Rick Mang:I went to a real barber shop. The sign on the front of the building was . . . Barber Shop! I mean, how real is that! It's right next door to the place I buy Chinese take out.
Opps! That was an admission I didn't want to make considering my diet!!
I walked in and the testosterone level almost took my breath away. A real barber's pole. White porcelain barber chairs with Burgandy leather seats. Leather chairs. Cloth back chairs. Newsweek, Sports Illustrated, and several hunting / fishing magazines in a pile on an end table.Hey, how ya' doing! Just have a seat! We'll get to you in a minute!
The barbers had white barber jackets . . . asked me my name and where I worked. A great haircut and beard trim for $16. And . . . and . . . and . . .
What for it . . .
Hot shaving cream and a straight razor trim on my neck and side burns!!!! Oh, my eyes just started welling up . . . the flood of childhood memories of haircuts long ago with my dad at my side . . . walking down the road together . . . an Andy and Opie sort of thing . . .
[snip]
Why did I ever leave the safe male sanctuary of a barber shop. The prodigal has returned.
Divorce, deadbeat dads, drug use -- I think that we can see the disasterous impact on our society by the ordination of female barbers.
2 comments:
John,
I loved this post.
For years I have said that I would only get my hair cut at a barber shop with a barber pole our front, a tile floor; ducks, deer, and fish taxidermied on the wall; copies of Field and Stream and Outdoor Life on the table, a TV with alumnum foil on the rabbit ears, and they give out that Pink Double Bubble gum.
Oh, and no women barbers in the shop!
My wife has never understood this. My eyes watered a little as I read this.
I haven't paid for a haircut in something like 16 years. First, my hair was really, really long, and girls I knew in college would just clip the ends off for me from time to time. Then I started shaving my head, and can do that easily enough myself.
The house I live in now has a real, live barber shop down the road, big barber pole, big glass windows, the whole deal. Now and then I drive by and think maybe I'd just like to go in and sit in one of those chairs, get a trim.
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