There are few activities in life nowadays which force you to not use your phone. Getting a haircut is probably one such activity. For the 20-25 odd minutes that you visit the barber, you are most likely going to stay away from this device. Which means you either end up thinking deeply or alternate between thinking and talking to the barber. If the barber is a new fellow then you have to instruct them. I am always torn between not being a micro-manager and getting it just right. With a zigzag hairline like mine, there is very little room for experimentation anyway. But even a standard crew cut/trim is not so standard anymore. That’s perhaps one of the reason why I don’t like my moustache to be groomed by anyone else.
The barber shop also reminds you of the lockdown when I went without a haircut for over 3 months. It didn’t matter, for we were not meeting anyone anyway. Life was very different back then. But it all seems like so far away. The second wave was potent and so were the deaths. We lost some good people to the virus back then. Those of us who survived have gone back to taking things for granted again. It shouldn’t take us one more pandemic to realise the value of human connections.
Back in the saloon, the playlist has undergone a big change. I miss the old Kumar Sanu songs of the 90s now. It is now fashionable to play the latest songs, after all even the employees are all Gen Zs. The new age barbers prepare to use machines over scissors. You can tell the vintage of the barber by the scissor to hair trimmer usage ratio. The trimmers are also fancy nowadays and apparently if you go to more expensive places then you can be treated to a lot more variety of equipment for your scalp. I prefer the good old ways. Besides grooming is an unnecessary expense in my opinion. I have been told countless times that I am wrong but I don’t learn. No wonder I am often confused as an outsider in most posh places. Hotel lobbies, airplanes, even high street stores. But that’s okay, simple living high thinking.