Saturday, January 24, 2009

Four Dollar Hair Cut


My loyalty to the barber I used for several years couldn’t compete when he kept raising the price, eventually over $12, not including a customary tip. I’d been driving past another place where they advertized haircuts for $3.99. That’s been about a year now and I’ve no complaints; they cut hair and it grows back each month.

The barbers are oriental, my guess would be Vietnamese; but that’s just a guess. Each time I visit a different barber cuts my hair, some better than others; but the old rule my friend Steve uses still applied, “What’s the difference between a good haircut and a bad one?” The answer used to be “Three weeks”; but since my hair doesn’t grow so fast on top anymore, “Two months”.

Today I sat down and the young woman pointed to her box of scalping tools, I mean clipper attachments. I had no idea what, “Chon swhi bok ton” meant; however, after she took the first pass over the top of my head I worked out a rough translation. “Take it down short so folks salute him when he enters the room.”

The good thing is I do have a sense of humor and, yes; it will grow back, eventually. I don’t think anyone ever saluted a Spec 4 when I was in the Army; maybe I should have gone for OCS and become an officer.

As for the self portrait; no, that’s not a tumor on the side of my neck. I took this picture holding the camera at arms length and that’s a fold of skin.

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