My Haircut Education by BarnegatClipper

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As far back as I can remember my dad would get my brothers and I together on
the last Sunday of the month for our monthly haircuts. Having Three sons he
found it a lot cheaper to cut our hair himself and we didn`t seem to mind at
first.

You see dad had two ways to cut our hair, short and shorter. Short was
clipper over fingers. Anything over his fingers was clipped off and he used a short
attachment to taper the sides and back into the longer hair on top. This was
how we wore our hair for most of the school year.

Then around May he would give us our summer cut. That was a Butch or Crewcut
depending on how short he felt on cutting our hair that summer. It was a Butch
in the beginning and a Crewcut to go back to school. This was a little hard
on us since it was the 70`s and long hair was the norm then.

As we grew older dad started to let us get our hair cut at the local barber
shop in town as long as we got a paper route after school to pay for things
like that. He said that this would teach us responsibility and not to expect to
have everything handed to us.

All in all it did and we got to make some choices on our own. Well, I was the
youngest so I was the last to get to this point. I didn`t get a paper route
right away so it was me and dad once a month for my seasonal haircut. Well,
truth be known I really liked the whole haircut experience and didn`t want to
stop. But as we all have to grow I had to follow my brothers and move on.

As time went on I kept my hair short because I liked it that way and because
I enjoyed going to the barbers but I didn`t really know why.

As I got older I wanted to try something new but didn`t really know what as
the only styles I knew of were a Butch and a Crewcut.

Then one day a good friend of mine got a haircut that I really liked. I had
to ask him what it was called. He told me it was called a Flattop and told me
where to go to get one if I liked it so much. I really did and decided to get
one the next time I got my haircut. It looked so cool flat on top with the
shaved strip down the middle and the sides combed to the back in a DA. At least
this is what I thought.

I could hardly wait for Saturday to go and get my haircut for the summer, I
was going to get my first Flatop.I got up early on Saturday so I could get my
paper route done and have the rest of the day to check out the barber shops in
the area. I went to where Jimmy had his hair cut but they were very busy and I
couldn`t wait that long to have my hair cut.

So I explored a little and found this out of the way shop and he was just
finishing up an older man who looked really great in what I found out later was
an Ivy League.

I walked in the barber looked my way and said have a seat in the first chair
he would be right with me. The tension was building up and I didn`t understand
those strange feelings until later on. He walked over to and put the tissue
around my neck and asked how I wanted my hair cut today. I could hardly get it
out by the time he put the stripped cape around me. I started to tell him I
wanted to try a Flattop for the summer and he said that was a good choice and
turned me away from the mirror as he reached for a pair of clippers from a
drawer beside the chair.

All was going well as he took a large flat comb and started lift my hair on
top and cut it down little by little. When he had it as flat as he wanted on
top he then started on the strip down the middle with the bare blade of the
clippers. I never felt this sensation before but I could get to really like it.

Then things started to go wrong or so I thought. He pushed my head to one
side as he started to clipper shave the right side of my head just short of the
top of my head. It all happened so fast that there was little time to grasp
what was happening.

The clippers sheared my hair so fast it was falling like rain leaving nothing
but stubble in there wake. I must have looked shocked at the time as the
barber asked me if I was OK. I had to tell him that I had no idea he was going to
shave the sides and back of my head. That`s when he said he thought I asked
for a Flattop. That`s when I learned that there were different versions of this
haircut. I explained to him that the only cuts my dad ever gave me were a
Butch and a Crewcut. I asked a friend of mine what his haircut was called and he
told me it was called a Flattop. Not that I didn`t like it, I did.

I just didn`t to have my sides and back shaved. That`s when he explained to
me he only clipper shaved the sides and back. To shave them he would use a
razor and lather.

Well, to the least I did enjoy this lesson and learned a lot at the same
time. I guess I`m still learning and enjoying as I get older. I gave my own boys
the same basic lessons in life starting with a Butch and a Crewcut, But I also
included a few others for variety.

I think at least one of my boys enjoys his haircuts as much as I do, he seem
to always go back to a short cut every few months just so he has some length
to cut off now and then. And so the tradition goes on.......

Just the beginning.

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