Back in Chicago, I had found the perfect tiny barber shop. They were all naturalized citizens, many didn’t speak English, but when I walked in they said “You get hair cut like man?” and by golly, I did! It had actually taken me years to bully the local SuperCuts into cutting my hair short and shutting up about it (“But your hair is so lovely!”) and when I’d moved to Rogers Park in Chicago, finding them was a dream.
On the other hand, here’s California. First of all, there’s no ‘I’ll just walk over and get a quick cut over lunch…’ place nearby. There are salons. There are SuperCuts, but I’ve not found the amazing cuts like I did in the weird corners of Chicago. So I’ve been ‘making do.’ Finally I got so annoyed that from July 2013 to January 2014, I did not get a haircut. And yes, it was simply because I was tired of arguing with people about it.
I’ve had problems finding a decent barber who doesn’t flinch about “I want a man’s haircut.” After calling a bunch of shops in the area (and getting weird replies like “It’ll be a $20 surcharge” which I resent), I found a small place that had a real barber pole. Interesting. So after calling and not getting a reply, I said fuck it and we went in. They were booked, but I made an appointment after a quick chat.
“Can I get a haircut here?”
“… What kind of haircut?”
My wife and I pointed to the guy in the chair, “Short, like that.”
The barber broke into a smile, “Oh! Yes, totally!” and an appointment was made.
It frustrates me. I just want a cut, I don’t want crap, and I want to be charged the same as you’d charge a man for the cut. I mean, come on, my hair is short. I don’t want a style as much as I want to not have to brush my hair anymore (yes, that is one of my goals). So I came back on my appointed time, and had an hour long haircut and massage. Oh my god. I was making happy-puppy face the whole time. The cut was a bit long, and the barber happily knocked off another inch and a half, so I have my ‘usual’ spiky, no need to brush, do!
I feel happy about my hair again. And yes, I gave a fantastic tip. I will be back and maybe, just maybe, ask about a good colorist who can do blue.
2 responses
As you know, I have the SAME issues and go basically a variation of the same cut. Just with bangs.
I said to Ron just last night that even tho I dyed my hair again recently I may just go get it all cut off anyway because the length is driving me completely insane.
There was one little salon I tried last place we lived and actually said “Oh I don’t think I’ve ever cut short hair on a woman before!” 😐 I never went back.
@Andrea_R: I don’t understand why it’s so hard! A lot of women have short hair these days. *sigh* 🙁