Gimme a head with hair . . .

April 22, 2003 5:26 PM

Barber or hairdresser?(Or perhaps you prefer it uncut?)
posted by jeremias (14 comments total)

I don't think they are hairdressers anymore as much as they are now hairstylists.

Of course its the DiY haircutters that intrigue me.
posted by jazzkat11 at 5:41 PM on April 22, 2003

let's not forget the flowbee.
posted by birdherder at 5:50 PM on April 22, 2003

Option 3, please.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 6:07 PM on April 22, 2003

Re Birdhearders site:

"The results should be a refreshing haircut. "

Should be.. but I take it they aren't going to guarantee something like that.
posted by Pink Fuzzy Bunny at 6:28 PM on April 22, 2003

I have found the best of both worlds: a gay barber.
posted by drinkcoffee at 6:54 PM on April 22, 2003

I always go to a barber when I can--specifically, a barber who's willing to use a straight razor to shave my neck. Those clippers just don't do the job. I had a barber I really liked, but he's now in semiretirement and open only four hours a day, so I rarely find time to stop there anymore.

Establishments decked out like barbershops that refuse to use straight razors really piss me off. Nothing more than Supercuts for people who think going to Supercuts undermines their masculinity.
posted by Acetylene at 7:12 PM on April 22, 2003

Here here for straight razors.
I'm in the 'trendy' part of my city, and ventured into the nearest barber shop when I first got here to see what it was like. Great ambience, and warm shaving cream and a straight razor on the neck. Words cannot describe how great it feels.
Of course, this comes at a cost ($20 can) which can ill be afforded by a university student such as myself. To combat this, I have been growing my hair out for over a year now, and now have a ferocious pseudo afro. That straight razor is what I'm looking forward to most about getting it cut though.
posted by sinical at 8:05 PM on April 22, 2003

I had not had a 'real' barbershop experience until last summer. I was in Toronto on business and needed a haircut.

It was the first time I had the straight razor / warm cream experience. I was blow away since it was only $15CDN. I've yet to find a place in the US like it. So in the meantime, I go here.
posted by birdherder at 8:13 PM on April 22, 2003

Straight razors frighten the hell out of me, and I'll tell you why. My mother-in-law was a hairdresser, will still cut the family's hair herself, and uses a straight razor. If you think I'm letting my mother-in-law get within a mile of my neck while wielding a straight razor, well, you've got another think coming.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 8:23 PM on April 22, 2003

I have the longest hair of any queen I know.

Well, Cher has me beat.

But not by much.
posted by WolfDaddy at 9:00 PM on April 22, 2003

I'm a guy. I don't understand the romance of the haircut. For me, it has all the deep emotional impact of an oil change, combined with the annoyance of having to go the store because you're out milk. Straight razors? Hot shaving cream? WTF?

Someone please explain it, preferably in blank iambic pentameter, because I just don't get it.
posted by Slithy_Tove at 11:11 PM on April 22, 2003

I guess I'm a little spoiled. Although just a few months ago an article in the local "alternative" weekly bemoaned the loss of traditional barbershops in Sacramento, I know of three within walking distance of my apartment--four, if you count the aforementioned semiretired favorite. (That would be Yagi's Barbershop, 15th St. between X and Broadway. Get him talking long enough and he'll tell you some great stories about growing up Chinese in Sacramento in the thirties.) If memory serves, all of them charge about the same as Supercuts ($12, give or take).

Admittedly, one of these barbershops has been off-limits since the (female) barber decided, apparently on the spur of the moment, to include a free shoulder massage and kiss on the cheek with my haircut.

Maybe the preservation of this particular tradition (barbershops, not shoulder massages--although that too) comes from living in a political town. Politicians like that sort of thing. The last full-time shoeshine stand in the city is located in the Capitol building.

As for explaining the romance (forgoing the iambic pentameter--sorry), well, the first time I stumbled across a barbershop I just thought it was pretty cool that places like that still existed. It was just interesting for its own sake. Since then, however, I've been going back because, first, I like my neck to be shaved and find that the barber can do a better job of it than I can and, second, in general I find barbers who've been trained thoroughly enough to use a straight razor tend to do a better job. They take their time, use the scissors more than the clippers, and generally put a level of care into the job that one doesn't often get from the clipper-monkeys at Supercuts.
posted by Acetylene at 12:42 AM on April 23, 2003

mr_crash_davis scares me a little, but in nice way.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 2:01 AM on April 23, 2003

Or maybe just www.longhairedmen.com. THE ultimate in anti-shorthair sites.
posted by tomplus2 at 8:35 AM on April 23, 2003