blue and red barber pole outside and I think it was called Tony's. Each haircut I get these days reminds me of how good it feels to be freshly shorn and I wonder why I wait until I look like a surfer wannabe before I return. It's not the dough exactly (I can afford a haircut every two weeks if I wanted), it's more of what a hassle it seems to wait for so long in this age of immediate gratification. Maybe if they shined my shoes while waiting...
Two Replies to Hair's The Thing
Aaron Shurtleff | April 24, 2009
Yeah, I just don't care enough. I'm no fan of the full-on salon hair-washing, scalp-massaging treatment (big surprise), but it usually doesn't matter. I'm all over the place with my hair usually. It changes with the day sometimes, it seems. :)
Web Junkie
Steve West scours the Web searching for interest or absurdity and then shakes his head ruefully when he finds it. Read more »
Rock Block Parallel #2: Food Fight
To satisfy your gustatory desires, please review the following board of fare. Everything tastes better with chocolate...well almost everything. Go »Sometimes Romance is Spontaneous
My parents (both passed) dearly loved each other. But with jobs, children, and other business, they found little time to spend on just the two of them. One evening when I was visiting, my Dad came up behind my Mom in the kitchen where she was doing dishes. Go »My Faith in Humanity is Restored
This is a true story I saw on a travel blog website. Late one night, a woman and her husband received the tragic news that their three-year-old grandson in Denver had been murdered by their daughter’s live-in boyfriend. The boy was being taken off life support at 9 o’clock that evening and his parents opted for organ donation which would take place immediately upon his passing. Go »Little Hoover Dam Break
This week's mini-flood o' links. Ridiculous weatherman names. These are real. Go »Christmas Post #19: More Weird Plushies
First came The Godfather horsehead pillow; next came virus plush toys; now there's road kill. Yes, nothing says warmth and comfort like road pizza cat although I'm a little disappointed that none of them appear to be the scratch-and-sniff variety. Go »
Scott Hardie | April 24, 2009
I've had arguments on other sites by trying too hard to defend the old-fashioned barber shop against changing times, so I won't get into it here. But I'm still disappointed by what's available in this area. A new "barber shop" opened across the street, complete with red-and-white-striped pole and sports playing on the TV in the lobby. I was suspicious when they offered me bottled spring water while I waited. The place turned out to be a salon in disguise: Before they would cut my hair, they insisted on washing it and making me sit back with a hot washcloth on my face for ten minutes before starting. I asked twice not to have any gel in my hair and to have a shorter version of the plain haircut I walked in with, but I walked out with my hair moussed in five directions at once. I felt like such a clown, and it didn't help that my girlfriend squealed in joy at seeing it after we had argued so much about my conservative tastes. I dumped her and shaved my head, and later got a better woman and a better cut that both suit me just fine.