Cheating on my barber

Isn't that how Jose Madrigas went out after slapping the wrong hooker?

 

Tide
Diet Dr Pepper
Jane’s crazy mixed up salt
Boulevard Pale Ale — winter
Miller Lite — summer
White trout worms — all Ozark creeks and rivers

 

Outstanding photo composition. For a selfie, no less.



YOU'RE HIRED!

 

No real loyalty on haircuts. Or riblets, for that matter.
But Great Clips app lets me check in online and see how long the wait is. So I can usually time it where I never have a real wait.

I'll only buy a Japanese car. But any make will do.

 

The last place I lived, the lady who cut my dad's hair, Linda, cut mine, and she was wonderful. I liked that I could email her for a time and never have to wait. But then I cheated on her. She broke her hand so I found a young guy who opened a classic barber shop (checkered floor, vintage chairs and woodwork, Edison lights), and even gave it a classic name, the Everett Kendall Barber Parlor. When Linda went back to work, she was only able to work half time, so I stayed with Everett, convincing myself it was OK because it meant Linda would have enough time for the little old ladies who needed her.

Then I moved a few years ago and went to the one barber shop in my one-stoplight town and wasn't impressed. But one of the kids who worked for me was going to barber school so he cut my hair in his garage through the pandemic. He did great and when he got his license, he took the second chair at the barbershop, and now I go to him, very happily.

I plan to live around here forever, as does he, so I may never need another barber.

 

A barber I went to started a new shop and I followed him there.

They're appointment-only, which is great because you can sign up online and there is never any waiting. That used to be such a time-suck. My guy books up fast, but he has a second chair and I happily bounce back and forth if it means I don't have to wait in line for a cut.

 

At one point about 40 years ago Bennington had almost 20 barbers on and around Main Street.

Now there are 0.

This was the last of them to leave and open a makeshift shop in his house.

He was the last owner of the original barbershop inside a hotel that opened in 1881.

The hotel and property are now in Year 6 of a redevelopment plan that may not finish for another 15 years. That's Bennington.



And he still used this till ...

 

What is this "hair cut" you speak of?

When I get split ends, I pull it around front and lop off 3/4" or so. Otherwise the rubber band around my pony tail keeps everything neat and in place.

Requires no time, no money, no appointment. I buy shampoo and conditioner when I run out. Easy Peasy.

 

When I lived in Culver City, I went to this old, rundown place. The barber was ex-Navy -- tattoos, skinny, tanned, had a whiskey&cigarettes voice. He had every "Playboy" for 50 years and a few issues of "Golf Digest." His shop suddenly was never open. I think he died, but I never saw anything to indicate that.
There was a nicer place across the street so I started going there. I usually got the guy in the second chair. Very nice guy who supplemented his income with a job cutting hair at a country club.
After moving to O.C., there are real fancy places and the chains. When a new shopping center nearby opened, it had a Sports Clips. I tried it and I've stuck with it. One of the original stylists was a pretty blonde with a great personality who was a magician with the scissors. She got married, had a couple of kids and quit. I tried several others and settled on two who I think are just fine. Pon and Ruby, both Asian, both nice. I can check the app, see if either are working and how long the wait is. Both usually have lengthy wait times, but that's OK since I live only 10 minutes away and I can go any time.

 

I texted my barber to see if he'll be working Monday when I'm off for Presidents Day and he replied that he's in the hospital with pnemonia and doesn't know when when he'll be able to work again. I guess it will be Great Clips for me.