You are visiting http://geocities.datacellar.net/SoHo/Workshop/2096
To see an archive of the articles on this site, click here.
Will thick hair last long?
By Tim Wood
"Boy, do you have a lot of hair."
If I had a dime for every time a barber or other hair cutter had told me that, I could buy a lifetime supply of hair cuts.
With a milestone birthday looming in a few months, I am grateful that I'm still hearing that. Many of my contemporaries are scanning the hair replacement ads or making jokes about bald spots.
One of my brothers has worried for years that he will someday lose his hair. He, too, has thick hair, and I tease him for worrying for nothing. It must have been a picture of our bald maternal grandfather that got this started. On our father's side, the hair runs long and thick.
A few days ago, an area radio station held a contest in which the caller was asked to speak on a subject for 30 seconds without hesitating or otherwise saying, "uh, duh" or a similar useless word. It sounds easy until you try to do it.
The subject that day was "Why I would like to be bald." As a mental exercise, I tried to come up with 30 seconds of statements in support of that subject.
Some of the reasons:
The closest I've ever come to being bald was when I impulsively tried a flat-top a few years ago. It was nice to have a low-maintenance haircut. Another benefit was simple conversations with hair cutters.
For years, I had a monologue on the subject of how to cut my hair. "Razor up the back, no sideburns, thin out the top, feather it back, thin it out some more, and no, I don't part it to the side."
Then the hair cutter would proceed to cut it anyway he or she saw fit. I certainly got some interesting haircuts that way, though.
Once I went into a barber shop and asked for a "standard haircut." That was a big mistake. The resulting hair cut would have passed muster at boot camp. Later, I told another barber about this adventure, and he speculated that the barber actually messed up and bailed himself out by cutting off most of my hair.
One problem with the flat top though is finding someone who can do it Many of the haircutters in the modern salons don't know how. At one salon, one hair cutter started the flat top, got in trouble, and had to call in someone else to finish it off. I almost ended up with a shaved head that time.
It didn't take long to start going back to barber shops, where any barber worth his razor can do a flat top in his sleep.
Barbers and other hair cutters are special types of workers. Hair cutting is one of the few jobs that still inspires the fabled American work ethic. Here's why:
* Hair cutters are on their feet all day. Have you ever seen a hair cutter or barber cut someone's hair while sitting down?
* Hair cutters don't get paid unless they work. If hair isn't flying, a hair cutter isn't making any money.
* They get only one chance to do the job correctly. No one has yet found a way to glue hair back on a head.
The best hair cutter I've ever found is right here in Columbia. I can't mention her name for fear of giving a free advertisement.
But suffice to say, she cut it beautifully the first time she ever laid scissors on my head. I've been a regular customer ever since. Some hairdressers like to talk, but she just asks me if I want it the usual way. I say yes, and in a few minutes I have a haircut.
If only everything in life could be that simple.
Hopefully, I'll need the services of this hair cutter for many years to come - unless my mother's side wins the war of the hair genes. In that case, I would be qualified to do that radio commentary on baldness.
You are visitor no.| Search this site! |
Home page||Send me an e-mail ||Click here for great deals on CDs!
||Tim Wood's Rocketry page ||Tim Wood's Music Page, featuring Chicago (the band)