Inspiration by CleanCutTieGuy

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Inspired from a barbershop experience of mine:

I noticed a new barbershop opened up in a tiny, old stripmall on my way home from work. There is a small convenience store and pizza shop in the same building. I would drive by on my way home, but there were always cars in the parking lot. I could not see in the shop to see how crowded it was so I kept driving by. I assumed it was busy and never liked waiting long.

After a few weeks, my hair had become a bit overgrown and shaggy. I decided to go back to the barbershop one day after work and deal with the wait. Much to my surprise, there was one guy being caped in the chair and no wait. The barber greeted me and I sat in the waiting area.

The barber and the guy in the chair were chatting as the barber picked up a set of clippers and proceeded to shave all the hair off the back and sides of the guy’s head. I have never seen a barber cut hair that quickly. Then he cut the hair on the top of his head down to finger length, again in record time. I started to get a little nervous. He went over the back and sides with another set of very loud clippers. You could see the clear contrast in skin tone where the skin that was previously covered by hair was much lighter from not being exposed to sun. It was only ten minutes and the barber was removing the cape from this severe haircut. Everything made sense when the guy got up and was wearing military fatigues.

The barber said, "I’ll see you when you get back from deployment."

He turned to me and said, "I’ll be right with you." and proceeded to sweep up the hair from the floor.

"It looks like you are heading home from work.", he said, noticing my professional attire.

Instinctively grabbing at the knot of my tie, I explained, "My workplace and especially my boss, are fairly conservative. We are expected to wear long sleeve dress shirts and ties every day. No casual friday where I work. I’ve gotten used to it so I don’t mind. At least I never have to put any thought into what to wear each day."

He said, "I’ve been thinking about doing the same thing, especially now that I will be hiring another barber to help out on the busy days. I thought it might add a touch of class to the shop. Nobody wants a sloppy looking barber."

"That’s not a bad idea", I replied, "but make sure you have comfortable dress shoes. My shoes are broken in and are far more comfortable than most people think. Dressing up is perfectly comfortable with the right fitting clothes and shoes."

He finished sweeping and motioned me to have a seat in the chair. It was a small two-seat shop and he had a mirror in front of the chair as well as a large mirror on the opposite wall.

The barber slightly smirking asked, "So are we just doing the same as the last guy?"

Knowing that he was joking, I answered directly, "Pretty much, yes."

He had that instant look of shock in the mirror, and said, "Really? I was just joking."

I replied, "So was I." We both laughed and he said, "Damn, you had me fooled for a second."

I had an overgrown business cut, and was planning to go shorter, so I took out my phone and handed it to him with a picture I found. "I was thinking of trying something like this."

He looked at it for a bit, and looked at me and said, "Hmmm, a low zero. Ok. No problem."

I unbuttoned the top button of my dress shirt and loosened my tie. He quickly got me caped up, spun the chair around to face the smaller mirror. He snapped a guard on a set of clippers and plowed them through my hair like he did to the last guy. Because of the two mirrors, I could see him buzzing off the hair in the back fairly short. Similar to the last guy, he was very fast with the clippers. In record time he removed a whole lot of hair and was cutting the top with scissors. As I watched in the smaller mirror, I could see it was definitely a shorter haircut, but it looked somewhat different from the picture.

He finished and dusted all the stray hair away. He then asked, "So, what do you think? Is the length ok?"

I hesitantly said, "I think so, but can you show me the back?" He picked up a small mirror and showed me the back.

He quickly added, "I can take the zero higher. You came in with a lot of hair, and I did not want to cut too much and have it too short."

It was short and I said uncertainty, "This is ok, I think."

"Ok, but I don’t mind cutting it shorter. I have not cut your hair before so I opted not to cut it too short."

I asked, "I was thinking shorter. What do you think? Can I go shorter?"

He said, "That is up to you, but I can definitely take the zero higher if you want to."

I could tell by his response he was ok with cutting it shorter, but wanted me to tell him to do it. I paused and noticed there was no one else waiting, so he wasn’t waiting for the next customer.

I finally said, "Sure, if you don’t mind. Let’s take the zero a lot higher. I was looking to change things up."

"Ok, I can do that. I just did not want to cut off too much at first in case you did not like it. I can always cut more hair, but I can’t put it back."

"I understand. My hair was already overdue for a cut for over a month. It was getting annoying. My boss even commented on my shaggy appearance. When I saw your shop open on my way home from work, I decided to stop in."

"Thanks for coming in. It’s normally quiet this time of day."

The barber picked up the clippers and went around my head again. I could see this was noticeably shorter. Then he started cutting off more on the top. After that, he used various sets of clippers to blend in the hair from the sides to the top. He even took out the same loud clippers he used on the previous customer, which felt strange like an electric razor one uses for their face. He used those around the back and sides of my head. Everything happened fairly quickly. I had never been to a barber who was as fast with clippers. When that was done, he took a small scoop or product from a jar and rubbed it in his hand and then into my hair.


"Just about finished here. A little styling pomade to finish it off." He then carefully combed the hair on top with laser focused precision. He would comb it, and then pause to examine it, and then continue combing it into place.

After he finished, while brushing off the loose hairs he turned the chair toward the big mirror saying, "Ok, as requested, we have a high zero faded down to skin. I blended in the top, so it may be a bit shorter than the picture you showed me."

He grabbed a small mirror and said, "I’ll show you the back."

While staring at the back of my head which looked bald I said, "ok, that is definitely shorter."

He carefully removed the cape saying, "I doubt your boss will complain about this haircut."

I immediately reached up to feel my head. Most of the upper part felt like sandpaper, but the middle and lower part was completely smooth.

The barber explained, "You wanted the zero much higher, so I needed to fade it down to skin. It looks much better that way, and it will look neater as it starts to grow in."

I got out of the chair, still staring at what turned out to be a more radical change than I expected. I buttoned the top button of my dress shirt and adjusted my tie neatly back into place.

"I’ve never had my hair cut down to skin like that. There are no sideburns at all. It’s different, but I like it. I guess it isn’t all that far off from the military cut you gave the last guy."

As I took out my wallet to pay for the haircut, I noticed myself in the large wall mirror. I looked so much better in my professional work clothes with this new haircut. The barber noticed and said, "It’s much better than the shaggy mess you came in with. You look more like a boss with a short haircut."

He pointed at himself with his untucked plaid shirt and jeans saying, "I really need to dress more like you in the shop. You look like you should be my boss, especially with that haircut."

"Some dress shirts, dress pants and ties is all it takes. Don’t forget comfortable shoes. You can always try it and see if it works for you."

"True. I have some dress clothes in my closet. Perhaps tomorrow I will change it up and see how it goes. I will probably have to give my shoes a good shine so they are more like yours."

I chuckled, "Great idea. You gave me a new style, and I inspired you to try a new style."

As I was about to leave, another customer came in. The barber said, "Hi Jim. I will be ready for you in a minute."

Jim looked at me as he sat in the waiting area and said, "No hurry. I just hope I leave looking as sharp as this guy right here."

I smiled as I left and knew I found my new favorite barbershop.

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