Breaking the Habit

It was time for a haircut but I didn't have enough time to get over to my regular barber.  I was really torn between waiting until the next available time almost a week away, or going to Great Clips near my house.

I like the barber I have been going to for the past few years.  He and the two ladies that work for him know how I like my hair.  When I sit down, they really don't have to even ask how I want it, they just cut with minimal questions.  I like it that way.  The guy that cuts my hair most times is about 150 years old, and before him, his father owned the barber shop.  Yeah, it's an old building.  Old chairs, old lights, an old heater sitting in the corner, and old men customers.  There's always interesting things being talked about it in there.  Sometimes I learn a bit about history.  Other times local politics or gardening.  I love the place, but sometimes I can't make it there before they close.

With hair resting on my ears, I decided to go to Great Clips.

When I walked in there was a family of a husband, wife, and two daughters waiting.  The three girls of the family were all getting a complete redo of their hair.  There was a separate customer waiting in a chair, she was an older lady with shorter hair.  Two young women were cutting hair in the back half of the room and music was playing quietly.  Racks of hair products faced the sitting area.  This place is nothing like the barber shop, but I sat down.

After a few minutes the hair cutting lady came over to the desk and got my name and phone number along with the info for the older lady.  She keyed it into her computer and told me it would be an hour wait.  I took her up on her offer for me to leave and come back in forty minutes without losing my spot in line.

For the next forty minutes I wished I had enough time to get to the barber shop, or that they would be open this late in the evening, but I knew that Great Clips was my only option that night.

When I got back in and the young lady started cutting my hair she asked me where I normally get my haircut.  Either she knew I didn't want to be there or recognized that she had never seen me before.  I told her that it was a totally new experience for me.  Not the haircut part, but the atmosphere.  She was a nice girl and made small talk as she cut my hair.  There was no local politics or gardening being discussed.  There wasn't any local history talked about other than the fact that she grew up in our small town.

 She held up a mirror at the end and, honestly, she did a pretty good job.  She did have to ask me a lot of questions about how I wanted my hair at the beginning.  When she did, I waved my hand over my head and said, "I want a shorter version of this".  She asked what size guard I use on the sides and I had no idea.  Maybe she could call and wake up the old man barber.  But she worked past through those issues and came up with a decent result.

By the time I left, I felt more comfortable about having my hair cut at Great Clips.  I also considered how convenient they are.  It just wasn't enough to break my habit at the barber shop.  I can't wait until my next haircut so I can tell those old men what it was like at the mysterious place called Great Clips.