Sunday, November 8, 2009

Just a little off the top, please...

This will probably be just a short post.

I recently went to get a haircut. Baron (my partner) decided to surprise me with one, since I'd been complaining about looking a bit shaggy.

The lady cutting my hair was older, and I tend to worry about older stylists, because they tend to be pretty rigid when it comes to how they cut hair. I told her I didn't want a girl's haircut, I wanted a men's haircut, or a boys haircut. She didn't quite follow what i was saying, so she brought over a style book for me to look at. She flipped through "Short Hair" pictures for women, and pointed out some things she liked. I took the book from her, flipped to the back under "Men's Hair", and picked out this really cute bushy kind of trendy haircut. She kept saying "Are you sure?" and was very wary of doing what I asked her to do. In the end, I still think she played the conservative, and left the hair too long for my comfort.

I've found, as time goes on, stylists tend to be too afraid to give me, the customer, what I ask for. They don't want to cut my hair boyish, they're afraid of cutting it too short - even though I tell them that I used to shave my head, and that there's no such thing as "too short". They're afraid of jeopardizing their tip by doing something "wrong", even when that wrong is exactly what I'm asking for. Frustration abounds.

I've had it suggested to me that I go to a barber, but I've noticed that most barbers only know how to cut two styles, and I have no interest in getting a buzzcut. I don't feel the need to look like a butch lesbian marine.

Is there really something wrong with wanting a cute, trendy haircut that just happens to be in the "male" section of the style book? Seriously?

3 comments:

  1. Having heard my sister's tales of her trials and tribulations of trying to get a decent haircut, I think it's a Diabolical Conspiracy against everyone, not just you.

    I stopped worrying about that several years ago when I got a handheld rechargable hair-trimmer - I now trim what little hair I still have down to about 3mm every few weeks. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I struggled with my old hairstylist for the same reasons for a year; it really was frustrating. Eventually I switched to a barber who sees me as a boy, therefore is willing to give me a "male" haircut. I like what he does, although maybe my tastes in hair are different than yours.

    I also learned to trim my own hair in order to get it "just right". "Learned" is an overstatement: I started chopping off chunks of hair, and now I know what not to do. Plus, I found out that asymmetrical hairstyles are pretty neat :D

    I hope you find a solution; I know how frustrating it is to be unsatisfied with a hairstyle. Ideally, people would be less narrow gender-wise, but I doubt that'll happen anytime soon. Maybe a queer stylist would know better?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great post! I totally get where you are coming from, for me it was best to find a queer barber/stylist. As someone who does not pass, and probably never will it is also hard to go to barber shops because they may not take you seriously when you ask for a "masculine" haircut and do a shitty job. Hopefully that is an option for you!

    ReplyDelete

As always, be respectful of your fellow human beings.