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Sep /2000 |
My last haircut
By MCG
I started telling the barber to let the top grow out a little and just
keep it trimmed up in the back and around the ears. Under the care of the
barber the top filled out to a longer flattop and the sides grew
out just enough to slick back with tonic and butchwax in a princeton
flattop. Although I liked the style it didn't work very well with my
somewhat receeding hairline and the slight thinning I had at the crown. I
decided to let the top grow out longer keeping it slicked up in a pompadore,
somewhat like a D.A., but tapered in the back and short around the ears.
While I have to admit that this looked better than the horseshoe flattop I
was wearing a year before the longer hair on the sides had greyed nearly to
white at the sideburns while it was still mostly dark brown above the
temples. This had a two-tone effect
that was never as apparent when the sides and back were clipped to the skin
or shaven. It also tended to make me look quite a bit older...
So I decided to try dying it. I was actually quite happy with the
results. Since it was mostly the sides and back that needed it and I still
kept them trimmed pretty close I used one of the gel type dyes for beards
and sideburns and also did my goatee, which was begining to show a little
grey, and combed a little through the top as well to make sure the shade
blended evenly with the rest.
Throughout that year my barber, who I had found just a month after he had
opened his shop, had been getting increasingly busy. It began to become very
difficult to get in at a time when he could give me a shave with a hot towel
facial and massage. Though he's a very good barber, especialy with flattops,
this was the main reason I was continuing to go to him. Before I found him I
tended to alternate between two or three different barbershops and try out
new shops on a fairly regular basis. I couldn't recall exactly when the last
time I had tried a new shop was so I figured it was time to do a little
exploring.
I drove by the first shop, located in the corner of a strip mall just off the highway. It was open but the chairs were empty and it didn't look too interesting. So I headed around the corner over to Ron's I-205 barbershop.
I had never caught this shop open before. It was located in a
remodeled garage of an older house along a street which had become a major
thoroughfare. As I drove by I saw a folding sign set out by the sidewalk
indicating it was open and listed the days and hours. Seeing the hours
they listed I figured the barber must be semi-retired and catered to other
retiree's and as it turned out I was right. They opened from 8-4 on
tuesday, wendnesday and thursday and 8 till noon on
saturday.
The shop only had a narrow window along the door so I couldn't see what was going on but as I drove by I saw an elderly man walking up the path towards the door. I figured that it might be worth checking out so I drove down the block and got turned around and came back and parked in front of the shop.
The shop had 2 barbers who looked like they were in their seventies
and a customer of the same age was in one of the three chairs. I allways
like to check out shops like that since usually the barbers seldom
hesitate to cut it as short as you ask. I had my hair pomped up in a bit
of a wave with a little Top Brass hair thickener and lot of Vitalis. I
said hello and took a seat in the empty chair. As the barber, who's hair
was cut and combed very similarly to mine only
thicker and snowy white, fastened the cape around my neck he asked,
"just a light trim?".
He combed through the top, checking the slight thinning at the crown and my somewhat receding hairline and said "Oh sure, no problem!"
I told him to go high and tight, real close on the sides and back. He started up the clippers and buzzed up my left sideburn. The he took out a mirror to show me the length and asked if it was short enough. It looked like he had used about a number 2 blade. I told him "I'd like it a lot shorter, real close on the sides and back." He adjusted the blade and went over it again and had me check. It was about 1/8 of an inch. I like it just about to the skin around the neck and ears, and tapered up from the temples. It was still a quite bit longer that I liked but I said it looked ok, I figured I could have him fix it later.
As he proceeded to clipping the sides and back I told him not to worry about getting it too short, I had been keeping it like that for a long time and had only been letting the top grow out for the last 6 months or so.
The barber began tapering up the sides and taking the excess off the
top. I mentioned that I they close early, I had been by a few times before
but had never found them open. He said that he and his partner, Ron had
been at this for the last fourty years and had
decided to slow down a bit and take it easy. I noticed that they didn't
have a special rate posted for senior citizens, instead on the days they
were open during the middle of the week when they closed at 4 before most
working men could get in they charged
seven dollars, but on saturday they charged eight.
As he started leveling off the top and mowing a landing strip the other customer was getting out of the chair and paying for his haircut. Then he took out a harmonica and played a few tunes. The first was "The Red River Valley" the second was something he had made up himself. He played very well. While he was playing another elderly man entered through the back door and took a seat.
The barber took the mirror out again and asked how it looked, I told
him it looked great but I asked him if he could go a little closer around
the ears and neck. He took out an edger and took the sides and back down
nearly to the skin, blended it into the high taper and
cleaned up my neck.
The End