Thursday, November 01, 2007

Barbers

I went to the barber shop this morning for a hair cut. Sarah has been cutting my hair for the past 7 years. There's not much to it...my hair or the cut. Basically it's a clipper cut on #2 and some clean up around the neck and ears. Last month I needed a quick cut and Sarah was gone, so I went to town and stopped at the barber shop, I'd never been in this shop before but there was only one barber and one guy in the chair, so I knew I wouldn't have to wait.

In the past I haven't really liked going to the barber shop. Barbers talk too much. And generally it's not about stuff I'm interested in, sports, the weather, politics, sports, automobiles, sports, whatever. So last month I'm in the chair and this guy starts talking, but it wasn't too bad, we talked about the county fair which just had came to town. He reminisced about the old days when Pagan Jones was there at the fair. She was a stripper. Yes, Cleveland County had a peep show at the fair years and years ago. (We also used to have a XXX drive in movie theater, I was about 10 when it closed down so it was no big deal to me). This barber also talked about the previous customer he just had, an man in his 70's, with a large mole on his head. He talked about how he would have that thing removed. Anyway it was a better experience than I'd had in the past.

So today I go back to this same shop expecting the guy to be there. Well he wasn't and I got in the chair of this other barber. He was an older guy and reminded me of Don Reitz. This guy hardly said a word after he asked how I wanted my cut. And he was really gentle, and efficient and wasted no movements. Economy. After my cut he rubbed my head really gently with his big hands and vacuumed the loose hair away. Then he lathered up my neck and shaved it with the straight razor (which no one has ever done). He was kinda like a masseur. Well I had worried thoughts about the whole thing, but I think it was just his style, he was old school for sure.

We only had a little converstion at the end about water shortage and how the world's population was growing and the demands from that.

So that's my barber shop story and how I like this barber who was there today. Maybe he works on Thursdays, maybe I'll go back next month and see.