Of Haircuts as a cultural experience & the Symbolish therein

"Why are most hairdressers men?" I asked him, looking around the busy shop, a whirl of scissors, blow-dryers, and conversation.

"Because men and women have different ideas of beauty." He said this as if it was the most obvious truth in the world, which it may in fact be.

"But then," I pursued, "Shouldn't more women be hairdressers, if they care more about their hair?"

"Ah," and he said this as if sharing a great secret, "But women style their hair for men."


Leaving the truth of that statement up to debate, I might also have liked to tell him that there are vastly different ideas of beauty between cultures, and ours, sadly, did not coincide.

But I didn't, mainly because he was so vastly pleased with his handiwork. And handiwork is probably the right word—he treated this as something he designed, and not only that, went over every strand of hair at least 5 times. I didn't count the number of times he exclaimed that this haircut is simply perfect! I just writhed internally, and glanced at the clock out of the corner of my eye.

"You'll stop all the passersby in their tracks," he said. (Word-for-word translation: "You'll have a 100% head-turning-rate", which he had to explain to me.)

I was pretty dubious of this. Either it was enthusiastic flattery, or he genuinely believed that this was the best haircut ever. Or perhaps it had something to do with the fact that his glasses had no lenses. Was this literary symbolism for the fact that all men were in fact blind as bats and didn't give a damn for what your hair looked like? If my life were a novel, then yes, I think it was.