Are Barbershops Extinct?

[dgs49]

My hair is a little longer than I like. I planned to take a few extra minutes at lunch and get it cut.

First, I go to "Sport Clips."

I'm ignored for fifteen minutes (only two people in the waiting area, a father and son).

I walk out.

I drive around for a bit and find, "Major League Haircuts" or some such nonsense.

After a few minutes a woman comes up to the counter. She wants to know my name (first and last), phone number, zip code...when she asks me for my home address, I stop her and ask if she REALLY needs it.

No.

Do I want a shampoo, massage, rub down, lap dance...?

No, I just want a fucking HAIRCUT!

Again, one guy in the waiting area.

"That will be about 30 minutes."

I leave.

What I want is to go into the establishment, sit down and read an old magazine, go up and get a haircut when its' my turn, pay for it, and leave.

But apparently this is too much to ask.

Jesus.

I still need a haircut.

[Liberty1]

They're not here. I went to those "Supercuts" kind of places for a long time. I then found an old style barber shop where I have been going for 5 or 6 years. I can even call Norm the day I want to come in and he'll set up an appointment, so I don't even have to wait with the walkins.

And in fact, old style barber shops, at least where I live, seem to be making a comeback. There have been at least half a dozen brand new shops open up here in the last 3 or 4 years. They usually have new "cool" names like "Fades" or something like that. But one actually has the name, "Olde Style Barber Shop".

[loCAtek]

I used to go to a Supercuts near home, because I don't need much but my bangs and ends trimmed. I decided not to go there anymore about 4-5 years ago, because they started hiring kids who couldn't do the simplest cuts. The last young man I went to had a fancy spiky rave style himself, but seemed confused by the request for 'just a front trim' ...that is just style the front and leave the back alone.
He either didn't know or didn't care, that all I wanted was a neat wave; and gave me a hack job like what he had on his head.

Prior to that, I had just wanted tiding up again for the holidays, but the girl keep asking me 'Do you want it cut?' ... 'Do you want it cut?' referring to my long hair.
No, I just wanted a trim, leave the back alone. So, of course, she gave me a cut and hacked off half my horse tail!

That's why I leave it long dammit; so I don't have to style it, long IS a style.

[BoSoxGal]

We have a few old style barber shops in my town. Ranchers and farmers don't have time for bullshit - except at work.

[dgs49]

I ended up going to The Mad Russian's, a traditional barbershop near where used to live. It is a little bit out of my way, but...

Had a nice talk, he trimmed my moustache & goatee, I gave him a nice tip.

Another irritation about the "Sports Clips" and places like that is that they keep trying to cross-sell services, and when you tell them you just want a haircut, they act like you have the plague - can't wait to get you out of the chair. So I end up paying $16 for a mediocre haircut that lasted no more then 3 minutes.

This is why so many old bastards like me are shaving their heads. It is an unpleasant, expensive, irritation.

[The Hen]

We have a barbers just at my local shop. No nonsense, no fancy cuts, no appointment necessary. He will also shave you as well. Something the Gob likes to indulge in occasionally.

[dgs49]

Brings back memories.

Getting a shave and a haircut was always something I enjoyed, but couldn't afford on a regular basis.

While stationed in Vietnam, the Vietnamese barber had to be reminded to soften the beard with soap & water, otherwise he would just attack my cheeks with the razor. For the Vietnamese themselves, their beards are so light, that it is not an issue.

He would finish the process by cracking by neck. It gave me the willies, but made me feel better afterwards.

[rubato]

My wife cuts my hair. Every year. Sometimes every other year. Sometimes not that often.

Its currently over 2ft long and needing a trim. No hurry.


yrs,
rubato

[dgs49]

Not the least bit surprising.

[dales]

My wife cuts my hair. Every year. Sometimes every other year. Sometimes not that often.

Its currently over 2ft long and needing a trim. No hurry.


yrs,
rubato

She asks me why
I'm just a hairy guy
I'm hairy noon and night
Hell that's a fright
I'm hairy high and low
Don't ask me why
Don't know
It's not for lack of bread
Like the Grateful Dead
Darling

Gimme head with hair
Long beautiful hair
Shining, gleaming,
Streaming, flaxen, waxen

Give me down to there hair
Shoulder length or longer
Here baby, there mama
Everywhere daddy daddy

Hair, hair, hair, hair, hair, hair, hair
Flow it, show it
Long as God can grow it
My hair

Let it fly in the breeze
And get caught in the trees
Give a home to the fleas in my hair
A home for fleas
A hive for bees
A nest for birds
There ain't no words
For the beauty, the splendor, the wonder
Of my...

Hair, hair, hair, hair, hair, hair, hair
Flow it, show it
Long as God can grow it
My hair

I want it long, straight, curly, fuzzy
Snaggy, shaggy, ratty, matty
Oily, greasy, fleecy
Shining, gleaming, streaming
Flaxen, waxen
Knotted, polka-dotted
Twisted, beaded, braided
Powdered, flowered, and confettied
Bangled, tangled, spangled, and spaghettied!

Oh say can you see
My eyes if you can
Then my hair's too short

Down to here
Down to there
I want hair
Down to where
It stops by itself

They'll be ga ga at the go go
When they see me in my toga
My toga made of blond
Brilliantined
Biblical hair

My hair like Jesus wore it
Hallelujah I adore it
Hallelujah Mary loved her son
Why don't my mother love me?

Hair, hair, hair, hair, hair, hair, hair
Flow it, show it
Long as God can grow it
My hair, hair, hair, hair, hair, hair, hair
Flow it, show it
Long as God can grow it
My hair, hair, hair, hair, hair, hair, hair
Flow it, show it
Long as God can grow it
My hair

Hair, hair, hair, hair, hair, hair, hair

[Rick]

I find not expecting everything to happen at the snap of a finger helps...

[dgs49]

A patron should be acknowledged promptly after arriving at the establishment. S/he might have to wait a while before being seated or attended to, but to be ignored is not acceptable.

I have NEVER been ignored when walking into a barber shop, even when the waiting chairs were overflowing.

At "Sports Clips" and places like that I am usually greeted, but there is no sense of urgency. Courtesy is often minimal, and there is no question that the babes (I've never seen a man cutting hair in one of them) are generally determined to get me out of the chair as quickly as possible, even when there is no one else waiting. Must get back to the fucking cell phone, after all.

At most barner shops, they take their time and make it a point to check with me from time to time to make sure I'm OK with what they are doing. Unfortunately, without my glasses on, I have no idea. Not that it will make any significant difference anyway.

But it's becoming more and more difficult to find a barber shop, and the barbers are mostly as old as I am (old).

[dales]

The 1950's was a looooooooong time ago, dave.

I walk across the street and have a charming and young Southeast Asian woman give me a haircut.

I am greeted immediately with a smile and the wait is often just a few minutes.

You can have your old moldy barbershops of yore with their smelly and yellowed interiors and crappy magazines (sports and nothing else) and everything else that no longer matters.

btw: barbers no longer do leeching nor tonsil removal.

[rubato]

A patron should be acknowledged promptly after arriving at the establishment. S/he might have to wait a while before being seated or attended to, but to be ignored is not acceptable.
... "

You're a cheap bastard and a mean asshole. They were probably hoping someone with better manners who knows how to tip would come in and they could take care of them sooner. They were communicating with you Dave. They were saying your business is not all that valuable to them.

yrs,
rubato

[rubato]

My wife cuts my hair. Every year. Sometimes every other year. Sometimes not that often.

Its currently over 2ft long and needing a trim. No hurry.


yrs,
rubato

"...
Long as God can grow it
My hair
... "

1.
Chicks dig it.

2.
Only Pussy Losers are conformists.

yrs,
rubato

[Liberty1]

1.
Chicks dig it.

Maybe your wife, she's probably as old as you are.

2.
Only Pussy Losers are conformists.

And you think you are not being a conformist. You're a lefty conformist and to blind to se it.

Just like all the kids who "express" themselves by dressing just like all the other kids. Most of us grow out of that.

[Jarlaxle]

A patron should be acknowledged promptly after arriving at the establishment. S/he might have to wait a while before being seated or attended to, but to be ignored is not acceptable.
... "

You're a cheap bastard and a mean asshole. They were probably hoping someone with better manners who knows how to tip would come in and they could take care of them sooner. They were communicating with you Dave. They were saying your business is not all that valuable to them.

yrs,
rubato

Projection is not healthy.

[dales]

My wife cuts my hair. Every year. Sometimes every other year. Sometimes not that often.

Its currently over 2ft long and needing a trim. No hurry.


yrs,
rubato

"...
Long as God can grow it
My hair
... "

1.
Chicks dig it.

2.
Only Pussy Losers are conformists.

yrs,
rubato

[Crackpot]

adults only?

That dirty Hippy Porn?

[dales]

adults only?

That dirty Hippy Porn?

Mondo Hollywood