The Long And Short Of It
- robeo
This archived discussion is "read only".
» robeo - The Long And Short Of It
The Long And Short Of Itby Robert Byron
For years the same barber cut my hair every month. I could walk into the shop, sit down in the chair and without uttering a word she would cut my hair the same way that she had for many moons. The routine continued until I reached a point in my life when I decided that I would let my hair grow and grow it did. My hair reached almost to the center of my back when a friend offered to trim it to get rid of my split ends. I agreed to let her do this but, as she trimmed, she kept discovering more split ends. I was getting a little panicked since she had been "trimming" for the past thirty minutes and it seemed that she was never going to stop cutting. Her mother showed up and they discussed my split end problem. Her mom told me that she could solve my problem if I would put my trust in her to do it. Figuring that it was okay to trust "mom" I told her to do what needed to be done and she began hacking away at my hair. Five minutes later she announced that she was done and she and her daughter stood back to look at their handy work. I could tell from their expressions that things were not looking good for me. A feeling of horror swept over me as I looked at myself in a mirror. The hair that used to reach the center of my back had been cut to the length of my jawbone. Standing before me in the mirror was the image of Prince Valiant.
My hair grew back out and once again it reached the center of my back. When I didn't have it tied back in a ponytail it looked like a lions mane. There came a day when I decided I'd had enough of my long hair and I decided that I would get it cut short. Since I had already seen myself with the "Prince Valiant" look I opted to get a shorter, more traditional haircut. I went to a stylist and was given some magazines to look through so I could pick out a style that I liked. I picked out something that I liked and showed it to the stylist who assured me that she could reproduce the same look with my hair. As my golden locks fell to the floor I knew that I had made the right decision. No longer would I have to worry about fancy shampoos and conditioners. I would be able to get up in the morning, run a comb through my hair and go.
When the stylist was done, she spun the chair around so I could get a good look at my new cut. It didn't look anything like the picture I had shown her. I held up the magazine, "My hair doesn't look like this."
"Well, we can't always get it to look exactly like the picture."
"But you said that you could."
"Your hair has different characteristics than the hair in the picture so I just cut it to look good."
"May I ask when this decision was made and why I wasn't involved?"
"It's just the way we do things here and besides, it does kind of look like the picture."
"Why, you're absolutely correct. A man is in the picture and I'm a man too! We both have two eyes and look, he has a nose and mouth just like I do!"
I soon found out that things aren't like they used to be since my old barber retired. I have tried going to the same barbershop only to find that the stylists change from month to month. I can never seem to get the same person twice and I always have to explain how I want my hair cut.
"How do you want it cut."
"Same style only shorter."
"How short?"
"Real short."
"How short is that?"
"Cut until I say stop."
The last time my wife went to get her hair cut the stylist kept getting a fingernail caught in my wife's hair. The woman had to stop cutting so she could press her fake fingernail back on. The barber I once went to would never had done such a thing. She was a true professional complete with trimmed fingernails. She knew all her clients by name and always knew what to talk to them about because she took a genuine interest in them. I have yet to find a suitable replacement for her but my quest stills moves forward.
When the last barber I went to see finished cutting my hair, he told me that the cut I had was very "New York."
"It's the same plain old cut I always get."
"But it's very New York."
"I don't live in New York."
" I know but it's the style."
"It's just a plain haircut."
"He combed my hair straight forward and said, "It's a very versatile cut. When I comb it this way you get the George Clooney look."
"I'm not George Clooney."
As I paid for the haircut he turned to pick up a magazine with a picture of George Clooney and I slipped out while his back was still turned. Then I did the same thing that everyone does as soon as they get a new haircut. I got in my car, drove home, went to the bathroom and fixed my hair.
-- posted by robeo
Please follow the guidelines set forth in the Suite101 Posting Etiquette when adding to the discussion.