Friday, January 28, 2011

The Barber of He-ville

He ran his fingers through my hair. 'You have such soft hair,' he murmured. I blushed, coyly ...

OK, that's all true, except for the coyly blushing - that's just so not me. I was getting my hair cut, at a shop on the edge of the gay village, and my barber comments on the softness of my hair every single time. It's odd, being nearly bald, and getting a compliment on hair. But, I'll take it. This time, though, he added, 'You're lucky to have hair that feels like this.'

I began to say something and he interrupted saying, 'I know, I know, you wish you had more ...'

I laughed at the assumption and said, 'No, I wasn't going to say that. I'm OK with my hair just as it is. These days,' I said not knowing the impact that these next words would have, 'people are concerned about the wrong things.'

That stopped him.

Literally.

Stopped. Him.

'(long pause) Oh. Wow. I'm so on board with that.'

Over the next little while, as he cut my hair and chatted about things that barbers chat about, he kept stopping and saying under his breath, 'Oh. Wow.'

When the hair cut was done, I take a surprisingly short time to look my finest, he patted me on the shoulder and said, 'I need to thank you for coming in today. I really needed to hear what you said.'

OK.

Well.

If it meant something to him, maybe it'll mean something to you ...

7 comments:

Colleen said...

Dear Dave:

You just never know how your words will affect another person. I am so on board with what you said too.

Colleen

Anonymous said...

Dave, I feel like that every morning when I read your blog. I find that you remind me what I need to do and how to do it better each day. I thank you for all you have to share.
Lori

Anonymous said...

It's interesting that someone who works on the surface, arranging and primping, would be so insightful. That it's not about outward appearance but inner livability.

Anonymous said...

Sometimes it really does seem as though the universe is working through us without our knowledge. Wow.

Lene Andersen said...

very, very cool. I have to think about that statement - it'll have ripples.

By the way - thanks for changing the colour scheme. Light text on dark background tends to give me migraines, so now I can read your words without squinting! ;)

Anonymous said...

How odd, "people are concerned by the wrong things these days" to me isn't a particularly remarkable statement, seems like something people say all the time, but to him it had such an effect, wonder why.

(in case anyone says anything about me or someone else being "anonymous" I don't have an account and even with a name we still would be anonymous!)

Kristin said...

That is such a simple and such a brilliant observation. Thank you.