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May 05, 2007
The Haircut
Found a barbershop (a gents haircut shop) today and got a haircut. The same haircut that I have had since 2002: number four on the sides, scissors on top to even it out. The results vary widely from barbershop to barbershop but this one was nice. My hair grows pretty fast, and faster on the side of my head than the top so a balloon head devil horn profile creeps in about once a month and then I search around.
I like barbershops because they vary only within a narrow range, leaving individual barbers to localize in the details. The haircut that I had today was basically like the haircut I had at Ruffini's in West Grove, PA when I went to high school. Both were run by an older guy who focused on the repeat customers while some newer guys took other walk-ins. Ruffini's had a television at the side of the room with a game of baseball or football on depending on the season. He always had the same 12 issues of Car and Driver and an issue of Motorsports world. I didn't see any magazines today but there were some waiting chairs and some newspapers and a radio playing in the background, which fitzed out after we lost power. Cricket season is over but I suspect that the dormant TV in the corner runs matches during the year.
Some small differences: the barbershop today strung curtains between the chairs to provide privacy and the barber put talc on the back of neck which he swept around with a brush. He also used a small circular comb instead of the regular straight comb and did a lot of fixing and straightening. No razor work (Ruffini's did the hot lather and razor touch up around the ears, which has to be great for hyperactive kids) but there was a razor in the jar of cleaning fluid. When I paid, the barber, a guy in his twenties, asked me to come back and I think that I will.
Of course this was a good haircut and there are notable haircuts and not so notable haircuts. I used to go to Johnny's in Central Square and then switched over to the Barber Shop on Dunster street in Harvard after Johnny hired an iffy haircut guy who tried to give everyone, even the mostly bald guys, a pompadour. No TV at Johnny's but I did watch someone walk in an try to fence a 40 inch set before Johnny threw him out.
Photo of an Indian barbershop by MarellaLuca, who has an entire series on Barbers
| By jb | 02:53 PM