Thursday, March 27, 2014

Not that kind of barbershop

As is customary in our household, about every 4-6 weeks the boy gets a haircut. I have written many times about his love, a deep brotherhood of barbershop patrons kind of love, for his barber. He would wait 4 hours to get J to cut his hair rather than wait one minute and have anyone else cut his hair. We got really lucky today. We pulled into the parking lot and I rushed the kids out of the car and into the shop...some guy pulled up and looked like he was headed in the same direction. What a wonderful sight to behold: J's chair was empty. The girls practically pushed the boy in there. It was a rare occurence to get there without a wait, so they were determined to act quickly. Our feeling was correct and the young man, who was slightly sketchy, came in right after us and stepped in another chair. Ha! We got J first, I thought. I did something I never thought I would do in his shop: I showed him a picture of a cut that I thought might be a compromise and get me out of having the boy's head buzz cut. Thumbs up. Not a huge change, but a good transitional cut for the warm weather. The guy in the other chair was asking some sporty questions, then asking my boy some questions in regards to his school. Other people in the shop were listening to the questions, answering when they felt led to respond. Because the boy had a lot of hair to chop off, the other man was done before. He paid for his cut, walked over and said to my boy's barber, "Do you know a good place to get waxed?". J and his female barber R immediately gave him names of several salons in the three block radius that would do waxing. He looked back at me and the kids, turned to J and said, "Due to parental issues, I can't discuss what kind of waxing. Do you know where I can go for that?". Parental issues? Like I would punch him in the face if he graphically described what he really wanted right there in front of my children. Okay, I might. Anyhoo, when the guy hinted about a downstairs kind of waxing, J went to his happy place. He was struck dumb with the absurdity of what just happened. The female barber started referring him to fancy salons out west, though I think she was still a bit unsure about what he was asking. He thanked them for the suggestions and left. The next thing I saw was the funniest look on poor J's face I have ever seen. "Why on earth would he think a local barbershop is going to clean up his house?". We all lost it. It did make for awkward conversation on the way home, but what child doesn't need a lesson on total body grooming. Yuck. I think a new first happened in the barbershop today. I was so glad to be there. It was the best money I have spent all month...



...and the boy LOVES his new spiky hair!
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